Re: st: set max_memory from command line

["William Gould, StataCorp LP" <wgould@stata.com>]

Jasper <jasper.haller@gess.uni-mannheim.de> reports that 
the values of Stata's memory parameters that he has previously 
-set, premanently- are ignored when running Stata for Linux
in batch mode.  

I have recreated the problem.  On my Linux computer, 

    1.  I ran Stata interactively and I typed 

              . set max_memory 10g, permanently

        I then exited Stata. 


    2.  I ran Stata interacively again and I typed 
 
              . query memory 

        The 10g max_memory was displayed just as it should be. 

        I exited Stata. 


    3.  I created a file called report.do containing one line, to wit

              ------------------------------ report.do ---
              query memory
              ------------------------------ report.do ---

        I then typed at the Unix prompt 

             $ stata -b do report 

        That ran fine, but when I looked at the resulting report.log, 
        I was disappointed to discover that max_memory was ., not 
        10g.  

I was disappointed because that means Stata has a bug and we at StataCorp 
will have to track it down and fix it.  

Until we get the problem fixed, I do have a workaround.  The following 
works: 

    4.  I created file trythis.do containing 

              ------------------------------ trythis.do ---
              set max_memory 10g
              query memory
              ------------------------------ trythis.do ---

        I then typed at the Unix prompt, 

             $ stata -b do trythis 

        That ran fine as results are just as they should be. 
        -query memory- reported that max_memory was 10g. 

I tested #4 using a Stata for Unix with max_memory set permanently to 10g, 
and with max_memory permanently set to 0g. 

-- Bill
wgould@stata.com
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