Q107174: PRB: Not Enough Space for Environment

Article: Q107174
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.1
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kb16bitonly
Last Modified: 06-NOV-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.0, 3.1 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When a Windows-based application is started, it fails to load. While running
under the debug version of Windows, one or both of the following debug messages
are displayed on the debug terminal:

  LocalAlloc Failed

  -or-

  GlobalAlloc Failed

Then, Windows generates the following unrecoverable application error (UAE): "Not
enough space for Environment."

CAUSE
=====

The initial size specified for the application's local heap in the DEF file is
too small to contain the local allocation for the environment.

RESOLUTION
==========

When the Windows loader loads an application, it also stores a copy of the
MS-DOS environment strings (such as the PATH string, and so forth) in the
application's DGROUP. In general, the space needed to store this environment
table could be around 200 to 300 bytes, but it could vary depending on the
environment variables in the system. The loader will try to allocate space for
the environment table using LocalAlloc(), and this call will fail if there is
not enough space in the local heap. In such a case, Windows automatically tries
to expand the local heap by doing a Gloabal(Re)Alloc. Because the maximum size
for the DGROUP is 64K, the GlobalAlloc will fail if the loader tries to grow the
DGROUP beyond the 64K limit. This will happen when the size of the DGROUP is
close to the limit of 64K and there is not enough space in the application's
DGROUP for Windows to expand the local heap in it. In such a case, the
application's DGROUP must be cleaned up to allow more space for the local heap.
A few ways to do this are:

- Reduce the application's stack size using the STACKSIZE statement in the DEF
  file. A recommended stack size is between 5K and 10K. You can also determine
  exactly how much stack space your application needs and use that optimized
  value in your DEF file. For more information, query in the Microsoft
  Knowledge Base on the following words:

  " stack pStackMin " (without the quotation marks)


- Move string constants from your DGROUP into string tables in a DEF file. Move
  large static arrays from your DGROUP to dynamically allocated memory using
  GlobalAlloc.

- If Microsoft C/C++ or Visual C++ compiler is being used, some of the data
  from the DGROUP can be moved into an extra data segment by using the /Gt
  compiler option (refer to pages 522-523 of the Microsoft C/C++ "Environment
  and Tools" manual). However, note that an application with multiple data
  segments will be restricted to only one instance. For more information on
  this problem, please query in the Microsoft Knowledge Base on the following
  words:

  " large model C/C++ " (without the quotation marks)


Additional query words: no32bit 3.10 gpf gp-fault gp fault

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Keywords          : kb16bitonly 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK300 kbWinSDK310
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.1

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