"sqlite3.OperationalError: database or disk is full" on Lustre

Question

I have this error in my application log:

sqlite3.OperationalError: database or disk is full

As plenty of disk space is available and my SQLite database does not appear to be corrupted (integrity_check did not report any error), why is this happening and how can I debug it?

I am using the Lustre filesystem (with flock set), and until now, it worked perfectly.

Versions are:

• Python 2.6.6
• SQLite 3.3.6

Answer 1

It's probably too late for the original poster, but I just had this problem and couldn't find an answer so I'll document my findings in the hope that it will help others:

As it turns out, an SQLite database actually can get full even if there's plenty of disk space, because it has a limit for the number of pages in a database file:

http://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_max_page_count

In my case the value was 1073741823, which meant that in combination with a page size of 1024 Bytes the database maxed out at 1 TB and returned the "database or disk is full" error.

The good news is that you can raise the limit; for example double it by issuing PRAGMA max_page_count = 2147483646;.

The limit doesn't seem to be saved in the database file, though, so you have to run it in your application every time you open the database.