Informix Error -179

Reasons / Common Causes

-179 is the sort-specific counterpart to -131 — not enough contiguous free disk space for the temporary files a sort operation needs — but the official guidance points at two very different kinds of causes: genuine space exhaustion, and configuration mistakes in DBSPACETEMP/ PSORT_DBTEMP that make correctly-sized space unusable.

1. Genuinely insufficient free contiguous space in the configured temp dbspaces or PSORT_DBTEMP directories for the sort's actual temporary-file needs.
2. A misspelled or incorrect temp dbspace name in DBSPACETEMP. If the configured value doesn't correspond to an actual, existing dbspace, the sort can't use it at all — the space might exist elsewhere just fine, but the misconfigured reference makes it unreachable.
3. Incorrect delimiter usage when specifying multiple temp dbspaces in DBSPACETEMP. The official text is specific that colons (:) or commas (,) are required between entries — a different separator can cause the whole value to be misparsed, potentially leaving no valid temp space recognized at all.
4. PSORT_DBTEMP directory names that are misspelled, don't exist, or aren't accessible/ writable by the server process.
5. A large sort operation (a big ORDER BY, GROUP BY, or index build) whose temporary-space needs genuinely exceed what's configured, even with otherwise-correct configuration.
6. Multiple large concurrent sorts sharing the same limited temp space budget, collectively exhausting it even though any single sort in isolation would have fit.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Check available disk space in the configured temp dbspaces/PSORT_DBTEMP directories, and free up or add space if genuinely insufficient.
2. Verify the exact spelling of temp dbspace names in DBSPACETEMP against actual, existing dbspace names — the official guidance's own explicit first troubleshooting step.
3. Verify correct delimiter usage (colons or commas) when specifying multiple temp dbspaces in DBSPACETEMP.
4. Verify PSORT_DBTEMP directory names are correct, exist, and are writable by the server process.
5. Size temp space capacity appropriately for the actual sort workload, especially for known large sorts or index builds.
6. Spread temp space across multiple correctly-delimited dbspaces or directories to increase available parallel capacity for concurrent sort-heavy workloads.

Examples

A configuration typo

# ONCONFIG or environment
DBSPACETEMP  tempspace1

onstat -d
-- reveals the actual dbspace is named "temp_space1" — the
-- configured value doesn't match any existing dbspace

The wrong delimiter

# Wrong: space-separated, not recognized as multiple valid entries
DBSPACETEMP  tempspace1 tempspace2

# Right: colon- or comma-delimited
DBSPACETEMP  tempspace1:tempspace2

A single misplaced delimiter can silently reduce "two temp dbspaces" down to effectively none being correctly recognized.

Genuine capacity shortfall for a large sort

SELECT * FROM huge_table ORDER BY unindexed_wide_column;
-- -179: the sort's temp-file needs exceed available space in the
-- correctly-configured temp dbspaces

Here, the fix is adding capacity or reducing the sort's scope (an index on the sort column, for example, avoiding the need for a large temp sort at all), not a configuration correction.

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check DBSPACETEMP and PSORT_DBTEMP configuration values directly for spelling and delimiter correctness.
2. Confirm each named temp dbspace or directory actually exists and is accessible:

   onstat -d
   

3. Check available free contiguous space in each configured temp location.
4. Review the size and complexity of the specific sort operation that failed, to distinguish a configuration problem from a genuine capacity shortfall.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -131 — "ISAM error: no free disk space." The general dbspace-level sibling — the same contiguous-space concern, without the sort-specific DBSPACETEMP/PSORT_DBTEMP configuration angle.
• -130 — "ISAM error: no such dbspace." Relevant here too — a misconfigured DBSPACETEMP entry is effectively referencing a dbspace that, from the sort's perspective, doesn't resolve.

Check DBSPACETEMP/PSORT_DBTEMP spelling and delimiters before assuming genuine space exhaustion — a configuration typo is often the actual cause, even when the underlying storage has plenty of room.