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Informix Error -4041: Including "file" again will cause an infinite loop.

Cause and resolution

Including "file" again will cause an infinite loop.

This INCLUDEAGAIN statement specifies a file that includes itself. If you force it to be included, a loop will follow. Make sure that this is the file you intended to include. Review the contents of the file.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-4041 fires when an INCLUDEAGAIN statement names a file that includes itself — per the official guidance, forcing that file to be included would create an infinite loop.

  1. An INCLUDEAGAIN statement naming a file that (directly or indirectly) includes itself, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Confirm this is the file genuinely intended for inclusion, per the official guidance.
  2. Review the contents of the file to break the self-inclusion chain if it wasn't intended, per the official guidance.
Examples
A self-including file
-- in orderdefs.4gl:
INCLUDEAGAIN "orderdefs.4gl"
-- -4041: orderdefs.4gl includes itself
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the named file's own INCLUDE/INCLUDEAGAIN statements for a chain that leads back to itself.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -4010 — "Include file "pathname" is not found." A related INCLUDE-mechanism error, about a missing file rather than a self-referential inclusion loop.

An INCLUDEAGAIN'd file includes itself, which would loop forever — confirm the file and review its own includes.