Few things inspire more vexation than the App Install Limit on the Palm Pre. Getting "Sorry, Not Enough Memory. Please delete an application you have installed to make room" on a device that's as modern and supposedly future-oriented as the Pre is like discovering the engine from a 1977 Gremlin in your brand new Tesla Roadster. It's like being limited by whatever's left on flash memory after the OS (hi BlackBerry users!). It's just not right.
Well, enter one of the luminaries of webos-internals, Rod Whitby, who has done some digging and discovered that this app install limit appears to be arising from some odd programming decisions:
Yes, that’s right. A call to queryInstallCapacity spawns a new program (”du”) once for each package returned by “ipkg -o /var list”. No wonder the UI hangs for 30 seconds or more!
A single “du -s /var/usr/palm/applications/*” would be a far more efficient way to get exactly the same information …
You can imagine that this behaviour is probably related to the app install limit that many people are experiencing too
If that is gibberish to you, don't worry, it's fairly close to that for us as well. The good news is that we (er they) can fix it, we have the technology: the Fair Dinkum App Limit App. To install it, you'll need to head into Preware on your Pre (be sure you've fully and properly upgraded it first). Find it under "List of Everything" and badda boom - your app install limit should be gone.
Discuss and get support for the app here, express joy here in the comments.
Comments
Awesome work by the WebOs Internals group!! (Specifically Rod Whitby)
Wow great work.
Palm has to be scouting some of you guys for jobs I'd imagine.
Much joy here! thank you!
woooooohoooooo!!!
woooooohoooooo!!!
This just made my day.... Thx n thn and more thx
FANTASTIC!!!
I havnt come close to the limit of downloaded apps yet, but Im close and this is going to SAVE MY ASS!!!
THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Yea I found this validateinstall line in the App Catalog code I knew that's what was causing the issue I just don't know enough about coding to figure it out. I attempted to just remove those functions in the code but it broke the app catalog I am happy a coder with sufficient knowledge figured this out. Thank you! Now my partition resizing wasn't for nothing.
Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much to you bright and wonderful minds at webos internals. Who needs Palm when we have them....just kidding. Glad we have both!!!!
The article makes it seem like this patch eliminates the app count limit. This is not entirely true if you read the original webos-internals article.
Here's a summary of the article:
The article indicates that Palm is retrieving the list of all available apps to determine when the max size limit is reached, instead of retrieving the list of all installed apps. And if someone has Preware installed, the returned size would be even greater since Prewares app feed lists are taken into account.
So this app fixes the issue by only taking into account installed apps when determining the available space. However, the space available for app installation is still 256MB (the size of the partition where apps reside). So eventually, if people install enough apps, you can still get the "memory not available" error.
But this patch will be a big help to people who were receiving this error without having that many apps installed. I think it'll hold us over until someone (hopefully Palm) can figure out how to dynamically change the size of the app partition. That way users can choose how much space to allocate to apps.
I'd actually expect worse things to happen. Running out of space on /var could lead to some rather nasty consequences.
It's a patch, yes, but a real fix is still needed from Palm.
This is a tactical solution to the immediate problem.
I expect Palm to provide the strategic solution.
Note that you can use the WebOS Internals Meta-Doctor to increase your /var size to 2GB ...
-- Rod
i love you.
THAT'S AWSOME but really?! ..Palm needs to take care of these issues once and for all and make them official. Hire the WebOS internal Gurus as consultants at very least. They're getting the work done that all Pre users should benefit from. While tinkering may be fun for some of us, it's not so much for many of its customers and/or prospects. Palm, make these patches official for your next update and I'm sure customer satisfaction, and new customers, will rise!!
BTW: THANK YOU! For your hard work gentlemen! You'd are a bunch of bad-asses!!
awesome phone. i am disappointed in palm. sprint uses have option, i.e. Hero and Moment.
please, those android-OS iClones don't hold a candle to the Pre
This just made my Monday...now I can dl apps from the app cat!! I just deleted a bunch of stuff yesterday so that I could add the Superfan app and can now dl them again!!
Thanks!
You guys ROCK!!!
I have been hesitant to homebrew or patch but this might be jus the reason I needed to dive right in.
HELL YEAH!!
Rod kicked some major butt with this one!
Got my hopes up...there is still the 256MB limit. Guess I should have read closer. :(
Still can't install from app catalog.
I WAS SO FRUSTRATED with that stupid msg, not enough memory! I was getting ready to throw my Pre out the WINDOW one day! I had to erase a whole bunch of apps to install 2 FREAKING NEW ones from the app catalog.
How sad that Palm hasnt gotten around to this because they are the ones losing to make the money with this issue. It also makes the customers VERY frustrated, like me!
Well thanks guys for taking the time to develop this! And hopefully palm will EVENTUALLY get around to this.
THANK YOU!!! I think you guys need to be the developers for the palm pre! Atleast you know what you are doing and are actually developing it with options that are usefull. Thank you again! PALM SHOULD TAKE NOTE!!!
I love the patch. My only question is about updating the OS. We typically need to remove all patches when doing an update. If we do that prior to updating the OS and we've exceeded Palm's predetermined limit, will there be memory error messages?
You would need to have more than 64MB of applications from the app catalog installed for that to happen. Is there really 64MB worth of useful applications in the catalog? You be the judge ;)
-- Rod
Thanks soo much for this! I called Palm and asked them what was going on with the app limit. The lady told me they have a fix planned and are hoping to release the fix in the next webos update. I told her it was ridiculous that unpaid coders can fix the issue quicker then people trained and highly paid. She agreed with me. lol. I made sure to let her know I was not mad at her, but the situation and the lack of motivation of Palm to fix there flagship OS and on there "top of the line" "innovative" phone.
Except that coders for Palm have a much more stringent development and testing cycle that they have to fulfill. They can't just pop this out as the ideas come to them. They have to follow a specific coding process, make sure they don't break any concurrent development, roll the changes in, then test. Then test again. Then go back and test the other stuff that didn't have anything to do with their changes but that might have broken anyway. Then test everything again. Then give it to Sprint/other carriers so that they can test as well. All the while, if they find something broken, they have to roll back, fix the problem and start from the beginning of their testing process. Nevermind this is a quick and dirty fix-it kind of patch and not a deep OS-wide solution. So let's cut Palm a little slack, shall we? The solution is almost certainly coming in 1.3 (though if it doesn't, I'll grab my pitchfork and join you, hehe).
Fully agree.
-- Rod
WebOS-Internals has produced great results but comparing webos-internals programmers as better than Palm programmers is a false dichotomy. WebOS-Internals may be better debuggers than Palm engineers (especially when you realize they have to reverse engineer to debug) but the true/robust solutions have to come from Palm. I think now that these two issues have been cracked open, Palm will have to include better fixes in WebOS 1.2.2 or 1.3 (whichever comes first). RWhitby still needs to provide a better workaround wrapper that will not break any other scripts that issue "du" commands, but it's great to have this workaround in place for those who need it!
Please do not make comparisons between Palm engineers and webos-internals developers. They work in completely different universes with completely different constraints and completely different pressures and completely different responsibilities.
-- Rod
Just awesome!
this is sweet!! Now all we need is a patch to help battery life instead of turning off everything the phone was meant to do
You people amaze me more every day. Thanks for all you hard work. Keep it up and the Palm Pre will rule the smartphone world!!!
i installed the patch but i still get the sorry no room message on file coaster and app catalog... did i do something wrong... i just installed the patch through preware...
I have the same issue now on FileCoaster. I haven't tried any apps from the App Catalog yet, but any App, no matter how small in FileCoaster now instantly says not enough space to install.. I rebooted as well.
So I had the same trouble in the App Catalog too. So I removed the patch and suddenly I can install things again.. wtf? Why did the patch make things worse for me and sircamels?
it worked for me; as soon as I have installed the patch, I rebooted the pre, and when the phone came back up, I tested it and both app catalog and file coaster apps worked. Good luck to you guys.
awesome work, thanks a million to you guys, kind of bad though you have to do something as a hobby that should have been done by the people making the money on all of us. at the least palm needs to make a statement to reassure its users that it is fixing and aware of the problem, come on just good business sense.
i love this thank you
absolutely lifesaving!!!
This is great, but like everyone said...PALM HAS TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE.
The average Pre owner is quickly becoming frustrated with the phone. They are not the type to install FileCoaster or PreWare and they probably don't even know that this website even exists. So, as far as their concerned, the Pre sucks because they can't install the apps they want like their friends with iPhones can. I hope Palm is listening.
I installed This and My Palm Pre's Screen Stopped working....Just a Warming....Hopefuling Geting it replaced today...
No way!! I thought I was the only one!! When I installed package manager 9.7, MY touchscreen stopped working! :( The Doctor couldn't even fix it. I took it to Sprint and they agreed it is hosed. I'm taking it back tomorrow for a replacement (Mgr wasn't on site)
Right now I own a Palm Centro..getting Pre for X-mas. Specs on the Pre state it has USB Mass Storage. On the Centro, I can put Apps on a SD card and they work just fine off the card. Can you get a USB Mass Storage Device(1GB..2 GB..4GB..Ect...)and run Apps off it, like the Centro..??
I guess it may be weird to have it hanging off your phone while in use but it would free up space on the phone itself as well....just curious.
No, Unfortunately I don't think it would work.
The Pre can be used as a Mass Storage Device to store files, but in order for it to be used as such, it has to be put into USB mode that causes the phone to not function (calls go straight to voicemail) until the function is turned off. While this is usually a few minutes while you are transferring pics or whatever, I don't think it could be used to hold files and programs even if you could figure out a more elegant way of attaching the usb dongle.
The issue everyone is talking about here is that the Pre has a limit (seemingly arbitrarily applied) that means that only a limited number of apps can be saved before it gets full and we can't download anymore.
Hmm...
I think what you're asking is actually about plugging in some kind of external memory on the Pre to store apps, etc, to. And no, the Pre doesn't have a slot for any kind of SD memory. It also does not support USB storage devices, like memory sticks. You only get the 7.4 GB of usable internal storage.
The "USB Storage Mode" just means, as was mentioned, that if you plug it into any computer, the computer can treat the Pre like a USB memory stick. So that means you have the option of moving files (music, pictures, other files that are not apps) on and off of the Pre's storage as if it were a USB drive itself, without any extra software.
And yeah, I'll reiterate that they're talking in this article about how the internal storage is divided up. The apps are currently confined to a small piece of the memory. The largest chunk is reserved for just media stuff like your personal files and only about 256 MB for apps.
Im all for increasing my app storage...but when another palm update comes up; would I have to delete additional apps I have to accomdate the limit palm puts on app storage?
this is awesome. one of the best apps thus far.
Just installed PreWare and most of the patches including this one and I'm getting to be a happy camper. Now if Palm can just open up their App Catalogue pay programs in Canada and then something like Agendus becomes available, all will be right in the world again.
Queue the Choir... This is the most excited I've been since I started chasing women lol
thank you. This did the trick for me, so far.
I could not find this app in the preware catalog.
On the Preware app, choose "List of Everything".
THANK YOU FOR THIS APP!!!!
I am grateful for this!
Worked and worked great!! I was so frustrated with only having 55% of /var being used and yet being unable install apps from the app catalog!! Palm needs to be scouting the folks at webos internals when looking for prospective new hires!!
Did anybody ever come up with a solid fix for filecoaster and the app catalog still showing the "no memory" message? I loaded Dinkum and was able to load more programs, but I got the same "no memory" issue in filecoaster and the catalog. I uninstalled Dinkum and rebooted, but it didn't help. I also deleted a bunch of programs that I loaded on the same partition as the catalog was on, but again nothing. I'm stuck now as it pertains to the catalog. any thoughts? Thanks in advance
I still get the error message in the App Catalog
I don't know if it works, but I've installed it and now I'm adding Web launcher page apps w/o worrying. I'll see if I get not enough memory again, but that usually happens from the App Catalog and I haven't gotten anything new. I just installed the app last night. I'll know in week. But whatever the outcome, great work.
Best app ever to come out for he PRE you all ROCK!!
So once we have this applied, what happens when we unpatch our Pre's when it's time to do the next firmware update being that they will be past the regular storage limit?
what are you guys talking about?!! i've search preware in all the menues and can't find it anywhere. not even in the "list of everything" section. how are you guys raving about something that isn't there?
Great job!!! I love this site. So glad i didn't go with an iphone. in a year pre will be doing all the things iphone can do and more. with the help of precentral.
I have a problem that I haven't seen anywhere on precentral...I try to update existing apps on my phone then it says I nned more space. Now I've seen that message for when ur downloading a new app but never for an app that I have already! I've skated by this by going to the update app(not the app store update) and I've been able to update my purchased apps, however, I am not ablle to do this anymore. Anybody have that issue?????????
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