OutOfMemoryError and how to make the run continue

Question

I am using a Java API (JWPL) to process wikipedia dump, after I run some application, I got the error of OutOfMemory: Java heap space. Since I can't check the source code, what I can do is to increase the maximum assignment of heap size. Is there anything else I can do?

Another question is: the goal to run this application is to get some output textfiles, I already know the names of all the files, 11 in total. From last run, I got 7 files already, but it stopped with the above mentioned error. Now after I change the maximum heap size, I am wondering if there is a way that I can make the next run start from the point where it lefts over, because the duration of a complete run is like 8 hours. I simply don't want it start from very beginning, I just want to get the rest 4 files. I am quite new to Java, please give me some suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you can run that Java app from command line then you can increase available memory for your app by using -Xmx switch:

Ie:

java -Xmx1024m MyApp

will give your process 1024 MegaBytes of memory.

And I'm afraid, that you are unable to get just remaining 4 files. You need to run the whole process again. (I assume you don't have the access to the source code)