: david@radon:~; sbcl --dynamic-space-size 128  --userinit /dev/null
This is SBCL 1.0.12.42, an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp.
More information about SBCL is available at <http://www.sbcl.org/>.

SBCL is free software, provided as is, with absolutely no warranty.
It is mostly in the public domain; some portions are provided under
BSD-style licenses.  See the CREDITS and COPYING files in the
distribution for more information.
* (defun testmem (size)
  (ignore-errors
    (loop for i upfrom 1 collect (make-array size))))

TESTMEM
* (testmem 10000)
Soft heap limit of 32768 pages reached with 32760 pages in use and 19 bytes requested.
(1 page == 4096 bytes)

debugger invoked on a SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" {22735DA1}>:
  Condition SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR was signalled.

Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL.

restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name):
  0: [CHANGE ] Specify a new soft limit
  1: [DISABLE] Disable the soft limit entirely
  2: [ABORT  ] Exit debugger, returning to top level.

(SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR)
0] change

Enter a new soft heap limit in megabytes: 256
Soft heap limit of 65536 pages reached with 65531 pages in use and 19 bytes requested.
(1 page == 4096 bytes)

debugger invoked on a SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" {22735DA1}>:
  Condition SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR was signalled.

Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL.

restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name):
  0: [CHANGE ] Specify a new soft limit
  1: [DISABLE] Disable the soft limit entirely
  2: [ABORT  ] Exit debugger, returning to top level.

(SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR)
0] change

Enter a new soft heap limit in megabytes: 512
Soft heap limit of 131072 pages reached with 131061 pages in use and 19 bytes requested.
(1 page == 4096 bytes)

debugger invoked on a SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" {22735DA1}>:
  Condition SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR was signalled.

Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL.

restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name):
  0: [CHANGE ] Specify a new soft limit
  1: [DISABLE] Disable the soft limit entirely
  2: [ABORT  ] Exit debugger, returning to top level.

(SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR)
0] change

Enter a new soft heap limit in megabytes: 768
Soft heap limit of 196608 pages reached with 196604 pages in use and 19 bytes requested.
(1 page == 4096 bytes)

debugger invoked on a SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" {22735DA1}>:
  Condition SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR was signalled.

Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL.

restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name):
  0: [CHANGE ] Specify a new soft limit
  1: [DISABLE] Disable the soft limit entirely
  2: [ABORT  ] Exit debugger, returning to top level.

(SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR)
0] abort

* (gc :full t)   
Soft heap limit of 196608 pages reached with 196638 pages in use and 0 bytes requested.
(1 page == 4096 bytes)

debugger invoked on a SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" {22735DA1}>:
  Condition SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR was signalled.

Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL.

restarts (invokable by number or by possibly-abbreviated name):
  0: [CHANGE ] Specify a new soft limit
  1: [DISABLE] Disable the soft limit entirely
  2: [ABORT  ] Exit debugger, returning to top level.

(SB-KERNEL::SOFT-HEAP-EXHAUSTED-ERROR)
0]
WARNING: Starting a select without a timeout while interrupts are disabled.
1

NIL
* (room)

Dynamic space usage is:   38,290,464 bytes.
Read-only space usage is:      1,664 bytes.
Static space usage is:         4,000 bytes.
Control stack usage is:        2,240 bytes.
Binding stack usage is:          672 bytes.
Control and binding stack usage is for the current thread only.
Garbage collection is currently enabled.

Breakdown for dynamic space:
  12,823,072 bytes for    11,230 code objects.
   6,913,392 bytes for    79,780 instance objects.
   6,221,600 bytes for    54,203 simple-vector objects.
   5,602,448 bytes for   350,153 cons objects.
   6,755,360 bytes for   118,607 other objects.
  38,315,872 bytes for   613,973 dynamic objects (space total.)
* sb-kernel::soft-pages-limit

0
* (setf sb-kernel::soft-pages-limit 262144)

262144
* (quit)