Re: [bjam] implementation of builtin CAT

From: Joao Abecasis (jpabecasis_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-09-02 07:31:12

Alexey Pakhunov wrote:
> Joao Abecasis wrote:
> 
>> if ( !fseek( file, 0L, SEEK_END ) )
>> {
>> size_t filesize = ftell( file );
>>
>> ret = allocate( filename, filesize );
>>
> 
> 
> I see two problems:
> 1. Loading of >100MB file into the memory is not a good idea;

We could add a default 1MB (?) limit and change the signature to,

rule CAT ( file : max_bytes ? )

> 2. Files can be larger than 2GB (4GB).

Well, I assumed allocation would fail and an empty list would be 
returned. Adding a limit to the number of bytes read would allow us to 
read at least the beginning of large files.

Of course another question entirely is if we should care about files 
that large. I didn't notice support for large files (>2GB) elsewhere in 
bjam (of course I may have overlooked it).

Do you think adding a default or even a hard-coded limit for the number 
of bytes read would fix these issues or are you suggesting that the 
approach is flawed from the beginning?

Thanks for your feedback!

João Abecasis