[LON-CAPA-admin] 2147483647 bytes = maximum?

Tue Aug 3 12:47:33 EDT 2004

Hello,

Right now our library server's tar.gz backup files are approaching an
apparently magic number of bytes, 2147483647.  From behavior of other linux
machines I administrate, I'm noticing that it seems to be the largest file
size for a file created by tar/gziping.

Right now the files are just over 2GB, but as they approach that number, I'm
becoming curious.  Is anyone aware of a file-size limitation, what causes
it, how to work around it, etc?

Apparently 2147483647= M31 = 2^31 - 1 = 0x7FFFFFFF, of Mersenne prime
fame...

Nathan Schoenack
Lab Technician
Physics Department
North Dakota State University
South Engineering 220D
(701) 231-7047