Re: command line limits and xargs is slow.

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Grandquist, Dean" <address@hidden> writes:

  gd> This gives me a command line that is too long for bash. It looks
  gd> like POSIX defines a command line length of 2048. I need command
  gd> line lengths around 10,000 chars to use this makefile method.

  gd> If I could change the command line limit in bash that would solve
  gd> my problem too, but that is a question for a different list 8-)

This limit is not in bash, or in make: it's in the kernel (or in Windows
if you're using Windows).  The maximum size of the environment that can
be passed to a sub-process is a kernel limitation.  In UNIX, the command
line is considered part of the environment.

It may be that POSIX requires that all systems accept at _least_ 2048
chars for a command line, but rest assured that most UNIX systems these
days allow command lines a very great deal larger than that: Linux
allows 64K or something like that.

On some systems this size is a tunable parameter in the kernel, as well.

Obviously this doesn't help you directly, but nevertheless... :)

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
 http://www.gnu.org                      http://make.paulandlesley.org
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist