CA>
  > MB>      that a single file cannot be larger than 2 GB, which is
  > MB> the largest number which be represented in a 32-bit signed
  > MB> integer.
  >
  > but okay, maybe a linux machine provides some better resolutions...
CA>

  If Linux follows POSIX 1003.1, it will have implemented the "offset"
  paramenter of the lseek() call -- which is of type off_t -- as a
  signed long integer.

  ( In addition to the POSIX calls, which at least have the decency to
  have a typedef of off_t, the AT&T iostreams library declares most file
  positioning functions explcitly as taking signed long parameters. )

  On 386/486/586 machines, a signed long integer is 32 bits wide (1 of
  which is the sign bit) and so restricts the seekable portion of a file
  to 2Gb.

  If it was desired to overcome this limitation, either

    1.  POSIX 1003.1 compliance must be sacrificed, and lseek() changed,
        which still won't cure the problem with iostreams; or
    2.  a CPU with a larger word size than the Intel x86es must be used.

  > JdeBP <
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