🚀 go-pugleaf

gnu-bash-bug@cs.washington.edu wrote:
> I installed bash (Bourne Again SHell) on my ODT 3.0 (Sco Unix 3.2v4.2)
> system on the suggestion that it would get rid of my "arg list too long"
> errors when doing simple commands like ls, mv, cp, rm, etc.  However it
> didn't.  Where is this coming from?  Is there some parameter I can increase
> when building bash?  Is it the command itself that has the limitation?  Is
> it the system exec call?  Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm no wizard, but this ain't no shell problem.  When you run a command
like "ls *.*" or "mv * <some directory>" all the shell does is expand the
wildcard into a list of filenames.  It is the program itself (/bin/ls,
/bin/mv) that's choking.  Adding memory or tweeking kernel parameters may
help, but the "usual" way around this is to wrap your command in a shell
script:

for file in $*
do
(command) $file (whatever...)
done

If you're into Perl, try using that too.  It's usually a little smarter
about memory.

Hope this helps.
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| Richard S. Smith  | PROGRESS(tm) 4GL Developer | Monrovia, California  |
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