Dag-Erling Sm=C3=B8rgrav <des@des.no> writes:
> Erik Trulsson <ertr1013@student.uu.se> writes:
> > Yep, it seems that GNU sort allocates a quite large buffer by default w=
hen
> > the size of the input is unknown (such as when it reads input from stdi=
n.)
> > A quick check in the source code indicates that it tries to size this b=
uffer
> > according to how much memory the system has (and according to any limit=
s set
> > on how much memory the process is allowed to use.)
> Uh, OK. This scaling doesn't seem to work correctly. It seems to
> allocate 27 MB on 32-bit machines and 54 MB on 64-bit machines,
> regardless of memory size.
Looking at the code, it seems to go to extreme lengths to get it
absolutely wrong. For instance, if hw.physmem / 8 > hw.usermem, it will
pick the former, which means it's pretty much guaranteed to either fail
or hose your system (or both).
In the immortal words of Blazing Star: YOU FAIL IT
Count this as a vote for ditching GNU sort in favor of a BSD-licensed
implementation (from {Net,Open}BSD for instance).
DES
--=20
Dag-Erling Sm=C3=B8rgrav - des@des.no
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