limits

[Moderator, John Quarterman]

Date:     Thu, 21 Nov 85 10:43:08 EST
From: Dan Franklin <dan at BBN-PROPHET.ARPA>

Mark Horton's message on ways of getting kernel-determined limits out
of files implies, to me, that the only reasonable way to get such limits
at runtime is through a kernel system call.  It solves all of the problems
Mark outlined at the cost of a few bytes of data space.

It's not clear that we need to describe the implementation at such a low
level, though.  All we really need is to standardize the interface through
which the information is maintained.  The choice of using a file or a system
call (in fact both might be appropriate, for different limits) is up to the
implementation.

(Mark's message also left me with the uneasy feeling that I might have missed
an issue or two, as I don't remember seeing anything on "cc -E | sed" before.
Have I?)

[ No, you haven't.  We've been having mailer problems associated with flaky
nameservers here and elsewhere, plus BBN sometimes forgets how to talk to us,
and the reverse.  I'll send you the ones you've missed.

Free trial offer, open to anyone:  the Volume-Number line tacked onto the
end is so you can check to see if there are any gaps in what you've received.
Send me a list of ones you didn't get and I'll send them to you again.  -mod ]

	Dan Franklin

Volume-Number: Volume 3, Number 37