[Python-Dev] Large file support for the mmap module?

[Amici Alessandro]

hi,

while looking for efficient ways to manipulate large files (>2Gb) with
python i noted an artificial limitation in the mmap module present in the
standard library. right now mmap objects behave like an hybrid between a
file and a string, but their size is limited to 2Gb files on 32bit
architectures (the offset argument in the mmap call is always set to 0 and
several members of the structure have type size_t).

adding a rough implementation for 64bit offset in the mmap call is trivial
(i have done it, cutting and pasting from fileobject.c), but it is not
obvious how the file-like soul of the mmap object should be affected by the
offset. actually, it is not clear to me why the file-like behavior is
present at all.

is there any plan to add LFS to the mmap module?
are there known workaround?

thanks,
alessandro