[Python-Dev] Changing ob_size to [s]size_t

[Perry Greenfield]

Guido writes:

> I'm not very concerned about strings or lists with more than 2GB
> items, but I am concerned about other memory buffers.

Those in the Numeric/numarray community, for one, would also be
concerned. Although there aren't many data arrays these days that are
larger than 2GB there are some beginning to appear. I have no doubt
that within a few years there will be many more. I'm not sure I 
understand all the implications of the discussion here, but it sounds
like an important issue. Currently strings are frequently used as
a common "medium" to pass binary data from one module to another
(e.g., from Numeric to PIL); limiting strings to 2GB may prove
a problem in this area (though frankly, I suspect few will want
to use them as temporary buffers for objects that size until memories
have grown a bit more :-). 

Perry Greenfield