Robin Laing wrote:
With the number of multimedia files on computers, this is becoming
an issue.
It has never been correct to assume that an expanded list of filenames
will fit on a command line. Having a large number of files is not a new
concept.
Applications that call another routine or process files in the
background. I don't know if they have a problem with xargs but they
have a problem with "Argument list too long" errors when using them. How
do you call xargs from a GUI application?
You can find bad programming practices and incorrect assumptions in a
lot of places. I'd look for a smarter application.
I have tried to use xargs before but not much luck. Lack of time to
play and learn how to pipe everything in the correct way. I have only
learned about xargs a short while ago.
It's not a new program. Plus, applications can do their own
opendir()/readdir() operations if they want to be able to handle
unlimited streams of filenames.
My point in my other post is for new users, this is a real pain to deal
with. In this day and age, it shouldn't be an issue as memory is now
much cheaper and larger than the days when this limit was put into place.
But there is no real limit on what you can have on your disks - or what
the size of a wildcard expansion might be.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
