Re: how do I extract a 2.6 gigabyte .tar.gz file ? (the saga continues)

[Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>]

Mike Touloumtzis wrote:
> The 2GB limit is not imposed by ext2fs; it's a limitation of the VFS
> (Virtual Filesystem) layer in the kernel.

Given that, it seems to me that if you could write the file directly to a
large block device (like a spare 2.6 gb hard drive partition), you could
then access it, since linux wouldn't be going through the VFS layer.

I know you don't have a spare HD, and I can't think how you could move your
file from the ext2 drive it's on to be directly on a block device anyway,
since linux refuses to read the whole thing, so this is only a partial 
solution..

Since this isn't really a debian problem but a general linux kernel problem,
I think your best bet is to post to the linux-kernel mailing list
(linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu) and see if a kernel guru can help.

-- 
see shy jo