large file support an libev 4.0

[Marc Lehmann]

On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 03:12:25PM +0200, lekmalek <lekmalek at gmail.com> wrote:
> I see, from CVS, that you're working on a 4.0 release of libev, and was
> wondering if you were willing to break ABI compat. If indeed it is the
> case, then maybe the time is opportune to revisit the old issue with
> large file support

libev has full large file support, you just have to compile it in the right
abi environment on your os.

Most os'es have large file support in their default abi, too, with the
exception of most gnu/linux distros.

> Please tell me where you stand on this, cause I was thinking of
> rewriting pyev (Python libev interface) this autumn and not having to
> embed libev would help (especially distro packagers).

libev follows whatever the opertaing system says it should do. If your
OS says the default abi is 32 bit, then you should change that, this has
little to do with libev, which fully supports large files.

The problem is that if libev switches to large file support then it has to
communicate this it every user, and there is no way to do this (typically,
it's done via a compile time definition, so has to be specified even when
including ev.h, which in turn breaks everything else compiled in the
default abi).

The right way to fix this is to make the os offer a large file API/ABI,
and then use it. As I remarked, this seems to be a gnu/linux-spefiic
issue, and I do not know why distros can't get it right, as obviously
nobody wants a purely 32 bit abi anymore.

It's not somethign libev controls, or can even fix - it's a global issue:
either all software follows it, or none. Until then, libev has to follow
whatever the platform says it should use.

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