[geeks] MAX_ARG issue

[Lionel Peterson]

--- Kevin <kevin at mpcf.com> wrote:
> I'm getting the "bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long" errors on one
> of my linux servers so i did a getconf ARG_MAX and i get
> back "131072". 
> Is there a way of increasing the MAX_ARG variable?  Are there any
> concerns with increasing this limit?

Couldn't you simply code a loop and insert "head" or "tail" of
sufficient size to keep feeding "rm" a safe amount of arguments?

For example:

Begin
    ls * | head 131072 | rm
Repeat (until `ls *` returns null)

Maybe put this kind of construction in a shell script, and call it
mega_rm? ;^)


=====
Lionel

"I am not into examining other peoples' dumps..." - Sheldon T. Hall

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com