cp/mv/etc : argument list too long ... I am sick of this

[Richard Tobin]

The sysctl kern.argmax reflects the maximum argument list size.  It's
set to 65536, at least in 4.11, and is (I think) not changeable except
by rebuilding the kernel with a different value for ARG_MAX.

> Is well and good that there be some limit to how much data one can pack
> on the command line and incoming arglist in an application's
> environment else fumble fingers could cause major havoc.

This is a bogus argument.  The number of fumbles prevented by a limit
of 65536 is not going to be very different from the number if it was,
say, a million.  On the other hand, having to switch commands once
your data passes some arbitrary size is annoying and (I assert :-) not
in the spirit of BSD.

There may well be some good reasons for limiting the argument size,
especially on a multi-user system.  But the right solution is to make
setting kern.argmax work, and allow system admistrators to decide
what's appropriate for their systems.

(I don't have a more recent release handy to check with; maybe it's
already been done.)

-- Richard