[MacPerl] Long cmd lines give "Out of Memory!" error (+crash)

[Taylor Leaming <macbert@prismnet.com>]

Has anybody else been getting an "Out of memory!" message (and crash) from
MacPerl 5.20r4 (MacOS 8.6) when they try to run a script with a long command
line?

If I do the following, this error is very repeatable:

1.) Launch MacPerl
2.) Select "Run Script..." from the Script menu  (the script is >>32KB)
3.) The script displays an MacPerl::Ask dialog box prompting for the command
    line arguments.
4.) Paste the following (lengthy) into the dialog box and click OK
    (long paths for some arguments; I keep scripts & data separated)

  MacBert:Development:Issues_DB:reports:Field_Descriptions.txt -configure=MacBert:Dev:Issues_DB:config_files:FieldDefsTmplt.cfg -verbose

5.) MacPerl opens an output window and displays  "Out of memory!"


I get the same results when I use BBEdit to export the script to a droplet
and run the droplet.

In both cases, it is really some sort of crash, because after I close the
MacPerl output window, I see a white dialog box, but can't read any of its
text or make it go away without resorting to dropping into MacsBug and doing
an "es".  Or the 3-finger reboot on my PBG3.  System stability degrades over
time after that...



NOW, if I shorten some of the names in the paths, it *works*.  For example

  MacBert:Dev:Issues_DB:reports:Field_Descriptions.txt -configure=MacBert:Dev:Issues_DB:config:FieldDefsTmplt.cfg -verbose

which is 120 characters long versus the 134 characters of the first one.


There appears to be a limitation on the total length of a command line I can
give MacPerl (at least using MacPerl::Ask).

I would prefer to keep my original path names, avoid a mess of aliases, and
I'm not the author of the script.

Does anybody have recommendations on how to resolve this dilemna?

Regards,

Taylor

    +------------------------------------------------------------------+
    |   Taylor Leaming                 <mailto:macbert@prismnet.com>   |
    |   Austin, Texas                                                  |
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