DVD ISO is only 75,673,600 bytes long

[raveolution]

I thought the DVD ISO was 4 gigs ... I got this file size from every mirror site I've tried, including this one

ftp://ultra.linux.cz/pub/fedora/2/i3...2-i386-DVD.iso

What's going on?

[mictubis]

The size of the file is too large to be held within an integer value so the number is just wrapping around. (An 8 bit signed integer can only represent the values -2147483648 to 2147483647.) File sizes are getting so large so fast the coders of the server software haven't gotten to update the code yet.

The whole file is actually there... try downloading it with an ftp client and you will get it.

I don't recommend trying to download a large file like that with a web browser... they have the same integer value problem and in the end it will end up thinking you have a negative file size, so the final save will fail. Use an ftp program.

[raveolution]

Oh I'm downloading the file with the wget client. I wonder if the integer limit thing for files this big will be fixed on a 64bit system?

(Thank Goodness that I have a nice 3mbps connection!)

[mictubis]

It will automagically fix itself on 64 bit systems, although it can be fixed now if the developers just make those integers unsigned. (Why they were signed in the first place is beyond me since file sizes never go negative -- just one of those 'bah, the numbers will never get that big' oversights.) That will put those integers into the range 0 - 4294967296 (2^32) which should just cover the size of a dvd iso.

On a 64-bit system we'll be looking at 0 - 2^64 -- which is significantly bigger.

[raveolution]

Then on 64-bit systems they'll try to host the Microsoft Longhorn EULA text and it'll bust their signed integer limits too