> Technically, having the command fail or truncate output because the user
> didn't anticipate the size of the response correctly seems a major step
> backwards. Principle of Least Astonishment dictates that the command 
should
> do the Right Thing w/o user intervention. Hcp does, vmcp does not, 
forcing
> the user to deal with a unnecessary (and incompatible) implementation
> restriction.

Wrong.
vmcp shows at least the same amout of information as cpint if you use
the default settings. But if 64kbytes are not enough you can force vmcp
to try allocation lets say 180kb of buffer - which is not possible with
cpint.
e.g:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]# vmcp q 1-ffff | wc -c
65535
[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~]# vmcp q 1-ffff --buffer=180000 | wc -c
146504

So vmcp can give you the complete output, cpint cannot.  You have to 
recompile cpint to do the same.

So why not adopt the buffer automatically? Because allocating kernel 
memory is not guaranteed to be successful and might force linux to 
page a lot of memory. These commands require root accounts, and admins
should always have the control.

-- 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best Regards / Un cordial saludo

Christian Bornträger
Linux Software Engineer
zSeries Linux & Virtualization
IBM Deutschland Entwicklung GmbH
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel +49  7031 16 1975

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