On 2026 Aug 06 09:25:36, you wrote to All:  
    
   TV> Is there a generally accepted limit on message size now in FidoNet?  
    
  there never really was... the spec says message bodies are unbounded...  
  back in the 90s i semi-regularly tested one of my message posting tools  
  with the entire 2+Meg nodelist by posting the nodelist in one message in  
  FIDOTEST... the results were interesting and not really unexpected... i was  
  kind of also low-key doing it to hopefully spur some more development of  
  tossers and bbses to handle large messages...  
    
  any artificial limits on message size that were in place were mainly due to  
  coders not taking the time to figure out how to swap overflow to disk  
  storage, continue processing at a slower rate, and how to evict messages  
  that simply could not fit in the availavle storage... all this while also  
  processing mail for further distribution to other systems... leaf nodes  
  generally have it easiest...  
    
  in the late 90s or early 00s, i do remember seeing a post by a coder  
  talking about how he did figure out swapping so his system could process  
  large messages... i forget which software it was, though... i want to say  
  it was one that had bbs, tosser, and mailer all in one package but it was  
  quite a while back and a lot of water has flowed under the bridges...  
    
  technical details: some systems had a stack size of 16k... that's all they  
  could fit in memory at once... heap memory was not available... some  
  systems also ran off multiple floppy drives and the operators had to swap  
  disks for users so they could access files or messages that were on offline  
  disks in a storage box... hard drives appeared and storage was easier to  
  deal with... stack sizes also increased to 64k... then EMS and XMS memory  
  access and yeah... there are still some older systems online for historic  
  and nostalgic reasons... we don't hear about them very much these days...  
  if there are any still connected to the net...  
    
  )\\/(ark  
    
  "The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my  
  majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a  
  shiny thing!"  
  ... The ability to understand a question from all sides meant one was  
  totally unfi  
  ---  
   * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)