To quote from zipfile.py (2.4 library): # Search the last END_BLOCK bytes of the file for the record signature. # The comment is appended to the ZIP file and has a 16 bit length. # So the comment may be up to 64K long. We limit the search for the # signature to a few Kbytes at the end of the file for efficiency. # also, the signature must not appear in the comment. END_BLOCK = min(filesize, 1024 * 4)
So the author knows that there's a hard limit of 64K on the comment size, but feels it's more important to fail a little more quickly when fed something that's not a zipfile - or a perfectly legitimate zipfile that doesn't observe his ad-hoc 4K limitation. I don't have time to find a gentler way to say it because I have to find a work around for this arbitrary limit (1): this is stupid. (1) the leading candidate is to copy and paste the whole frigging zipfile module so I can patch it, but that's even uglier than it is stupid. "This battery is pining for the fjords!" Normally I despise being CC'd on a reply to list or group traffic, but in this case it's probably necessary, as I haven't had time to keep up with this place for several years. :-/ -- To be alive, is that not to be again and again surprised? -- Nicholas van Rijn -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list