Re: A file so large...
At least the 2G file size limit makes sense in the context of 32-bit compilers of the era. Even Unix varients of the era using mbox format rather than maildir tended to have a ~2G mailbox limit. This has caused me to lose email in the (increasingly distant) past. Now it goes in a tool using maildir whose only limitation is partition size, and is lost because I never remember a unique enough portion to ever find again. :)