--- coreutils-4.5.3/lib/physmem.c.orig	Fri Nov 16 10:20:25 2001
+++ coreutils-4.5.3/lib/physmem.c	Sun Oct 27 22:35:25 2002
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@
 # include <sys/pstat.h>
 #endif
 
+/* Cap physical memory to something sane */
+static double
+physmem_cap (double mem)
+{
+  double max = 1 << (sizeof(void *)*8 - 4);
+  return mem > max ? max : mem;
+}
+
 /* Return the total amount of physical memory.  */
 double
 physmem_total (void)
@@ -40,7 +48,7 @@
     double pages = sysconf (_SC_PHYS_PAGES);
     double pagesize = sysconf (_SC_PAGESIZE);
     if (0 <= pages && 0 <= pagesize)
-      return pages * pagesize;
+      return physmem_cap(pages * pagesize);
   }
 #endif
 
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
         double pages = pss.physical_memory;
         double pagesize = pss.page_size;
         if (0 <= pages && 0 <= pagesize)
-          return pages * pagesize;
+          return physmem_cap(pages * pagesize);
       }
   }
 #endif