#3589 Issue open: RFC: Could we set ISO_FILE_SIZE_LIMIT=0 ?¶
Labels: documentation, cleanup, discuss / RFC
jsmeix opened issue at 2026-03-23 09:04:¶
This RFC raises the question whether ISO_FILE_SIZE_LIMIT in
default.conf can be safely set to 0 (no limit) in ReaR 3.0 after
removing ebiso support, or whether a conservative default limit is still
required. Since ISO 9660 still documents a 4 GiB single‑extent file size
limit, the concern is whether ReaR should keep a non‑zero default such
as ISO_FILE_SIZE_LIMIT=4294967296 to avoid creating oversized embedded
backup files in the ISO that might be unreadable in practice, especially
as there is little real‑world feedback about very large files in ISOs.
See
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/3588
starting at
https://github.com/rear/rear/issues/3588#issuecomment-4098908393
The Wikipedia article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9660
still metiones a limit of 4 GiB, see
https://github.com/rear/rear/pull/2525#issuecomment-4108934909
So perhaps after ebiso support is removed
ISO_FILE_SIZE_LIMIT=4294967296
in default.conf is still needed to be by default on the safe side?
schlomo commented at 2026-03-23 09:12:¶
I think getting real user feedback around large files on ISO images would be super valuable here. I'd be hesitant to make changes without any evidence from actual deployments.
[Export of Github issue for rear/rear.]