This is, unfortunately, a limitation of The Way The World Works; either
   we bite the bullet, make long the 64 bit type, and watch code break or
   be slow on the 32 bit platforms, or we *cannot* offer a conforming
   C implementation, and code is not obliged to try to support us.  (Although
   I'd like to see Tcl work with our offsets, as long as no standard format
   string can be used, it's Our Own Damn Fault (TM).)

it is not _our_ fault.  it is inherent in the way that printf() is/was
designed.  in what way is our C implimentation not conforming ?

i think you'll find that more and more os's go to >32 bit off_t's and
will lose with his bit of (broken) code.  tcl should be `fixed', not
our system modified to be broken.