Misleading error message when opening a file (on Windows XP SP 2)

[Tim Peters]

[Claudio Grondi]
> Here an example of what I mean
> (Python 2.4.2, IDLE 1.1.2, Windows XP SP2, NTFS file system, 80 GByte
> large file):
>
>  >>> f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r')
>  >>> f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r+')
>
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>    File "<pyshell#1>", line 1, in -toplevel-
>      f = file('veryBigFile.dat','r+')
> IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'veryBigFile.dat'
>
> Is it a BUG or a FEATURE?

Assuming the file exists and isn't read-only, I bet it's a Windows
bug, and that if you open in binary mode ("r+b") instead I bet it goes
away (this wouldn't be the first large-file text-mode Windows bug).