Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: cutting from info into vi
Keywords: buffer too small
Message-ID: <3943@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 23 Aug 90 17:40:49 GMT
References: <3545@leah.Albany.Edu>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 14

>I been tryin to paste example gl programs from infoexplorer
>into vi, but there seems to be some limit on the size
>of the cut buffer. If one exceeds the limit, all that gets
>pasted is a number, like "4040".

The Andrew toolkit's handling of very large selections (in the X sense
of "selections") is buggy; it doesn't handle the INCR stuff correctly. 
It stuffs the value of the INCR property (the "lower bound on the size")
as an ASCII string rather than as a number; if the version in Info also
gives that property type STRING rather than INCR, this could cause the
symptoms you're seeing. 

This may not help you unless you have source, but IBM should go off and
check this....