file size limits with gzip

[george . r . davies]

GNU gzip support,

I'm interested in input and output file size limits for gzip.  I suspect 
the limits have to do with disk space, swap space, and available memory, 
but testing those limits may be cumbersome and unpopular with other users.

I looked at the usage echo for the version we have:

[rr053276]$ gzip -L
gzip 1.3.5
(2002-09-30)
Copyright 2002 Free Software Foundation
Copyright 1992-1993 Jean-loup Gailly

What is the input file size limit?
What is the number of input files limit?
What is the maximum output file size?
Is there better compression or larger limits with a newer version?

Thank you for your help,

-Rick Davies
RR Donnelley