--- coreutils-8.3/lib/physmem.c.orig	2010-01-04 17:19:05.000000000 +0100
+++ coreutils-8.3/lib/physmem.c	2010-01-11 07:05:15.000000000 +0100
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@
 
 #define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof (a) / sizeof ((a)[0]))
 
+/* Cap physical memory to something sane */
+static double
+physmem_cap (double mem)
+{
+  double max = 1 << (sizeof(void *)*8 - 4);
+  return mem > max ? max : mem;
+}
+
 /* Return the total amount of physical memory.  */
 double
 physmem_total (void)
@@ -86,7 +94,7 @@
     double pages = sysconf (_SC_PHYS_PAGES);
     double pagesize = sysconf (_SC_PAGESIZE);
     if (0 <= pages && 0 <= pagesize)
-      return pages * pagesize;
+      return physmem_cap(pages * pagesize);
   }
 #endif
 
@@ -98,7 +106,7 @@
         double pages = pss.physical_memory;
         double pagesize = pss.page_size;
         if (0 <= pages && 0 <= pagesize)
-          return pages * pagesize;
+          return physmem_cap(pages * pagesize);
       }
   }
 #endif