SCO Xenix 386 infinite spill

[Mike Howard]

Background: I am putting up TeX on an SCO Xenix 386 system using the
 web2c distribution.  The vanilla SYSV distribution is translating
 and compiling without errors except that the compiler dies on an
 `infinite spill' error.

To keep responses sane: I know that the `infinite spill' error is caused
 by an expression to complex for the compilers simple brain and I know
 how to simplify specific instances which cause problems.  Let's not
 repeat that information.

Information I'm interested in:
 1. examples of 386 programs which have caused the compiler to spasm
 2. any known syntactic constructions which cause the problem

The cause appears to be more than just one simple expression which is too
complex: I moved the offending expression to a separate file in order to
work on it and the compiler passed it happily.  (BTW I tried compiling
w/o the -O option and had no success).

Eventual Objective: write a filter which recognizes code which will generate
this error and re-write it so that the compiler won't barf (most of the time).

Reasons for this Objective: the TeX distribution is written in a `language'
called Web.  Web files contain documentation intermixed with pascal code
(loosely - the structure is more complex than that).  There are two processors
(tangle and weave) which gobble up web and change (delta to the file) files and
produce pascal source or a TeX'able program listing.  There is an established
kludge which eats the pascal source and produces appropriate C code for
compilation on a number of systems.  The ideal solution is to insert an
`infinite spill detector/fixer' into the kludge so that the Xenix family can
join the already established and supported TeX user community.  At least this
is my puny understanding of things (please don't tell me about other TeX
distributions - I barely have time to work on the U of Washington version).

Thanks in advance
-- 
Mike Howard
uunet!milhow1!how