Just some thoughts....
In posting about this problem elsewhere, it has been argued that you
shouldn't be copying that much stuff into memory anyways (though there
are possible cases for a need for that).
However, the question is what should the zipfile module do.  At the very
least it should account for this 2GB limitation and say it can't do it.
 However, how it should interact with the programmer is another
question.  In one of the replies, I am told that strings have a 2GB
limitation, which means the zipfile module can't be used in it's current
form, even if fixed.  Does this mean that the zipfile module needs to
add some additional methods for incrementally getting data and writing
data?  Or does it mean that programmers should be the ones to program an
incremental system when they need it... Or?