ghc: panic! (linkBCO: >= 64k ptrs)

dict is a [String] with around 100,000 entries (around 1.4MB of data), exported from a module Dict. ghci will happily import this module, but any operations on this list (e.g. take 1 dict) fail with a ghc panic. I admit it's perhaps not the best idea to work with a list of this magnitude, but in this case a better error message would be useful.

GHCi, version 6.12.1: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/  :? for help
Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done.
Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done.
Loading package base ... linking ... done.
Loading package ffi-1.0 ... linking ... done.
Prelude> :load Dict
[1 of 1] Compiling Dict             ( Dict.hs, interpreted )
Ok, modules loaded: Dict.
*Dict> take 1 dict
ghc: panic! (the 'impossible' happened)
  (GHC version 6.12.1 for i386-apple-darwin):
	linkBCO: >= 64k ptrs

Please report this as a GHC bug:  http://www.haskell.org/ghc/reportabug

Trac metadata

Trac field	Value
Version	6.12.1
Type	Bug
TypeOfFailure	OtherFailure
Priority	normal
Resolution	Unresolved
Component	Compiler
Test case
Differential revisions
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Operating system	Unknown/Multiple
Architecture	Unknown/Multiple