2GB file size limit

Hello all,
    I upgraded from kernel 2.2.18 (Slakcware7.1 on x86) to 2.4.4 only to find out that I will still not get LFS due to
myglibc2.1.3.  
    My question is the following: I know people have reported DBs larger than 2GB, but is there any single file that
getslarger than 2GB? Can anyone make an estimate of what overall_DB_size will cause me to hit the 2GB-filesize limit? 
    Any ideas how to work around this other than upgrading glibc or changing OS or architecture? Having survived
throughSlackware evolution, I bet it'll be the last to adopt any changes in the field *sigh* 

thanks in advance,
thalis