digits!: check for typemax only when applicable

Author: rfourquet

base/intfuncs.jl

@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ end
 
 function digits!{T<:Integer}(a::AbstractArray{T,1}, n::Integer, base::Integer=10)
     2 <= base || throw(ArgumentError("base must be ≥ 2, got $base"))
-    base - 1 <= typemax(T) || throw(ArgumentError("type $T too small for base $base"))
+    !applicable(typemax, T) ||
+        base - 1 <= typemax(T) || throw(ArgumentError("type $T too small for base $base"))
     for i in eachindex(a)
         a[i] = rem(n, base)
         n = div(n, base)

test/bigint.jl

@@ -280,6 +280,9 @@ ndigits(rand(big(-999:999)), big(2)^rand(2:999))
 
 @test_throws DomainError ndigits(rand(big(-999:999)), rand(typemin(Int):1))
 
+# digits with big bases
+@test digits(big(2)^256, big(2)^128) == [0, 0, 1]
+
 # conversion from float
 @test BigInt(2.0) == BigInt(2.0f0) == BigInt(big(2.0)) == 2
 @test_throws InexactError convert(BigInt, 2.1)