Maximum number of NICs for Linux.

[byrdca]

Today I was asked about the maximum number of NICs supported by the
Linux kernel.  My initial response was "probably more than you need".
Its been bothering me that I didn't know where to find the answer.  I
looked in include/linux/limits.h, I didn't expect to find it but that
was my first thought.  I then started digging through drivers/net but
I soon got lost.  I'm after the hard data for the maximum number of
ethernet cards a modern Linux system supports, anyone have any ideas
on where I find this data?