The FAQ-0.9.0 on the website mentions operating system limits; specifically on Linux the values in /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max limits the size of plugin_pipe_size.
What does pmacctd do if plugin_pipe_size is set greater than {r,w}mem_max ? Does it silently round plugin_pipe_size down to the value of rmem_max, or does it just fail?