lex problem: "Too many right contexts"

[Jamie Zawinski]

The subject says it all; what does that error mean and what can I do about it?
My suspicion is that lex has a built-in limit on how big the FSM can be.  I've
increased the values of the %[epnkao] parameters by an order of magnitude,
with the same result.  

the current state of my input file is that when I comment out five or six
rules (*any* five or six rules) it works, which is what leads me to believe
that it's merely a size problem.  

This is on both a Sun3 and Sun4, SunOSes 4.0.3 and 4.1.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

		-- Jamie