Auto PHP memory maximisation

PHP has a limit on how much memory a script can use. This is configured in php.ini but most people cannot or don't know how to change it. I have seen that MediaWiki's installer has a feature which maximises the PHP memory allowance during start-up. This could be implemented in Drupal's common include files, too, so that Drupal maximises PHP memory to (let's say) 16-20MB instead of the default 8MB. Since the code already exists in MW and it's GPL, it should be easy to port it here. This will allow situations like this to be resolved. I also have a Drupal site and I started adding stuff, so I am afraid that I could face the same situation, too. In addition, it would be nice for Drupal to display the memory requirements of each module in the admin screen.