The OpenGL specification requires that a framebuffer supports at least 8 color attachments. Now, OpenGL uses compile-time constants (at least on my system), for stuff like GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENTi and GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT attachment follows 32 units after GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0. Doesn't this mean that regardless of how beefy the hardware is, it will never be possible to use more than 32 color attachments? To clarify, this compiles perfectly with GLEW on Ubuntu 16.04:
static_assert(GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 + 32==GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT,"");
and since it is static_assert, this would be true for any hardware configuration (unless the driver installer modify the header files, which would result in non-portable binaries). Wouldn't separate functions for different attachment classes would have been better as it removes the possibility of colliding constants?
It is important to note the difference in spec language. glActiveTexture says this about its parameter:
An INVALID_ENUM error is generated if an invalid texture is specified. texture is a symbolic constant of the form TEXTUREi, indicating that texture unit i is to be modified. Each TEXTUREi adheres to TEXTUREi = TEXTURE0 + i, where i is in the range zero to k−1, and k is the value of MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS
This text explicitly allows you to compute the enum value, explaining exactly how to do so and what the limits are.
Compare this to what it says about glFramebufferTexture:
An INVALID_ENUM error is generated if attachment is not one of the attachments in table 9.2, and attachment is not COLOR_ATTACHMENTm where m is greater than or equal to the value of MAX_COLOR_ATTACHMENTS.
It looks similar. But note that it doesn't have the language about the value of those enumerators. There's nothing in that description about COLOR_ATTACHMENTm = COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 + m.
As such, it is illegal to use any value other than those specific enums. Now yes, the spec does guarantee elsewhere that COLOR_ATTACHMENTm = COLOR_ATTACHMENT0 + m. But because the guarantee isn't in that section, that section explicitly prohibits the use of any value other than an actual enumerator. Regardless of how you compute it, the result must be an actual enumerator.
So to answer your question, at present, there are only 32 color attachment enumerators. Therefore, MAX_COLOR_ATTACHMENT has an effective maximum value of 32.