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From: rcw@qetzal.UUCP (sysop)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: ulimit's (was "Re: Another Annoying Microport Inquiry")
Message-ID: <178@qetzal.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Oct-87 02:09:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: qetzal.178
Posted: Sun Oct  4 02:09:16 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Oct-87 05:06:45 EDT
References: <1408@dasys1.UUCP> <6475@brl-smoke.ARPA> <926@sauron.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Organization: Graphics Information, Inc., Denver, CO.
Lines: 31
Keywords: Microport patch ulimit
Summary: huh?
Xref: mnetor comp.unix.wizards:4678 comp.unix.questions:4394

> The default "ulimit" should be set using the default number of processes and the
> default amount of swap space.  Careful use of "ulimit" allows one to avoid
> getting into pathological "out of swap space" conditions.  Thus a 1M default
> "ulimit" value is *not* stupid if the machine in question will default to
> a fairly large number of processes but a small amount of swap space.
> -- 
> 						Mark Campbell
> 						{}!ncsu!ncrcae!sauron!campbell
I believe mark misunderstands the purpose of ulimit in Chapter two.
The function is used to 1) get the file size limit of the 
process. 2) set the file size limit of the process to some other
value. 3) Find out the maximum possible break value.

The Microport product has a kludge to patch the DEFAULT ulimit 
size; that is, the file size limit which will be permitted 
when the system is booted.

Therefore, a one megabyte "ulimit" is inappropriate if users are
working routinely with much larger files. A particularly obnoxious
implementation of changing one's ulimit can be found on the IBM-RT,
where the limit for each user is specified in the password file, and
by default is 65536 logical blocks. 

I do not see what connection ulimit has to "out of swap space" 
error messages or to the number of processes currently running.

-- 
Robert C. White, Jr   *---- ----*   MENTOR SOFTWARE, INC. 1-303-252-9090
ihnp4!upba!qetzal!rcw |   |_|   |       
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