Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!eecea!terry
From: terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu (Terry Hull)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.sys5
Subject: Re: ulimit (was: getty/login for callback)
Message-ID: <628@eecea.eece.ksu.edu>
Date: 17 Apr 89 22:40:44 GMT
References: <180001@mechp10.UUCP> <13853@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> <797@twwells.uucp> <28@wells.UUCP> <399@aucis.UUCP> <501@bilver.UUCP> <19516@genrad.UUCP>
Reply-To: terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu (Terry Hull)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Kansas State University, Manhattan
Lines: 24

In article <19516@genrad.UUCP> jpn@genrad.genrad.COM (John P. Nelson) writes:
>
>Excuse me, perhaps I'm slow.  But could someone please explain to me
>just what the PURPOSE of "ulimit" is?  What are it's GOOD points?  

It is designed to keep processes from accidentally filling up file
systems.  Here is an example:  I write a program that does a few
calculations and writes the results to a disk file.  The program is
supposed to terminate after 100 iterations, but I forget to increment
the counter on the way through the loop.  The program ends up going
through 1,000,000 iterations.  I do not even notice because I am
running the process in the background.  With no ulimit, I can fill
up a file system totally by accident.  

In general, a quota system does not keep users from filling up file
systems either.  We have a VAX 11/750 running VMS with quotas.  We
have approximately 3X more disk space allocated to users than we have
on the machine!!!!


-- 
Terry Hull 
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University
Work:  terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!terry
Play:  tah386!terry@eecea.eece.ksu.edu, rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!tah386!terry