ulimit(2) ulimit(2) NAME ulimit - get and set user limits SYNOPSIS #include <ulimit.h> long ulimit(int cmd, ... /* newlimit */ ); DESCRIPTION This function provides for control over process limits. The cmd values available are: UL_GETFSIZE Get the regular file size limit of the process. The limit is in units of 512-byte blocks and is inherited by child processes. Files of any size can be read. UL_SETFSIZE Set the regular file size limit of the process to the value of newlimit , taken as a long. newlimit is interpreted in units of 512-byte blocks. If, when converted to bytes, newlimit exceeds RLIM_INFINITY, the new file size limit is set to RLIM_INFINITY bytes. No error is returned. Any process may decrease this limit, but only a process with an effective user ID of super-user may increase the limit. UL_GMEMLIM Get the maximum possible break value [see brk(2)]. UL_GDESLIM Get the current value of the maximum number of open files per process configured in the system. The getrlimit system call provides a more general interface for controlling process limits. ulimit fails if the following is true: EINVAL The cmd argument is not valid. EPERM An attempt was made to increase the process's file size limit and the calling process does not have the super-user privilege. SEE ALSO brk(2), getrlimit(2), write(2) NOTES ulimit is effective in limiting the growth of regular files. Pipes are currently limited to {PIPE_MAX}. DIAGNOSTICS Upon successful completion, a non-negative value is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. Page 1