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Name

ulimit - get and set process 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. 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() and setrlimit() functions provide a more general interface for controlling process limits.

Return Values

Upon successful completion, a non-negative value is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

Errors

ulimit() fails if the following is true:

EINVAL
The cmd argument is not valid.
EPERM
The effective user of the calling process is not super-user.

See Also

brk(2) , getrlimit(2) , write(2)

Notes

ulimit() is effective in limiting the growth of regular files. Pipes are limited to {PIPE_MAX} bytes.

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