\" $NetBSD: ulimit.3,v 1.9 2010/04/30 05:09:23 jruoho Exp $

\" $NetBSD: ulimit.3,v 1.9 2010/04/30 05:09:23 jruoho Exp $
\"
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\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
\" by Klaus Klein.
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Dd April 30, 2010
Dt ULIMIT 3
Os
Sh NAME
Nm ulimit
Nd get and set process limits
Sh LIBRARY
Lb libc
Sh SYNOPSIS
In ulimit.h
Ft long int
Fn ulimit "int cmd" ...
Sh DESCRIPTION
The
Fn ulimit
function provides a method to query or alter resource limits of the calling
process.
The method to be performed is specified by the
Fa cmd
argument; possible values are:
Bl -tag -width UL_GETFSIZEXX
It Li UL_GETFSIZE
Return the soft file size limit of the process.
The value returned is in units of 512-byte blocks.
If the result cannot be represented in an object of type
Fa long int ,
the result is unspecified.
It Li UL_SETFSIZE
Set the hard and soft file size limits of the process to the value of the
second argument passed, which is in units of 512-byte blocks, and which is
expected to be of type
Fa long int .
The new file size limit of the process is returned.
Any process may decrease the limit, but raising it is only permitted if
the caller is the super-user.
El
Pp
If successful, the
Fn ulimit
function will not change the setting of
Va errno .
Sh RETURN VALUES
If successful, the
Fn ulimit
function returns the value of the requested limit.
Otherwise, it returns \-1, sets
Va errno
to indicate an error, and the limit is not changed.
Therefore, to detect an error condition applications should set
Va errno
to 0, call
Fn ulimit ,
and check if \-1 is returned and
Va errno
is non-zero.
Sh ERRORS
The
Fn ulimit
function will fail if:
Bl -tag -width Er
It Bq Er EINVAL
The
Fa cmd
argument is not valid.
It Bq Er EPERM
It was attempted to increase a limit, and the caller is not the super-user.
El
Sh SEE ALSO
Xr getrlimit 2 ,
Xr setrlimit 2
Sh STANDARDS
The
Fn ulimit
function conforms to
St -xsh5
and
St -p1003.1-2001 .
It was marked as obsolete in the
St -p1003.1-2008
revision, which recommended the use of
Xr getrlimit 2
and
Xr setrlimit 2
instead, noting that because
Fn ulimit
uses the type
Vt long
rather than
Vt rlim_t ,
it may not be sufficient for file sizes on many current systems.