GETRLIMIT
Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (2)
Updated: 2004-06-16
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NAME
getrlimit, setrlimit - get/set resource limits
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <sys/resource.h>
int getrlimit(int resource, struct rlimit *rlim);
int setrlimit(int resource, const struct rlimit *rlim);
DESCRIPTION
getrlimit()
and
setrlimit()
get and set resource limits respectively.
Each resource has an associated soft and hard limit, as defined by the
rlimit
structure (the
rlim
argument to both
getrlimit() and setrlimit()):
struct rlimit {
rlim_t rlim_cur; /* Soft limit */
rlim_t rlim_max; /* Hard limit (ceiling for rlim_cur) */
};
The soft limit is the value that the kernel enforces for the
corresponding resource.
The hard limit acts as a ceiling for the soft limit:
an unprivileged process may only set its soft limit to a value in the
range from 0 up to the hard limit, and (irreversibly) lower its hard limit.
A privileged process (under Linux: one with the
CAP_SYS_RESOURCE
capability) may make arbitrary changes to either limit value.
The value
RLIM_INFINITY
denotes no limit on a resource (both in the structure returned by
getrlimit()
and in the structure passed to
setrlimit()).
resource
must be one of:
- RLIMIT_AS
-
The maximum size of the process's virtual memory (address space) in bytes.
This limit affects calls to
brk(2),
mmap(2)
and
mremap(2),
which fail with the error
ENOMEM
upon exceeding this limit. Also automatic stack expansion will fail
(and generate a
SIGSEGV
that kills the process if no alternate stack
has been made available via
sigaltstack(2)).
Since the value is a long, on machines with a 32-bit long
either this limit is at most 2 GiB, or this resource is unlimited.
- RLIMIT_CORE
-
Maximum size of
core
file. When 0 no core dump files are created.
When nonzero, larger dumps are truncated to this size.
- RLIMIT_CPU
-
CPU time limit in seconds.
When the process reaches the soft limit, it is sent a
SIGXCPU
signal.
The default action for this signal is to terminate the process.
However, the signal can be caught, and the handler can return control to
the main program.
If the process continues to consume CPU time, it will be sent
SIGXCPU
once per second until the hard limit is reached, at which time
it is sent
SIGKILL.
(This latter point describes Linux 2.2 through 2.6 behaviour.
Implementations vary in how they treat processes which continue to
consume CPU time after reaching the soft limit.
Portable applications that need to catch this signal should
perform an orderly termination upon first receipt of
SIGXCPU.)
- RLIMIT_DATA
-
The maximum size of the process's data segment (initialized data,
uninitialized data, and heap).
This limit affects calls to
brk() and sbrk(),
which fail with the error
ENOMEM
upon encountering the soft limit of this resource.
- RLIMIT_FSIZE
-
The maximum size of files that the process may create.
Attempts to extend a file beyond this limit result in delivery of a
SIGXFSZ
signal.
By default, this signal terminates a process, but a process can
catch this signal instead, in which case the relevant system call (e.g.,
write(), truncate())
fails with the error
EFBIG.
- RLIMIT_LOCKS
-
A limit on the combined number of
flock()
locks and
fcntl()
leases that this process may establish.
(Early Linux 2.4 only.)
- RLIMIT_MEMLOCK
-
The maximum number of bytes of memory that may be locked
into RAM.
In effect this limit is rounded down to the nearest multiple
of the system page size.
This limit affects
mlock(2) and mlockall(2)
and the
mmap(2)
MAP_LOCKED
operation.
Since Linux 2.6.9 it also affects the
shmctl(2)
SHM_LOCK
operation, where it sets a maximum on the total bytes in
shared memory segments (see
shmget(2))
that may be locked by the real user ID of the calling process.
The
shmctl(2)
SHM_LOCK
locks are accounted for separately from the per-process memory
locks established by
mlock(2), mlockall(2),
and
mmap(2)
MAP_LOCKED;
a process can lock bytes up to this limit in each of these
two categories.
In Linux kernels before 2.6.9, this limit controlled the amount of
memory that could be locked by a privileged process.
Since Linux 2.6.9, no limits are placed on the amount of memory
that a privileged process may lock, and this limit instead governs
the amount of memory that an unprivileged process may lock.
- RLIMIT_NOFILE
-
Specifies a value one greater than the maximum file descriptor number
that can be opened by this process.
Attempts
(open(), pipe(), dup(), etc.)
to exceed this limit yield the error
EMFILE.
- RLIMIT_NPROC
-
The maximum number of processes that can be created for the real user
ID of the calling process.
Upon encountering this limit,
fork()
fails with the error
EAGAIN.
- RLIMIT_RSS
-
Specifies the limit (in pages) of the process's resident set
(the number of virtual pages resident in RAM).
This limit only has effect in Linux 2.4 onwatrds, and there only
affects calls to
madvise()
specifying
MADVISE_WILLNEED.
- RLIMIT_SIGPENDING
-
Specifies the limit on the number of signals
that may be queued for the real user ID of the calling process.
Both standard and real-time signals are counted for the purpose of
checking this limit.
However, the limit is only enforced for
sigqueue(2);
it is always possible to use
kill(2)
to queue one instance of any of the signals that are not already
queued to the process.
(Since Linux 2.6.8.)
- RLIMIT_STACK
-
The maximum size of the process stack, in bytes.
Upon reaching this limit, a
SIGSEGV
signal is generated.
To handle this signal, a process must employ an alternate signal stack
(sigaltstack(2)).
RLIMIT_OFILE
is the BSD name for
RLIMIT_NOFILE.
RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and
errno
is set appropriately.
ERRORS
- EFAULT
-
rlim
points outside the accessible address space.
- EINVAL
-
resource
is not valid.
- EPERM
-
An unprivileged process tried to use setrlimit() to
increase a soft or hard limit above the current hard limit; the
CAP_SYS_RESOURCE
capability is required to do this.
Or, the process tried to use setrlimit() to increase
the soft or hard RLIMIT_NOFILE limit above the current kernel
maximum (NR_OPEN).
BUGS
In older Linux kernels, the
SIGXCPU
and
SIGKILL
signals delivered when a process encountered the soft and hard
RLIMIT_CPU
limits were delivered one (CPU) second later than they should have been.
This was fixed in kernel 2.6.8.
CONFORMING TO
SVr4, BSD 4.3.
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK
and
RLIMIT_NPROC
derive from BSD and are not specified in POSIX.1-2001;
they are present on the BSDs and Linux, but on few other implementations.
RLIMIT_RSS
derives from BSD and is not specified in POSIX.1-2001;
it is nevertheless present on most implementations.
RLIMIT_SIGPENDING
is Linux specific.
SEE ALSO
dup(2),
fcntl(2),
fork(2),
getrusage(2),
mlock(2),
mmap(2),
open(2),
quotactl(2),
sbrk(2),
shmctl(2),
sigqueue(2),
malloc(3),
ulimit(3),
capabilities(7),
signal(7)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- RETURN VALUE
-
- ERRORS
-
- BUGS
-
- CONFORMING TO
-
- SEE ALSO
-
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