xref: /netbsd/lib/libc/gen/ulimit.3 (revision c4a72b64)
1.\"	$NetBSD: ulimit.3,v 1.6 2002/10/01 16:59:48 wiz Exp $
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6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
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37.Dd September 13, 1999
38.Dt ULIMIT 3
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm ulimit
42.Nd get and set process limits
43.Sh LIBRARY
44.Lb libc
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include \*[Lt]ulimit.h\*[Gt]
47.Ft long int
48.Fn ulimit "int cmd" ...
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Fn ulimit
52function provides a method to query or alter resource limits of the calling
53process.
54The method to be performed is specified by the
55.Fa cmd
56argument; possible values are:
57.Bl -tag -width UL_GETFSIZEXX
58.It Li UL_GETFSIZE
59Return the soft file size limit of the process.
60The value returned is in units of 512-byte blocks.
61If the result cannot be represented in an object of type
62.Fa long int ,
63the result is unspecified.
64.It Li UL_SETFSIZE
65Set the hard and soft file size limits of the process to the value of the
66second argument passed, which is in units of 512-byte blocks, and which is
67expected to be of type
68.Fa long int .
69The new file size limit of the process is returned.
70Any process may decrease the limit, but raising it is only permitted if
71the caller is the super-user.
72.El
73.Pp
74If successful, the
75.Fn ulimit
76function will not change the setting of
77.Va errno .
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn ulimit
81function is an obsolete interface; applications are encouraged to use
82.Xr getrlimit 2
83and
84.Xr setrlimit 2
85instead.
86.Sh RETURN VALUES
87If successful, the
88.Fn ulimit
89function returns the value of the requested limit.
90Otherwise, it returns \-1, sets
91.Va errno
92to indicate an error, and the limit is not changed.
93Therefore, to detect an error condition applications should set
94.Va errno
95to 0, call
96.Fn ulimit ,
97and check if \-1 is returned and
98.Va errno
99is non-zero.
100.Sh ERRORS
101The
102.Fn ulimit
103function will fail if:
104.Bl -tag -width Er
105.It Bq Er EINVAL
106The
107.Fa cmd
108argument is not valid.
109.It Bq Er EPERM
110It was attempted to increase a limit, and the caller is not the super-user.
111.El
112.Sh SEE ALSO
113.Xr getrlimit 2 ,
114.Xr setrlimit 2
115.Sh STANDARDS
116The
117.Fn ulimit
118function conforms to
119.St -xsh5 .
120