HP-UX Reference (11i v2 03/08) - 2 System Calls (vol 5)

ulimit(2) ulimit(2)

NAME

ulimit - get and set user limits

SYNOPSIS

#include <ulimit.h>

long ulimit(int cmd, ...);

Remarks

The ANSI C ", ..." construct denotes a variable length argument list whose optional [or required]

members are given in the associated comment (

/* */).

DESCRIPTION

ulimit() provides for control over process limits. Available values for cmd are:

UL_GETFSIZE Get the 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. The

optional second argument is not used.

UL_SETFSIZE Set the ﬁle size limit of the process to the value of the optional second argu-

ment which is taken as a long. Any process can decrease this limit, but only a

process with an effective user ID of super-user can increase the limit. Note

that the limit must be speciﬁed in units of 512-byte blocks.

UL_GETMAXBRK Get the maximum possible break value (see brk(2)). Depending on system

resources such as swap space, this maximum might not be attainable at a

given time. The optional second argument is not used.

ERRORS

ulimit() fails if one or more of the following conditions is true.

[EINVAL] cmd is not in the correct range.

[EPERM]

ulimit() fails and the limit is unchanged if a process with an effective user ID

other than super-user attempts to increase its ﬁle size limit.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, a non-negative value is returned. Errors return a −1, with

errno set to

indicate the error.