ULIMIT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual ULIMIT(3)NAMEulimit — get and set process limits
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <ulimit.h>
long
ulimit(int cmd, ...);
DESCRIPTION
The ulimit() function will get and set process limits. Currently this is
limited to the maximum file size. The cmd argument is one of the follow‐
ing:
UL_GETFSIZE will return the maximum file size in units of 512 blocks of
the current process.
UL_SETFSIZE will attempt to set the maximum file size of the current
process and its children with the second argument expressed
as a long.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, ulimit() returns the value requested; other‐
wise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to
indicate the error.
ERRORS
The ulimit() function will fail if:
[EINVAL] The command specified was invalid.
[EPERM] The limit specified to ulimit() would have raised the
maximum limit value, and the caller is not the super-
user.
SEE ALSOgetrlimit(2)STANDARDS
The ulimit() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”).
HISTORY
The ulimit() function first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.
BUGS
The ulimit() function provides limited precision for setting and retriev‐
ing process limits. If there is a need for greater precision than the
type long provides, the getrlimit(2) and setrlimit(2) functions should be
considered.
BSD January 4, 2003 BSD
