Hello.  What I really want to do is change the default limit for all
shells on the system.  Can I do this without recompiling the kernel?  Using
sysctl seems like the obvious way to do it, but it sounds like that's not
how it works.  So, how should I go about doing this?
-thanks
-Brian
On Oct 4,  1:25pm, "Jeremy C. Reed" wrote:
} Subject: Re: Changing proc.curproc.rlimit.datasize.soft silently fails und
} On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, Brian Buhrow wrote:
} 
} > 	Hello Jeremy.  Yes, I have  proc.curproc.rlimit.datasize.soft
} > in my /etc/sysctl.conf file.
} > What tipped me off to this problem was that I set the variable in the
} > config file, and rebooted.  Yet, the value didn't change.  My understanding
} > is that if I update the sysctl variable, it won't affect my current shell, but
} > new shells should pick it up, right?  At the very least,  sysctl -a should
} > show the change.
} 
} No.
} 
} It is for the "current process" which exits immediately. It doesn't change 
} your parent process. So next time your run "sysctl -a" that is a new 
} process which is unrelated.
} 
} Instead of proc.curproc.rlimit.datasize.soft, if you want to change the 
} shell use:
} 
} proc.$$.rlimit.datasize.soft
} 
} (where the $$ is the shell's current process ID.)
} 
} Or use the shell's builtin "ulimit -d". Note that shell is in kilobytes 
} and the sysctl is in bytes for the "data size".
} 
} 
} 
} > 	I have other variables set in the sysctl.conf file, which are set, so
} > I know the startup scripts are runing properly.
} > -thanks
} > -Brian
} 
>-- End of excerpt from "Jeremy C. Reed"