Re: Too many open files (was Re: spinlock problems reported earlier)

The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org> writes:
> Okay, I just checked out Solaris 8/x86, and it confirms what HP/ux thinks:
>      _SC_OPEN_MAX            OPEN_MAX                   Max open files per
>                                                         process
> I'm curious as to whether FreeBSD is the only one that doesn't follow this
> "convention"?

I've also confirmed that SunOS 4.1.4 (about as old-line BSD as it gets
these days) says _SC_OPEN_MAX is max per process.  Furthermore,
I notice that FreeBSD's description of sysctl(3) refers to a
max-files-per-process kernel parameter, but no max-files-per-userid
parameter.  Perhaps the entry in the FreeBSD sysconf(2) man page is
merely a typo?

If so, I still consider that FreeBSD returns an unreasonably large
fraction of the kernel FD table size as the number of files one
process is allowed to open.
        regards, tom lane