I'm running pam-0.77-r8, and I have the following in /etc/security/limits.conf: * soft core unlimited * hard core unlimited Which leads to the following in my system logs: Feb 17 11:35:09 bmb244 pam_limits[26734]: wrong limit value 'unlimited' Feb 17 11:35:09 bmb244 pam_limits[26734]: wrong limit value 'unlimited' That said, it seems to work just fine: bmb244 ~ > ulimit -c 0 bmb244 ~ > ulimit -c unlimited bmb244 ~ > ulimit -c unlimited There's a thread on debian long ago about this issue, but I'm not sure if it's still relevant: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2000/04/msg01129.html # emerge info Portage 2.0.51-r15 (default-linux/amd64/2005.0, gcc-3.4.3, glibc-2.3.4.20050125-r0, 2.6.9-gentoo-r14 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.9-gentoo-r14 x86_64 AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 250 Gentoo Base System version 1.6.9 Python: dev-lang/python-2.3.4,dev-lang/python-2.4-r2 [2.4 (#1, Feb 8 2005, 10:10:35)] distcc 2.18.3 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [disabled] ccache version 2.3 [enabled] dev-lang/python: 2.3.4, 2.4-r2 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.59-r6 sys-devel/automake: 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.8.5-r3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.4_p6, 1.9.4 sys-devel/binutils: 2.15.92.0.2-r2 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.10-r4 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.10 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64 ~amd64" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-march=k8 -O2 -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/env /usr/kde/3.3/share/config /usr/kde/3.3/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /usr/share/texmf/dvipdfm/config/ /usr/share/texmf/dvips/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/texmf/xdvi/ /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=k8 -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache cvs distlocks sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j3" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="amd64 X acpi alsa apache2 berkdb bitmap-fonts crypt cups doc dvd esd f77 fam flac fortran gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib ipv6 jp2 jpeg kde libwww lzw lzw-tiff mad motif mysql ncurses nls nptl oggvorbis opengl oss pam pda perl png python qt readline ssl tcltk tcpd tetex tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode usb userlocales xml2 xmms xpm xprint xrandr xv zlib" Unset: ASFLAGS, CBUILD, CTARGET, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS
pam_limits is actually to _impose_ limits, not lift them, and a better place might be in .bashrc/.bash_profile, as the hardlimit should already be unlimited. Alternatively you could use 0x7FFFFFFF (2147483647) which should be the same as unlimited.
Hmmm, I thought I was running into a hardlimit problem, but I can't seem to reproduce it right now. I'm closing this bug for now, until I figure out exactly what's going on.
