The default file descriptor limit (ulimit -n 1024) is too low

[Kees Cook]

Hi Scott,

On Fri, Nov 05, 2010 at 03:49:42AM -0700, Scott Ritchie wrote:
> Upon investigation, it seems that there is support for a "soft"
> (default) and a "hard" (apps-can-increase-themselves) limit.  Would it
> be ok if we raised the hard limit?

I'm not hugely opposed to that; I am worried that people will just
arbitrarily raise the limit on applications that can't handle it, though,
but that at least requires some work. Does anyone seen a downside to
raising the soft limit?

As for how to do it, the limit comes from the kernel initially and is
modified by Upstart and PAM, depending on configurations. I'm not 100% sure
the best approach to take.

-Kees

-- 
Kees Cook
Ubuntu Security Team