[Pkg-zsh-devel] Bug#807836: Bug#807836: Bug#807836: builtin unlimit leads to "xargs: invalid number for -s"

[Thilo Six]

Daniel Shahaf schrieb/wrote:
> Thilo Six wrote on Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 17:12:17 +0100:
>> The manpage says (as mentioned earlier):
>>       unlimit [ -hs ] resource ...
>>               The resource limit for each resource is set to the  hard  limit.
>>
>> Again "hard limit" by its own is as ambiguous as "unlimited".
>>
> 
> The intended meaning of "hard limit" in this context is "the value of
> the 'rlim_max' member of 'struct rlimit'".  The getrlimit(2) man page
> (and its POSIX spec) use that term with the same meaning.

Up front i have to say i don't speak C.
That being said i digged up the pointers you gave and i admit the unlimit
behaves acordingly to the specs.
(Side note: Actually that is nothing i ever argued against.)

,----[  getrlimit(2)  ]--------
A  privileged  process  (under  Linux:  one  with  the CAP_SYS_RESOURCE
capability) may make arbitrary changes to either limit value.
`-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So unlimited in this context indeed means ∞ and it may be changed arbitrary.

hmmm

>> So as i said above, the definition of "hard limit" should be explicit in the man
>> page, e.g.:
>> The resource limit for each resource is set to the hard limit, that is ...
> 
> Maybe.  I honestly don't have an opinion — I don't find the man page
> ambiguous in the first place ☺.

May i ask then what is a real world use case for the unlimit builtin then?
(Just to make it clear, i am not ironic here, just interested trying to
understand it.)

Thank you for your answer.



kind regards,

     Thilo