This problem appears to be fixed in woody and sid. I guess it can be closed now. ~[505]$ ulimit -v 81920 ~[506]$ tail /dev/zero tail: memory exhausted -- Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> | Why make M$-Bill richer & richer ? Debian-related: <dirson@debian.org> | Support Debian GNU/Linux: Pro: <yann.dirson@fr.alcove.com> | Freedom, Power, Stability, Gratuity http://ydirson.free.fr/ | Check <http://www.debian.org/>