limits.conf

[Thilo Six <T.Six@gmx.de>]

Hello

i have observed a to my (limited) understanding a strange behavior regarding
limits settings. I would like some hint if i am doing s.th. wrong or if i
encountered a bug.


i have the following:
----------------------------------------------------
        /etc/security/limits.conf
----------------------------------------------------
*           -     nproc   512
root        soft  nproc   1024
root        hard  nproc   2048

*           -     nofile  8192
root        -     nofile  16383
----------------------------------------------------

limits.conf(5):
NOTE: group and wildcard limits are not applied to the root
      user. To set a limit for the root user, this field must
      contain the literal username root.


With the settings above applied when i log in on a vt as root i get the
follwoing limits for user root:

root on vt:
# ulimit -Hu
2048
# ulimit -Hn
16383
# ulimit -Su
1024
# ulimit -Sn
16383


^- These are excepted results.


Now when i log into kde and start konsole or a xterm and 'su -' i get the following:

root in kde:
# ulimit -Sn
8192
# ulimit -Hn
8192
# ulimit -Su
512
# ulimit -Hu
512


su(1):
  -, -l, --login
      Provide an environment similar to what the user would
      expect had the user logged in directly.

As you can see in this case the limits defined for a ordinary user are applied
for root. IMO this is a bug as it breaks documented behavior.

Should this be reported or am i missing s.th.?

-- 
Regards,
Thilo

4096R/0xC70B1A8F
721B 1BA0 095C 1ABA 3FC6  7C18 89A4 A2A0 C70B 1A8F