----- Original Message -----
> On (10/08/13 08:08), Jaroslav Skarvada wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > > I used Youquan's patch, but we have noticed that it can only overcome
> > > > soft
> > > > limits,
> > > > but not hard limits. E.g. on Fedora (and probably others) there is a
> > > > soft
> > > > limit
> > > > of 1024 and a hard limit of 4096, so if powertop opens at least 15 file
> > > > descriptors
> > > > per CPU, then this will fail on a system with >273 CPUs.
> > > 
> > > that's a pretty big system
> > > 
> > > > In case you think we can also temporally increase the hard limit (as we
> > > > already have
> > > > the privilege), the attached patch will do it. In case you think the
> > > > hard
> > > > limits set by
> > > > the system administrator are untouchable (e.g. violation of system
> > > > resources hard limits
> > > > could result in a bad effects like explosion in a nuclear power plant
> > > > :),
> > > > the
> > > > previously sent patch that fixes the error message needs to be also
> > > > used
> > > 
> > > hm, need to think about this for a moment. both your patches make sense.
> > > I'd probably go with `temporally increase the hard limit' solution, to
> > > make
> > > someones life easier. what do you, guys, think?
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 	-ss
> > > 
> > > > regards
> > > > 
> > > > Jaroslav
> > > 
> > > > diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
> > > > index 0883424..e0e8a71 100644
> > > > --- a/src/main.cpp
> > > > +++ b/src/main.cpp
> > > > @@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
> > > >  #include <getopt.h>
> > > >  #include <unistd.h>
> > > >  #include <locale.h>
> > > > +#include <sys/resource.h>
> > > > +#include <linux/limits.h>
> > > >  
> > > >  #include "cpu/cpu.h"
> > > >  #include "process/process.h"
> > > > @@ -283,11 +285,16 @@ static void powertop_init(void)
> > > >  	static char initialized = 0;
> > > >  	int ret;
> > > >  	struct statfs st_fs;
> > > > +	struct rlimit rlmt;
> > > >  
> > > >  	if (initialized)
> > > >  		return;
> > > >  
> > > >  	checkroot();
> > > > +
> > > > +	rlmt.rlim_cur = rlmt.rlim_max = NR_OPEN;
> > 
> > This seems to be wrong. On my system NR_OPEN is 1024, but
> > /proc/sys/fs/nr_open gives me 1048576. It seems the linux kernel
> > hardcodes 1024 * 1024 as the default kernel limit. This default
> > limit can be raised to:
> > 
> > sysctl_nr_open_max = min((size_t)INT_MAX, ~(size_t)0/sizeof(void *)) &
> >   -BITS_PER_LONG;
> > 
> > which is 2 Gi - 63 on my 64 bit system. I think we shouldn't
> > touch/increase this. It seems there is no header definition for these
> > limits.
> > 
> > I am proposing new patch, which reads the current kernel limit from the
> > /proc. I am not sure about the portability, but at least it shouldn't
> > break anything.
> > 
> > Finally I think, the first patch could be applied together with this patch
> > (probably with the changed message) to notify user that he/she reached
> > the FDs limit, because there is still some limit. This could also
> > occur if some process would decrease the /proc/sys/fs/nr_open after
> > it is read by powertop and before the ulimit is set
> > 
> > regards
> > 
> > Jaroslav
> 
> > diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
> > index 0883424..16b1613 100644
> > --- a/src/main.cpp
> > +++ b/src/main.cpp
> > @@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
> >   *	Arjan van de Ven <arjan(a)linux.intel.com>
> >   */
> >  #include <iostream>
> > +#include <fstream>
> >  #include <stdlib.h>
> >  #include <stdio.h>
> >  #include <time.h>
> > @@ -36,6 +37,7 @@
> >  #include <getopt.h>
> >  #include <unistd.h>
> >  #include <locale.h>
> > +#include <sys/resource.h>
> >  
> >  #include "cpu/cpu.h"
> >  #include "process/process.h"
> > @@ -60,6 +62,8 @@
> >  
> >  #define DEBUGFS_MAGIC          0x64626720
> >  
> > +#define NR_OPEN_DEF 1024 * 1024
> >  int debug_learning = 0;
> >  unsigned time_out = 20;
> >  int leave_powertop = 0;
> > @@ -278,16 +282,35 @@ static void checkroot() {
> >  
> >  }
> >  
> > +static int get_nr_open(void) {
> > +	int nr_open = NR_OPEN_DEF;
> > +	ifstream file;
> > +
> > +	file.open("/proc/sys/fs/nr_open", ios::in);
> > +	if (file) {
> > +		file >> nr_open;
> > +		if (!file)
> > +			nr_open = NR_OPEN_DEF;
> 
> 
> what if /proc/sys/fs/nr_open is less than 4096 or (NR_OPEN_DEF)?
> you probaly want max()?

I think you cannot set ulimit beyond /proc/sys/fs/nr_open. You
need to increase /proc/sys/fs/nr_open first, which is something
we should avoid

JS