[ale] fork killer

[Jim Rundquist]

Josh Murrah wrote:
> 
> I had a lot more than 280 proceses, 280 was the system load. cat
> /proc/loadavg to get your current load.  It hangs around somewhere under
> 1, most of the time.  I've seen it as high as 400, but this is definitly
> extreme.
> 
> Josh Murrah, jmurrah at salug.org, http://www.salug.org/~jmurrah, ICQ 4613433
> ------------------------~~~===<[^]>===~~~----------------------------
> This mail is a natural product.  The slight variations in spelling and
> grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to
> be considered flaws or defects.
> 
> On Wed, 12 Nov 1997 chrisf at computone.com wrote:
> 
> > How can you have a UINX system that is powerful if the process # can only be
> > 280?  Seems like a limitation to me.
> >
> > Chris
> > On 12-Nov-97 Josh Murrah wrote:
> > >
> > >My experience with recent RedHat has been that this program will cause
> > >fork errors, as like you said there is a max. number of proceses.
> > >However, even with this limitation under RedHat, I still managed to drive
> > >the load to 280.
> > >
> > >
> > >Josh Murrah, jmurrah at salug.org, http://www.salug.org/~jmurrah, ICQ 4613433
> > >------------------------~~~===<[^]>===~~~----------------------------
> > >This mail is a natural product.  The slight variations in spelling and
> > >grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to
> > >be considered flaws or defects.
> > >
> > >On Wed, 12 Nov 1997, Geoffrey Myers wrote:
> > >
> > >> Christopher Fowler wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > What can keep someone from running this program and taking down linux
> > >> > box
> > >> > ---- cut here ----
> > >> > #include <unistd.h>
> > >> > main()
> > >> > {
> > >> >         int X=0;
> > >> >         do
> > >> >                 fork();
> > >> >         while ( X == 0 )
> > >> >         return 0;
> > >> > }
> > >> > ---------------------
> > >>
> > >> I don't have enough experience with Linux, but I do know that in
> > >> SVR3/SVR4 you could limit the maximum number of processes per user via
> > >> kernel tunables.  Is this possible under Linux?
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Until later: Geoffrey           geof at abraxis.com
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> > ----------------------------------
> > Christopher Fowler
> > Sales Engineering Manager
> > Computone Corporation
> > 1100 Northmeadow Pkwy
> > Roswell, GA 30076
> > ----------------------------------
> >

A look in tasks.h shows a maximum number of tasks per user of 512/2 in
the Linux 1.2 kernel. I'm not sure if this is diferent in later versions
of the kernel or if 'tasks' as defined in this file is the same as
'processes' created using fork().
-- 

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines