Description of problem:

If the initial max_connections value inside my.cnf is too big,
mysql reverts to a fixed not helping default.

131118 17:45:58 [Warning] Changed limits: max_open_files: 1024  max_connections: 214  table_cache: 400

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.34, for Linux (i686) using readline 5.1

How reproducible:

Always.

Steps to Reproduce:

1.

my.cnf:

[mysqld]
...
max_connections = 2000
...

-------------------------------------------------
/etc/systemd/system/mysqld.service:

.include /usr/lib/systemd/system/mysqld.service
[Service]
LimitNOFILE=1000000

Actual results:

214 connections:

131118 17:45:58 [Warning] Changed limits: max_open_files: 1024  max_connections: 214  table_cache: 400


Expected results:

2000 connections.

################# Additional :

With max_connections=700 it's working.

This means to me, the systemd service file addition:

LimitNOFILE=1000000

does not have any effect. 

BTW: 

why isn't it possible to set more than 1 million open files  i.e. unlimited ?