The rss item in in pam_limits is not enforced. I'm guessing that this bug isn't really a pam_limits bug, as ulimit -m doesn't work either. If this isn't supported, then it should be (at minimum): -> Removed from the default limits.conf -> ulimit -m disabled in bash/etc -> A note added to the pam_limits documentation
ulimit -m works fine here. However I haven't tested setting it via the limits.conf yet.
Tomas, Maybe my understanding of what ulimit -m does is wrong. My understanding is that if I start any app in an environment of ulimit -m 1024, it should only be allowed to use up 1Mb of resident memory? i.e. run ulimit -m 1024, then start some memory hungry app. top will show that it has a RSS of more than 1Mb. Or am I on the wrong track here?
Ah, you are right, the limit is there but it isn't enforced by the kernel. See: http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=2pU4q-6n6-27%40gated-at.bofh.it for the patch which enforces it. However we won't remove the functionality from pam and ulimit. But maybe it should be mentioned in some doc that the limit isn't enforced.