UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi there,

I am working on AIX and i dont have permission for /etc/security/limits file.

In the man page of ulimit it is mentioned that it will get the limitations for me from /etc/security/limits file.

the file permission for ulimit command is

-r-xr-xr-x 15 bin bin 1453 Sep 6 15:02 /usr/bin/ulimit

It doesnt have sbit set and i dont have any permission on /etc/security/limits file. So how did ulimit command returned the results for me?

Thank you...

I see read and execute permission for others on ulimit file.
So it should allow you to execute.

I dont have any problem in executing that...

My question is how it is able to read from /etc/security/limits file for which i dont have permissions to read

/usr/bin/ulimit is just a shell script wrapper.

Code:

# file /usr/bin/ulimit
/usr/bin/ulimit: shell script  - psh (POSIX shell)

bakunin

what do u mean by shell script wrapper??
which binary is actually executed when we give ulimit -a??

the source code of ulimit in AIX is

ulimit.txt


when i give the command 'sh -x ulimit -a' the output is

command=ulimit
+ [ ulimit = type ]
+ [ ulimit = hash ]
+ ulimit -a
time(seconds) unlimited
file(blocks) 2097151
data(kbytes) 131072
stack(kbytes) 32768
memory(kbytes) 32768
coredump(blocks) 2097151
nofiles(descriptors) 2000

So when the ulimit -a(bolded) is executed which binary is actually called?

Sorry if i sound very dumb.. i am not able to understand how it works...

Sorry, i should have been less terse. The "binary" actually executed is the Korn shell itself, as "ulimit" is a built-in command. See:

Code:

# whence -v ulimit
ulimit is a shell builtin

I hope this helps.

bakunin

oh... thank you very much bakunin.. it did help a lot