ulimit (was: getty/login for callback)

[Guy Harris]

>>Excuse me, perhaps I'm slow.  But could someone please explain to me
>>just what the PURPOSE of "ulimit" is?  What are it's GOOD points?  
>
>It is designed to keep processes from accidentally filling up file
>systems.

Fine.  Did it has to be implemented so obnoxiously to achieve that goal?
I've seen posting after posting complaining that the ulimit was too low,
and that it was painful to crank it up.  It would have been a lot better
had the default been "infinity" rather than 1MB; if somebody actually
*does* want to limit their program's disk consumption, they can set a
non-infinite ulimit themselves.

>In general, a quota system does not keep users from filling up file
>systems either.  We have a VAX 11/750 running VMS with quotas.  We
>have approximately 3X more disk space allocated to users than we have
>on the machine!!!!

Right.  And a speed governor doesn't keep people from speeding if you
set it to 180MPH....

What do you *expect* if you set your quotas up so that the sum of the
quotas adds up to 3 times the amount of disk space you have?