Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 10:00:07 -0400
From: kagel AT quasar DOT bloomberg DOT com
To: peter AT deakin DOT edu DOT au
Cc: lancette AT teleview DOT com DOT sg, djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Re: Problems opening > 20 files when using FOPEN
Reply-To: kagel AT ts1 DOT bloomberg DOT com

On  Mon, 26 Jun 1995  Peter Horan <peter AT deakin DOT edu DOT au> wrote:

   In UNIX, the number of file descriptors is limited to 20, numbered 0 to 19. 
   This limit is a function of the library. Descriptors 0, 1 and 2 ...

In response to Paul Lancette's problem.  This is a common misconception.  UNIX
DOES NOT limit the number of open file handles to 20.  In both System V and BSD
the maximum number of open files per process and the maximum number of open
files for the system as a whole are tunable parameters in the kernel gen.
Virtually every commercial UNIX site I have seen has increased both the per
process limit and the system limit.  I even worked at one shop where both were
set to the maximum aloowable value (this is version dependent but always
>256/process and >1024 for the system)!  The 20 files per process is simply the
usual default value and the one delivered with the gen out of the box.

-- 
Art S. Kagel, kagel AT ts1 DOT bloomberg DOT com

Variety is the soul of pleasure.  --  Aphra Behn