S6-SOFTLIMIT(8)

📦 version 2.15.1.0, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 s6-softlimit — like, the actual manual page

okay so bestie, welcome to s6-softlimit(8), straight out of the System Manager's Manual ✨ this one's a little drama queen of a tool: it messes with your process limits and then yeets itself into another program. iconic behavior tbh 🎀

💖 NAME 💖

s6-softlimit — change process limits, then execute into another program 🦋

No cap, that's literally the whole personality.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

s6-softlimit [-H | -h] [-a allmem] [-c core] [-d data] [-f fsize]
             [-l lock] [-m mem] [-o ofiles] [-P prio] [-p proc] [-r res]
             [-s stack] [-t cpusecs] prog...

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So here's the vibe: s6-softlimit parses its options and sets process (soft) resource limits accordingly. That's it. That's the job. 💅

And listen — a value of '=' for any option means "set that limit to the hard limit". Super handy shortcut, iykyk. 🫶

Real talk though: depending on your operating system, an option may do nothing. Not being shady, it's just how the OSes are. 🙈

When s6-softlimit has modified all the limits successfully, it executes into prog.... Like, it becomes that program. main character energy literally. 🔥

👑 OPTIONS 👑

💜 Hard limit options

  • -H — Set the hard limit (as well as the soft limit). This is only usable by root if you're raising the limit, and should generally not be used, except once at boot time. The "hard limit" should be a system-wide setting that is never touched after being set once. fr fr, leave it alone after that. ⚠️
  • -h — Set the hard limit, without touching the soft limit. But heads up bestie: if you're lowering the hard limit to a value that's lower than the current soft limit, the soft limit will be lowered to the new value of the hard limit. It just… comes with you. 😭

🦋 Resource selection options

  • -a allmem — Limit the total available memory to allmem bytes. 🍓
  • -c core — Limit the core file size to core bytes. 💀
  • -d data — Limit the available heap memory to data bytes. 🌈
  • -f fsize — Limit the file size to fsize bytes. 📁
  • -l lock — Limit the available locked memory to lock bytes. 🔒
  • -m mem — Limit all types of memory to mem bytes. the everything bagel of memory limits 🥯
  • -o ofiles — Limit the number of open fds to ofiles. 🎀
  • -P prio — Limit the real-time priority to prio. ⭐
  • -p proc — Limit the number of processes to proc (per user). 👯
  • -r res — Limit the available physical memory to res bytes. 🧚
  • -s stack — Limit the available stack memory to stack bytes. 📚
  • -t cpusecs — Limit the available CPU time to cpusecs seconds. ⏱️

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

the whole squad, go say hi 👋

This man page is ported from the authoritative documentation at: https://skarnet.org/software/s6/s6-softlimit.html — go read the source of truth if you want the full lore 💖

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

  • Laurent Bercot
  • Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com> (man page port)

giving credit where credit is due, periodt 👑

mwah 💋 this page came to you from Debian, dated December 6, 2025 — that's the source/version and the date, bestie, noted for the record. now go set some limits and slay ✨🦋💅

📦 where this page comes from