I wonder if I should get a Raspberry PI and start it up on March 14? (You know, PI day).

Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

My Pi 3 gives

core file size          (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7314
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 65536
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 95
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7314
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited

Note the differences in, max locked memory, pending signals, open files, max user processes, real-time priority.
Might be different O/S, other than the max locked memory I don't really see anything, unless the system is having an issue with the priority of real time tasks and they can't get done and out of the way of normal tasks.

Hi Gary,

All 3 of my Pis read the same using ulimit. All 3 are running the same OS, the version that came with them on the MicroSD cards. I forget what it is off hand. :) Only 2 of the Pis needed to have the hard reboot done, the third was still running good. All 3 were still crunching SETI.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

My Pi 3 gives

core file size          (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7314
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 65536
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 95
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7314
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited

Note the differences in, max locked memory, pending signals, open files, max user processes, real-time priority.
Might be different O/S, other than the max locked memory I don't really see anything, unless the system is having an issue with the priority of real time tasks and they can't get done and out of the way of normal tasks.

Hi Gary,

All 3 of my Pis read the same using ulimit. All 3 are running the same OS, the version that came with them on the MicroSD cards. I forget what it is off hand. :) Only 2 of the Pis needed to have the hard reboot done, the third was still running good. All 3 were still crunching SETI.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

If all three are running identical stuff, that is interesting. You might want to run top on them every so often to see if there is a process that is using more and more RAM.

One unix admin trick is to keep a high priority shell logged in all the time so when normal methods fail, you hopefully have something that will respond to you.

Gary

The original version of Raspian was based on Stretch. Now most Pi's are running Buster if they have been allowed to update. Could be the difference in OS'

But I agree that max locked memory is concerning. This is what my Pi shows. I have never had any issues remoting into it or viewing it in BoincTasks.

keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 0
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 7336
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 65536
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 7336
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Hi Gary,

If all three are running identical stuff, that is interesting. You might want to run top on them every so often to see if there is a process that is using more and more RAM.

One unix admin trick is to keep a high priority shell logged in all the time so when normal methods fail, you hopefully have something that will respond to you.

Gary

I haven't a clue about "high priority shells".

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

The original version of Raspian was based on Stretch. Now most Pi's are running Buster if they have been allowed to update. Could be the difference in OS'

But I agree that max locked memory is concerning. This is what my Pi shows. I have never had any issues remoting into it or viewing it in BoincTasks.

keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority (-e) 0
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals (-i) 7336
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 65536
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority (-r) 0
stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 7336
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks (-x) unlimited

Hi Keith,

I have no problem remoting into each Pi and BT has no problem with them either. Only 2 of the Pis exhibited the lack of memory allocation, the third one was ok.

I haven't a clue on changing any of those values or even if it can be done.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Set a higher max locked memory limit.

ulimit -l 16384

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Set a higher max locked memory limit.

ulimit -l 16384

Hi Keith,

pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ ulimit -l 16384
bash: ulimit: max locked memory: cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $

Oops!

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Hi Gary,

If all three are running identical stuff, that is interesting. You might want to run top on them every so often to see if there is a process that is using more and more RAM.

One unix admin trick is to keep a high priority shell logged in all the time so when normal methods fail, you hopefully have something that will respond to you.

Gary

I haven't a clue about "high priority shells".

Have a great day! :)

Siran

shell = terminal

Information on priority for "normal" things.
$ man nice
$ man renice
These can make a process more responsive but once in a while not enough.

To get more responsive, "real time" things.
$ man chrt
but if you do set this make sure you don't issue any CPU intensive commands or you can crash/lock the system. Your job is now higher priority than some of the O/S itself and that can cause problems.

Also with chrt you can set the science applications to idle priority so they don't run unless there really isn't anything else wanting to run. Okay on a Pi as there isn't any GPU work. Not so okay with GPU because the science has to respond to the GPU calls PDQ.

Set a higher max locked memory limit.

ulimit -l 16384

Hi Keith,

pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ ulimit -l 16384
bash: ulimit: max locked memory: cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $

Oops!

Have a great day! :)

Siran

Just need a sudo in front of the ulimit command.

HI Siran, I would have thought by now you would have recognized that when you see an error message like this . . . it simply means you don't have privileges for the operation at your security level.

sudo su
ulimit -l 16384

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

HI Siran, I would have thought by now you would have recognized that when you see an error message like this . . . it simply means you don't have privileges for the operation at your security level.

sudo su
ulimit -l 16384

Hi Keith,

Hey, I'm a relative noob. ;) The listing did not require the "sudo", so I did not think about using it to change a value. Usually commands are better at telling me that "sudo" is required; better clues. This one gave me no clue that "sudo" was required for this to work. ;)

Another thing, too, that I have noticed here when someone helps someone with a problem is that most of the time they will put the "sudo" in the command line. As mentioned, the list did not require it so I did not assume the value change needed it. Perhaps I should just start assuming that from now on. You know, even when I look stuff up on the Internet, the command line examples will have the "sudo" in them. I don't know why I didn't think about the Internet when this happened. :( For some reason I thought it related to BOINC since BOINC was still running without a problem. Oh well. That's what I get for thinking... ;)

Have a great day! :)

Siran

[edit]
No change that I can see...

pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7345
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7345
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $

[/edit]
[edit2]
I did the ulimit -a while still at "sudo su" and -l was change to the 16384 value. I closed the terminal and went back into it with my regular "security level" and I get the above list where -l has the 64 value and not 16384. I close terminal and open it and do the "sudo su" and the ulimit -a and get the list above where -l is 64. This tells me something is not changing...
[/edit2]

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Set a higher max locked memory limit.

ulimit -l 16384

Hi Keith,

pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ ulimit -l 16384
bash: ulimit: max locked memory: cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $

Oops!

Have a great day! :)

Siran

Just need a sudo in front of the ulimit command.

Hi Gary,

Please see my response to Keith. :)

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Greetings,

@Keith: Could this be why I could not get the value to change?

rick@Minty-Winders:~$ ulimit --help
ulimit: ulimit [-SHabcdefiklmnpqrstuvxPT] [limit]
Modify shell resource limits.

Provides control over the resources available to the shell and processes
it creates, on systems that allow such control.

Options:
-S use the `soft' resource limit
-H use the `hard' resource limit
-a all current limits are reported
-b the socket buffer size
-c the maximum size of core files created
-d the maximum size of a process's data segment
-e the maximum scheduling priority (`nice')
-f the maximum size of files written by the shell and its children
-i the maximum number of pending signals
-k the maximum number of kqueues allocated for this process
-l the maximum size a process may lock into memory
-m the maximum resident set size
-n the maximum number of open file descriptors
-p the pipe buffer size
-q the maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues
-r the maximum real-time scheduling priority
-s the maximum stack size
-t the maximum amount of cpu time in seconds
-u the maximum number of user processes
-v the size of virtual memory
-x the maximum number of file locks
-P the maximum number of pseudoterminals
-T the maximum number of threads

Not all options are available on all platforms.

If LIMIT is given, it is the new value of the specified resource; the
special LIMIT values `soft', `hard', and `unlimited' stand for the
current soft limit, the current hard limit, and no limit, respectively.
Otherwise, the current value of the specified resource is printed. If
no option is given, then -f is assumed.

Values are in 1024-byte increments, except for -t, which is in seconds,
-p, which is in increments of 512 bytes, and -u, which is an unscaled
number of processes.

Exit Status:
Returns success unless an invalid option is supplied or an error occurs.
rick@Minty-Winders:~$

Could the way that Linux is installed on the Pi and the fact that the Pi has a very limited amount of resources be why I could not get the value to change?

Have a great day! :)

Siran

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Must be something strange about your installation. I just changed a bunch of ulimit parameters willy-nilly and had no issues and they all stuck. It does seem to only change the values for the current user profile. So that is why changing as root did not carry back to just user.

keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7336
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 65536
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7336
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited
keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -l 16384
keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7336
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 16384
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7336
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited
keith@midget:~ $

[Edit] OK try this:
su your username. Give your password. Now you are back at the username prompt. Then issue the ulimit command. NOW it will take the command and not give errors on permissions.

keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7336
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 16384
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7336
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited
keith@midget:~ $

keith@midget:~ $ su keith
Password: 
keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -l 65536
keith@midget:~ $ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7336
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 65536
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7336
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Must be something strange about your installation. I just changed a bunch of ulimit parameters willy-nilly and had no issues and they all stuck. It does seem to only change the values for the current user profile. So that is why changing as root did not carry back to just user.

Might just be the very simple if you change it as root, it only applies to new logins? Of course it really should be set in the .rc file so it survives a reboot.

Might just be the very simple if you change it as root, it only applies to new logins? Of course it really should be set in the .rc file so it survives a reboot.

Sound advice to make the change permanent in the .rc file.

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Greetings,

Hi Keith,

[Edit] OK try this:
su your username. Give your password. Now you are back at the username prompt. Then issue the ulimit command. NOW it will take the command and not give errors on permissions.

I tried it and this is what I got:

pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ su pi
Password: 
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ sudo ulimit -l 16384
sudo: ulimit: command not found
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $ ulimit -l 16384
bash: ulimit: max locked memory: cannot modify limit: Operation not permitted
pi@Rasbpi-1:~ $

In looking at this on the Internet, I saw something about .conf files and such for ulimit. I wonder if I could edit a file to change the -l value. Let me see what I can find.

Have a great day! :)

Siran

[edit]
Ok. In /etc/security is a folder called limits.d. The folder is empty. On the Internet I found that... ok example time. Near the bottom of this page shows what can be added to /etc/security/limits.d. I tell you what, this is getting WAY over my pay grade when it comes to doing stuff in Linux. ;) I'm thinking at this point that I should just leave things as is. I'm afraid I'd screw something up so bad that the Pi would no longer boot and stuff.
[/edit]

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

In the news at the moment for the Raspberry Pi:

Raspbian Buster Gets New Features in Big Update


Enjoy!

Happy cool crunchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I updated and saw nothing of interest or worth commenting about. Supposed to be a small change in Nautilus with the side panel. I never noticed what was supposed to be different.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)