Message-Id: <199607101351.IAA13013@sierra.zyzzyva.com>
To: new-httpd@hyperreal.com
Subject: Re: Oops explained 
In-reply-to: ben's message of Wed, 10 Jul 1996 12:40:42 +0100.
         <9607101240.aa11285@gonzo.ben.algroup.co.uk>
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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 08:51:41 -0500
From: Randy Terbush <randy@zyzzyva.com>
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Reply-To: new-httpd@hyperreal.com

> Further investigation has revealed that my problem is not Apache but the
> CGI+SCO 5 (it seems). What I hadn't made clear before was that the server in
> question was a test server, and was handling but a single request (which is
> why MaxClients didn't really matter).
> 
> Anyway, the problem was caused by the rogue CGI growing without limit. When the
> process hits around 60 MB, SCO stops working. Not sure why it gives me "too
> many process" errors when, in fact, the number of processes is unchanged (out
> of swap space, perhaps?).
> 
> Anyway, this made me wonder about using setrlimit() to stop the process from
> running away. I then wondered whether, in fact, Apache should (optionally) use
> setrlimit() to limit _all_ CGIs?
> 
> Thoughts?

This is a safety net that I had planned to add to the http_exec.c and
setuid exec stuff that Jason and I have been working on. It would
then set these limits for included execs, cgi execs etc.