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Increase the maximum number of open file descriptors in Snow Leopard?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026145924 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I am trying to do something that requires a large number of file descriptors is as high as Snow Leopard wants to go; beyond this results in /usr/bin/ulimit: line 4: ulimit: open files: cannot modify limit: Invalid argument. I want to raise the number much higher, say 100000. Is it possible?

Error Output

sudo ulimit -n 12288

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Fix for: Increase the maximum number of open file descriptors in Snow Leopard?

Low Risk

Using command only changes the resource limits for the current shell and its children and creates a root shell, adjusts its limits, and then exits (thus having, as far as I can see, no real effect). To exceed 12288, you need to adjust the kernel's and parameters, and also (at least according to this blog entry, which is a summary of this discussion) a launchd limit. You can use to adjust all of these at once: To make this permanent (i.e not reset when you reboot), create containing: Then you ca…

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