Documentation: file handles are now freed

file-max & file-nr:

The kernel allocates file handles dynamically, but as yet it

doesn't free them again.

The value in file-max denotes the maximum number of file-

handles that the Linux kernel will allocate. When you get lots

of error messages about running out of file handles, you might

want to increase this limit.

Historically, the three values in file-nr denoted the number of

allocated file handles, the number of allocated but unused file

handles, and the maximum number of file handles. Linux 2.6 always

reports 0 as the number of free file handles -- this is not an

error, it just means that the number of allocated file handles

exactly matches the number of used file handles.

Historically,the kernel was able to allocate file handles

dynamically, but not to free them again. The three values in

file-nr denote the number of allocated file handles, the number

of allocated but unused file handles, and the maximum number of

file handles. Linux 2.6 always reports 0 as the number of free

file handles -- this is not an error, it just means that the

number of allocated file handles exactly matches the number of

used file handles.

Attempts to allocate more file descriptors than file-max are

reported with printk, look for "VFS: file-max limit <number>