Java and virtual memory ulimit

Question

I am trying to use java in an environment where the virtual memory is limited to 2GB by ulimit -v 2000000 but I get memory errors. Running java -version in this environment gives:

$ java -version
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.
Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.

No matter how low I set -Xmx, I cannot get java to run under this environment. However, if ulimit -v is set to 2.5GB, then I can set -Xmx to 250m, but no higher.

$ java -Xmx250m -version
java version "1.7.0_19"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.3.9.1.el6_4-x86_64)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)

$ java -Xmx251m -version
#
# There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.
# pthread_getattr_np
java version "1.7.0_19"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.3.9.1.el6_4-x86_64)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)# An error report file with more information is saved as:
# ~/hs_err_pid12079.log

Is it possible to use java in an environment where ulimit is used to limit the virtual memory?

Answer 1

This is a well known giant bug in all available JVMs (oracle or openjdk, version 6,7,8). Reported here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-7/+bug/1241926 https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8071445

Unfortunately without solution by the Java developers. Solution: Play desperately with the various java options or stop using java and java based applications :-(