There is no built-in way to limit the number of process instances.
You could help yourself with a little trick:
# rename cvs, adapt the path if necessary
mv /usr/bin/cvs /usr/bin/cvs.bin
Create a script that will run CVS, named /usr/bin/cvs
--------------- >8 ---------------
#!/bin/bash
lockfile=/var/lock/cvs_instances.lock
max_instances=5
# get number of running instances
if [ -r $lockfile ]; then
num_instances=`awk '{printf $1}' $lockfile`
else
num_instances=0
fi
# check if max is reached
if [ $num_instances -lt $max_instances ]; then
# if not, increase the number by 1
awk '{printf("%d",$1+1)}' $lockfile >$lockfile
# run the real cvs binary with all parameters passed to the script
exec /usr/bin/cvs.bin "$@"
# and decrease the number of running instances after the cvs has exited.
awk '{printf("%d",$1-1)}' $lockfile >$lockfile
fi
--------------- >8 ---------------
# Make sure the script has the right permissions:
chown root:root /usr/bin/cvs
chmod 0744 /usr/bin/cvs
Now you should be able to limit your number of cvs instances. It is configurable by changing the variable $max_instances in the script.
