diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 271cd4a1..6e101752 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -29,3 +29,4 @@
 /testrun.sum
 /testrun.log
 /cecil
+*~
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ae2f01bc..6ba9ac2c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@
 
 	* build/monodebuggerserver.vcproj: Added.
 
+2009-04-28  Martin Baulig  <martin@ximian.com>
+
+	* build/ulimit-check.c: New helper program to check `ulimit -v';
+	we'll add more checks to it later.
+
+	* build/runtests.in: Refuse the run the tests if `ulimit-check' fails.
+
 2009-04-17  Martin Baulig  <martin@ximian.com>
 
 	* classes/LineNumberTable.cs
diff --git a/build/.gitignore b/build/.gitignore
index 4bfed8cf..f620d6c1 100644
--- a/build/.gitignore
+++ b/build/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@
 /TestResult.log
 /TestResult.xml
 /runtests
+/ulimit-check
diff --git a/build/Makefile.am b/build/Makefile.am
index 2018adfc..9b1f4ece 100644
--- a/build/Makefile.am
+++ b/build/Makefile.am
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ endif
 
 noinst_SCRIPTS = \
 	runtests					\
+	ulimit-check					\
 	Mono.Debugger.dll				\
 	Mono.Debugger.Frontend.dll			\
 	Mono.Debugger.Test.dll
diff --git a/build/runtests.in b/build/runtests.in
index 110e7d67..20fbd233 100644
--- a/build/runtests.in
+++ b/build/runtests.in
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=@top_builddir@/backend/server/.libs:@top_builddir@/frontend/libedit/.libs:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-cd @top_builddir@/build && exec @MONO@ --debug=mdb-optimizations @NUNIT_CONSOLE_EXE@ @NUNIT_CONSOLE_FLAGS@ Mono.Debugger.Test.dll $*
+cd @top_builddir@/build && @top_builddir@/build/ulimit-check && exec @MONO@ --debug=mdb-optimizations @NUNIT_CONSOLE_EXE@ @NUNIT_CONSOLE_FLAGS@ Mono.Debugger.Test.dll $*
diff --git a/build/ulimit-check.c b/build/ulimit-check.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3cd910d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/ulimit-check.c
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <sys/time.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
+
+#define VLIMIT_MINIMUM 1200000
+
+int
+main (void)
+{
+	struct rlimit rlim;
+	long vlimit;
+
+	if (getrlimit (RLIMIT_AS, &rlim) != 0) {
+		fprintf (stderr, "getrlimit (RLIMIT_AS) failed!\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	vlimit = rlim.rlim_cur / 1024;
+	if (vlimit < VLIMIT_MINIMUM) {
+		fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: 'ulimit -v' is too low, need a minimum of %ld kb.\n", VLIMIT_MINIMUM);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}