How many threads can I create ???

[Bartosz Zembrzuski]

Hi 

I've got problem with creating large number of threads on Linux.
My configuration is:
Redhat 7.1 on x86
Kernel 2.4.2-2
Python 2.1

Program is very simple:

import threading
from time import sleep

def fun():
    sleep(10)

def main():

    threads = []
    iter = 100
    for i in range(iter):
        t = threading.Thread(target = fun)
        threads.append(t)

    for i in range(iter):
        print i
        threads[i].start()

    for i in range(iter):
        threads[i].join()

    print 'finished'

main()

86th thread gives me an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 24, in ?
    main()
  File "test.py", line 17, in main
    threads[i].start()
  File "/home/guest/Python-2.1/Lib/threading.py", line 360, in start
    _start_new_thread(self.__bootstrap, ())
thread.error: can't start new thread

I've no idea what's going on. Under Windows I've created over 2000
python threads until error occures. 
Similar program written in C (using pthreads) lets me create over 300
threads (on the same linux machine)

Any suggestions are welcome :)))

Regards