diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8450f73..474c6f1 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
  * xC: offer IRCnet as an IRC network to connect to,
    rather than the lunatic new Freenode
 
+ * xD: started bumping the soft limit on file descriptors to the hard one
+
 
 1.3.0 (2021-08-07) "New World Order"
 
diff --git a/xD.c b/xD.c
index 5e8d6a9..8d24cef 100644
--- a/xD.c
+++ b/xD.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * xD.c: an IRC daemon
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2014 - 2020, Přemysl Eric Janouch <p@janouch.name>
+ * Copyright (c) 2014 - 2021, Přemysl Eric Janouch <p@janouch.name>
  *
  * Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
  * purpose with or without fee is hereby granted.
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
 #define WANT_SYSLOG_LOGGING
 #include "common.c"
 #include "xD-replies.c"
+
 #include <nl_types.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
 
 enum { PIPE_READ, PIPE_WRITE };
 
@@ -3984,6 +3986,21 @@ daemonize (struct server_context *ctx)
 	poller_post_fork (&ctx->poller);
 }
 
+static void
+setup_limits (void)
+{
+	struct rlimit limit;
+	if (getrlimit (RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit))
+	{
+		print_warning ("%s: %s", "getrlimit", strerror (errno));
+		return;
+	}
+
+	limit.rlim_cur = limit.rlim_max;
+	if (setrlimit (RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit))
+		print_warning ("%s: %s", "setrlimit", strerror (errno));
+}
+
 int
 main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {
@@ -4030,6 +4047,7 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	print_status (PROGRAM_NAME " " PROGRAM_VERSION " starting");
 	setup_signal_handlers ();
+	setup_limits ();
 	init_openssl ();
 
 	struct server_context ctx;