diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/ulimit_unix.go b/cmd/ipfs/ulimit_unix.go
index 1fec41472e8..943c8318869 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/ulimit_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/ulimit_unix.go
@@ -30,12 +30,15 @@ func checkAndSetUlimit() error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error getting rlimit: %s", err)
 	}
 
+	var setting bool
 	if rLimit.Cur < ipfsFileDescNum {
 		if rLimit.Max < ipfsFileDescNum {
+			log.Error("adjusting max")
 			rLimit.Max = ipfsFileDescNum
 		}
-		fmt.Printf("Adjusting current ulimit to %d.\n", ipfsFileDescNum)
+		fmt.Printf("Adjusting current ulimit to %d...\n", ipfsFileDescNum)
 		rLimit.Cur = ipfsFileDescNum
+		setting = true
 	}
 
 	err = syscall.Setrlimit(syscall.RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rLimit)
@@ -43,5 +46,9 @@ func checkAndSetUlimit() error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error setting ulimit: %s", err)
 	}
 
+	if setting {
+		fmt.Printf("Successfully raised file descriptor limit to %d.\n", ipfsFileDescNum)
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bc6cdc040cf..013ce59d151 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -189,6 +189,12 @@
       "hash": "QmVvJ27GcLaLSXvcB4auk3Gn3xuWK5ti5ENkZ2pCoJEYW4",
       "name": "autobatch",
       "version": "0.2.0"
+    },
+    {
+      "author": "whyrusleeping",
+      "hash": "QmdCL8M8DXJdSRnwhpDhukX5r8ydjxnzPJpaKrFudDA8yn",
+      "name": "hang-fds",
+      "version": "0.0.0"
     }
   ],
   "gxVersion": "0.4.0",
diff --git a/test/Makefile b/test/Makefile
index 4d824a88ed9..f6d53dbdd3a 100644
--- a/test/Makefile
+++ b/test/Makefile
@@ -60,10 +60,18 @@ multihash_src:
 	$(eval MULTIHASH_HASH := $(shell cd .. && bin/gx deps find go-multihash))
 	$(eval MULTIHASH_SRC := gx/ipfs/$(MULTIHASH_HASH)/go-multihash)
 
+hang-fds_src:
+	$(eval HANG_FDS_HASH := $(shell cd .. && bin/gx deps find hang-fds))
+	$(eval HANG_FDS_SRC := gx/ipfs/$(HANG_FDS_HASH)/hang-fds)
+
 bin/multihash: multihash_src $(call find_go_files, $(MULTIHASH_SRC)) IPFS-BUILD-OPTIONS
 	@echo "*** installing $@ ***"
 	go build $(GOFLAGS) -o bin/multihash $(MULTIHASH_SRC)/multihash
 
+bin/hang-fds: hang-fds_src $(call find_go_files, $(HANG_FDS_SRC)) IPFS-BUILD-OPTIONS
+	@echo "*** installing $@ ***"
+	go build $(GOFLAGS) -o bin/hang-fds $(HANG_FDS_SRC)
+
 iptb_src:
 	$(eval IPTB_HASH := $(shell cd .. && bin/gx deps find iptb))
 	$(eval IPTB_SRC := gx/ipfs/$(IPTB_HASH)/iptb)
diff --git a/test/sharness/Makefile b/test/sharness/Makefile
index 2c5488dcbc0..9b50ec7a22b 100644
--- a/test/sharness/Makefile
+++ b/test/sharness/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 T = $(sort $(wildcard t[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-*.sh))
 BINS = bin/random bin/multihash bin/ipfs bin/pollEndpoint \
-	   bin/iptb bin/go-sleep bin/random-files bin/go-timeout
+	   bin/iptb bin/go-sleep bin/random-files bin/go-timeout bin/hang-fds
 SHARNESS = lib/sharness/sharness.sh
 IPFS_ROOT = ../..
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
index 677fbe5aa12..beae67eb53d 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0060-daemon.sh
@@ -121,12 +121,20 @@ test_expect_success "daemon with pipe eventually becomes live" '
   test_fsh cat stdin_daemon_out || test_fsh cat stdin_daemon_err || test_fsh cat stdin_poll_apiout || test_fsh cat stdin_poll_apierr
 '
 
-ulimit -n 512
+ulimit -S -n 512
 TEST_ULIMIT_PRESET=1
 test_launch_ipfs_daemon
 
 test_expect_success "daemon raised its fd limit" '
-	grep "ulimit" actual_daemon > /dev/null
+	grep "raised file descriptor limit to 1024." actual_daemon > /dev/null
+'
+
+test_expect_success "daemon actually can handle 1024 file descriptors" '
+	hang-fds -hold=2s 1000 '$API_MADDR'
+'
+
+test_expect_success "daemon didnt throw any errors" '
+	test_expect_code 1 grep "too many open files" daemon_err
 '
 
 test_kill_ipfs_daemon