diff --git a/usr.bin/rpcgen/rpc_svcout.c b/usr.bin/rpcgen/rpc_svcout.c
index aa5a86ad2ba9..3c6d0824f11a 100644
--- a/usr.bin/rpcgen/rpc_svcout.c
+++ b/usr.bin/rpcgen/rpc_svcout.c
@@ -728,7 +728,8 @@ write_timeout_func(void)
 	if (tirpcflag) {
 		f_print(fout, "\t\t\tstruct rlimit rl;\n\n");
 		f_print(fout, "\t\t\trl.rlim_max = 0;\n");
-		f_print(fout, "\t\t\tgetrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rl);\n");
+		f_print(fout, "\t\t\tif (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rl) == -1)\n");
+		f_print(fout, "\t\t\t\treturn;\n");
 		f_print(fout, "\t\t\tif ((size = rl.rlim_max) == 0) {\n");
 		
 		if (mtflag)
@@ -902,7 +903,11 @@ write_rpc_svc_fg(const char *infile, const char *sp)
 	/* get number of file descriptors */
 	if (tirpcflag) {
 		f_print(fout, "%srl.rlim_max = 0;\n", sp);
-		f_print(fout, "%sgetrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rl);\n", sp);
+		f_print(fout, "%sif (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rl) == -1) {\n",
+		    sp);
+		f_print(fout, "%s\tperror(\"getrlimit\");\n", sp);
+		f_print(fout, "%s\texit(1);\n", sp);
+		f_print(fout, "%s}\n", sp);
 		f_print(fout, "%sif ((size = rl.rlim_max) == 0)\n", sp);
 		f_print(fout, "%s\texit(1);\n", sp);
 	} else {