diff --git a/src/haproxy.c b/src/haproxy.c
index c6d1505d9..2612e29b9 100644
--- a/src/haproxy.c
+++ b/src/haproxy.c
@@ -1769,7 +1769,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (global.rlimit_nofile) {
 		limit.rlim_cur = limit.rlim_max = global.rlimit_nofile;
 		if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit) == -1) {
-			Warning("[%s.main()] Cannot raise FD limit to %d.\n", argv[0], global.rlimit_nofile);
+			/* try to set it to the max possible at least */
+			getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &limit);
+			Warning("[%s.main()] Cannot raise FD limit to %d, limit is %d.\n", argv[0], global.rlimit_nofile, (int)limit.rlim_cur);
+			global.rlimit_nofile = limit.rlim_cur;
 		}
 	}