diff --git a/n/m.c b/n/m.c
index f4cbbd922..041dd3816 100644
--- a/n/m.c
+++ b/n/m.c
@@ -1371,7 +1371,8 @@ _cm_limits(void)
   {
     ret_i = getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlm);
     c3_assert(0 == ret_i);
-    rlm.rlim_cur = 4096;
+    rlm.rlim_cur = 10240; // default OSX max, not in rlim_max irritatingly
+    printf("files: %llu\n", rlm.rlim_cur);
     if ( 0 != setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlm) ) {
       perror("file limit");
       //  no exit, not a critical limit
diff --git a/v/unix.c b/v/unix.c
index c68dfb823..61e3807ea 100644
--- a/v/unix.c
+++ b/v/unix.c
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ _unix_file_watch(u3_ufil* fil_u,
                                 &fil_u->was_u // uv_fs_event_t
                                 );
   if (0 != ret_w){
-    uL(fprintf(uH, "event init: %s\n", strerror(ret_w)));
+    uL(fprintf(uH, "event init: %s\n", uv_strerror(ret_w)));
     c3_assert(0);
   }
 
@@ -281,8 +281,8 @@ _unix_file_watch(u3_ufil* fil_u,
                             _unix_fs_event_cb, // callback
                             pax_c,             // dir as strings
                             0);                // flags
-  if (0 != ret_w){
-    uL(fprintf(uH, "event start: %s\n", strerror(ret_w)));
+  if ( 0 != ret_w ){
+    uL(fprintf(uH, "event start: %s\n", uv_strerror(ret_w)));
     c3_assert(0);
   }