diff --git a/man7/unix.7 b/man7/unix.7
index f22e9c0ed..b4b60308a 100644
--- a/man7/unix.7
+++ b/man7/unix.7
@@ -452,6 +452,14 @@ then the ancillary data is truncated (or discarded)
 and the excess file descriptors are automatically closed
 in the receiving process.
 .IP
+If the number of file descriptors received in the ancillary data would
+cause the process to exceed its
+.B RLIMIT_NOFILE
+resource limit (see
+.BR getrlimit (2)),
+the excess file descriptors are automatically closed
+in the receiving process.
+.IP
 The kernel constant
 .BR SCM_MAX_FD
 defines a limit on the number of file descriptors in the array.