diff --git a/AppKit/Jakefile b/AppKit/Jakefile
index b465b9f15..70db16a3d 100644
--- a/AppKit/Jakefile
+++ b/AppKit/Jakefile
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 
 require("../common.jake");
 
-var framework = require("objective-j/jake").framework;
-var BundleTask = require("objective-j/jake").BundleTask;
+checkUlimit();
+
+var framework = require("objective-j/jake").framework,
+    BundleTask = require("objective-j/jake").BundleTask;
 
 $BUILD_PATH = FILE.join($BUILD_DIR, $CONFIGURATION, 'AppKit');
 
diff --git a/Tools/nib2cib/main.j b/Tools/nib2cib/main.j
index 3e5475c9d..e00eae9ae 100644
--- a/Tools/nib2cib/main.j
+++ b/Tools/nib2cib/main.j
@@ -22,9 +22,33 @@
 
 @import "Nib2Cib.j"
 
+var OS = require("OS"),
+    stream = require("narwhal/term").stream;
+
+
 function main(args)
 {
+    checkUlimit();
+
     var nib2cib = [[Nib2Cib alloc] initWithArgs:args];
 
     [nib2cib run];
 }
+
+function checkUlimit()
+{
+    var minUlimit = 1024,
+        p = OS.popen(["ulimit", "-n"]);
+
+    if (p.wait() === 0)
+    {
+        var limit = p.stdout.read().split("\n")[0];
+
+        if (Number(limit) < minUlimit)
+        {
+            stream.print("\0red(\0bold(WARNING:\0)\0) nib2cib may need to open more files than this terminal session currently allows (" + limit + "). Add the following line to your login configuration file (.bash_profile, .bashrc, etc.), start a new terminal session, then try again:\n");
+            stream.print("ulimit -n " + minUlimit);
+            OS.exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/common.jake b/common.jake
index 9eded1280..eb2b2dbdc 100644
--- a/common.jake
+++ b/common.jake
@@ -540,6 +540,25 @@ global.colorPrint = function(/* String */ message, /* String */ color)
     stream.print(colorize(message, color));
 };
 
+var minUlimit = 1024;
+
+global.checkUlimit = function()
+{
+    var p = OS.popen(["ulimit", "-n"]);
+
+    if (p.wait() === 0)
+    {
+        var limit = p.stdout.read().split("\n")[0];
+
+        if (Number(limit) < minUlimit)
+        {
+            stream.print("\0red(\0bold(WARNING:\0)\0) Cappuccino may need to open more files than this terminal session currently allows (" + limit + "). Add the following line to your login configuration file (.bash_profile, .bashrc, etc.), start a new terminal session, then try again:\n");
+            stream.print("ulimit -n " + minUlimit);
+            OS.exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 
 // built in tasks
 
diff --git a/narwhal.local.conf b/narwhal.local.conf
index 235176eab..9fe4e691b 100644
--- a/narwhal.local.conf
+++ b/narwhal.local.conf
@@ -1,9 +1,3 @@
 if [ -z "$NARWHAL_ENGINE" ] && [ -d "$NARWHAL_HOME/packages/narwhal-jsc" ]; then
 	export NARWHAL_ENGINE=jsc
 fi
-
-if [ "$NARWHAL_ENGINE" == jsc ] && [ `ulimit -n` -lt 512 ]; then
-    # JSC and Narwhal together have some trouble closing files, leading to the Cappuccino
-    # build process crashing with a "popen error (pipe): Too many open files" error.
-    ulimit -n 512
-fi