diff --git a/src/onAppStartup.cpp b/src/onAppStartup.cpp
index 65214f8..aecaa6c 100644
--- a/src/onAppStartup.cpp
+++ b/src/onAppStartup.cpp
@@ -58,9 +58,21 @@ static void setRLimits() {
 
     if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &curr)) throw herr("couldn't call getrlimit: ", strerror(errno));
 
+#ifdef __FreeBSD__
+    LI << "getrlimit NOFILES limit current " <<  curr.rlim_cur << " with max of " <<  curr.rlim_max;
+    if (cfg().relay__nofiles > curr.rlim_max) {
+        LI << "Unable to set NOFILES limit to " << cfg().relay__nofiles << ", exceeds max of " << curr.rlim_max;
+        if (curr.rlim_cur < curr.rlim_max) {
+            LI << "Setting NOFILES limit to max of " << curr.rlim_max;
+            curr.rlim_cur = curr.rlim_max;
+        }
+    }
+    else curr.rlim_cur = cfg().relay__nofiles;
+    LI << "setrlimit NOFILES limit to " <<  curr.rlim_cur;
+#else
     if (cfg().relay__nofiles > curr.rlim_max) throw herr("Unable to set NOFILES limit to ", cfg().relay__nofiles, ", exceeds max of ", curr.rlim_max);
-
     curr.rlim_cur = cfg().relay__nofiles;
+#endif
 
     if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &curr)) throw herr("Failed setting NOFILES limit to ", cfg().relay__nofiles, ": ", strerror(errno));
 }
@@ -69,10 +81,5 @@ static void setRLimits() {
 void onAppStartup(lmdb::txn &txn, const std::string &cmd) {
     dbCheck(txn, cmd);
 
-#ifndef __FreeBSD__
-    // XXX - strfry error: Unable to set NOFILES limit to 1000000, exceeds max of 116991
-    // XXX - warning: comparison of integer expressions of different signedness: 
-    // XXX   'const uint64_t' {aka 'const long unsigned int'} and 'rlim_t' {aka 'long int'} [-Wsign-compare]
     setRLimits();
-#endif
 }