Making ulimit default value permanent without calling ulimit

I modified /etc/security/limits.conf. I can manually raise the number of file descriptors using ulimit -n. I can put that command in /etc/profile or similar.

How can I avoid /etc/profile or similar shell modifications and just have ulimit -n show the right limit from the start?

# fgrep nofile /etc/security/limits.conf
*                -       nofile          16384

# egrep '__FD_SETSIZE.*16384' /usr/include/*/*h
/usr/include/bits/typesizes.h:#define   __FD_SETSIZE            16384
/usr/include/linux/posix_types.h:#define __FD_SETSIZE   16384

# fgrep pam_limits /etc/pam.d/*
/etc/pam.d/atd:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/cron:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/login:session    required   pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/login:session    required   /lib/security/pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/ssh:session    required     pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/ssh:session    required   /lib/security/pam_limits.so
/etc/pam.d/su:session    required   pam_limits.so

# uname -a
Linux clt 2.6.22-14-generic #1 SMP Tue Feb 12 07:00:00 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

The first two changes above were enough to raise the limit permanently on Ubuntu Dapper, but I cannot find a way to do that (without shell)  on Gutsy.

I login as root via ssh, but that should not matter.

Thank you.
Start Free Trial