diff --git a/src/syscall/rlimit.go b/src/syscall/rlimit.go
index 9547ce8f6d..f94b894b90 100644
--- a/src/syscall/rlimit.go
+++ b/src/syscall/rlimit.go
@@ -50,11 +50,10 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 func Setrlimit(resource int, rlim *Rlimit) error {
-	err := setrlimit(resource, rlim)
-	if err == nil && resource == RLIMIT_NOFILE {
+	if resource == RLIMIT_NOFILE {
 		// Store nil in origRlimitNofile to tell StartProcess
 		// to not adjust the rlimit in the child process.
 		origRlimitNofile.Store(nil)
 	}
-	return err
+	return setrlimit(resource, rlim)
 }