Has anyone a clue on this one ?

sudo cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max
1048576

sudo cat /etc/security/limits.conf
* soft nofile 1048576
* hard nofile 1048576

sudo cat /etc/sysctl.conf
fs.file-max=1048576

ulimit -n
1048576

But yet when my service starts at boot:

sudo cat /proc/pid/limits | grep files
Max open files 1024 1024 files

Whenever I restart my service everything is ok:
sudo cat /proc/pid/limits | grep files
Max open files 1048576 1048576 files

This is running on a Debian Etch with kernel 2.6.28