aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
blob: 322a00bb99d97f703130de7f349f2dbc9b6fa24e (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/*	kernel version 2.2.10
	(c) 1998, 1999,  Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
	(c) 2009,        Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>

For general info and legal blurb, please look in README.

==============================================================

This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in
/proc/sys/kernel/ and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2.

The files in this directory can be used to tune and monitor
miscellaneous and general things in the operation of the Linux
kernel. Since some of the files _can_ be used to screw up your
system, it is advisable to read both documentation and source
before actually making adjustments.

Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration)
show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
- acpi_video_flags
- acct
- auto_msgmni
- core_pattern
- core_uses_pid
- ctrl-alt-del
- dentry-state
- domainname
- hostname
- hotplug
- java-appletviewer           [ binfmt_java, obsolete ]
- java-interpreter            [ binfmt_java, obsolete ]
- kstack_depth_to_print       [ X86 only ]
- l2cr                        [ PPC only ]
- modprobe                    ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
- modules_disabled
- msgmax
- msgmnb
- msgmni
- nmi_watchdog
- osrelease
- ostype
- overflowgid
- overflowuid
- panic
- pid_max
- powersave-nap               [ PPC only ]
- panic_on_unrecovered_nmi
- printk
- randomize_va_space
- real-root-dev               ==> Documentation/initrd.txt
- reboot-cmd                  [ SPARC only ]
- rtsig-max
- rtsig-nr
- sem
- sg-big-buff                 [ generic SCSI device (sg) ]
- shmall
- shmmax                      [ sysv ipc ]
- shmmni
- stop-a                      [ SPARC only ]
- sysrq                       ==> Documentation/sysrq.txt
- tainted
- threads-max
- unknown_nmi_panic
- version

==============================================================

acpi_video_flags:

flags

See Doc*/kernel/power/video.txt, it allows mode of video boot to be
set during run time.

==============================================================

acct:

highwater lowwater frequency

If BSD-style process accounting is enabled these values control
its behaviour. If free space on filesystem where the log lives
goes below <lowwater>% accounting suspends. If free space gets
above <highwater>% accounting resumes. <Frequency> determines
how often do we check the amount of free space (value is in
seconds). Default:
4 2 30
That is, suspend accounting if there left <= 2% free; resume it
if we got >=4%; consider information about amount of free space
valid for 30 seconds.

==============================================================

core_pattern:

core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
. max length 128 characters; default value is "core"
. core_pattern is used as a pattern template for the output filename;
  certain string patterns (beginning with '%') are substituted with
  their actual values.
. backward compatibility with core_uses_pid:
	If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
	and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
	the filename.
. corename format specifiers:
	%<NUL>	'%' is dropped
	%%	output one '%'
	%p	pid
	%u	uid
	%g	gid
	%s	signal number
	%t	UNIX time of dump
	%h	hostname
	%e	executable filename
	%<OTHER> both are dropped
. If the first character of the pattern is a '|', the kernel will treat
  the rest of the pattern as a command to run.  The core dump will be
  written to the standard input of that program instead of to a file.

==============================================================

core_uses_pid:

The default coredump filename is "core".  By setting
core_uses_pid to 1, the coredump filename becomes core.PID.
If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
the filename.

==============================================================

ctrl-alt-del:

When the value in this file is 0, ctrl-alt-del is trapped and
sent to the init(1) program to handle a graceful restart.
When, however, the value is > 0, Linux's reaction to a Vulcan
Nerve Pinch (tm) will be an immediate reboot, without even
syncing its dirty buffers.

Note: when a program (like dosemu) has the keyboard in 'raw'
mode, the ctrl-alt-del is intercepted by the program before it
ever reaches the kernel tty layer, and it's up to the program
to decide what to do with it.

==============================================================

domainname & hostname:

These files can be used to set the NIS/YP domainname and the
hostname of your box in exactly the same way as the commands
domainname and hostname, i.e.:
# echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
# echo "mydomain" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname
has the same effect as
# hostname "darkstar"
# domainname "mydomain"

Note, however, that the classic darkstar.frop.org has the
hostname "darkstar" and DNS (Internet Domain Name Server)
domainname "frop.org", not to be confused with the NIS (Network
Information Service) or YP (Yellow Pages) domainname. These two
domain names are in general different. For a detailed discussion
see the hostname(1) man page.

==============================================================

hotplug:

Path for the hotplug policy agent.
Default value is "/sbin/hotplug".

==============================================================

l2cr: (PPC only)

This flag controls the L2 cache of G3 processor boards. If
0, the cache is disabled. Enabled if nonzero.

==============================================================

kstack_depth_to_print: (X86 only)

Controls the number of words to print when dumping the raw
kernel stack.

==============================================================

modules_disabled:

A toggle value indicating if modules are allowed to be loaded
in an otherwise modular kernel.  This toggle defaults to off
(0), but can be set true (1).  Once true, modules can be
neither loaded nor unloaded, and the toggle cannot be set back
to false.

==============================================================

osrelease, ostype & version:

# cat osrelease
2.1.88
# cat ostype
Linux
# cat version
#5 Wed Feb 25 21:49:24 MET 1998

The files osrelease and ostype should be clear enough. Version
needs a little more clarification however. The '#5' means that
this is the fifth kernel built from this source base and the
date behind it indicates the time the kernel was built.
The only way to tune these values is to rebuild the kernel :-)

==============================================================

overflowgid & overflowuid:

if your architecture did not always support 32-bit UIDs (i.e. arm, i386,
m68k, sh, and sparc32), a fixed UID and GID will be returned to
applications that use the old 16-bit UID/GID system calls, if the actual
UID or GID would exceed 65535.

These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID.
The default is 65534.

==============================================================

panic:

The value in this file represents the number of seconds the
kernel waits before rebooting on a panic. When you use the
software watchdog, the recommended setting is 60.

==============================================================

panic_on_oops:

Controls the kernel's behaviour when an oops or BUG is encountered.

0: try to continue operation

1: panic immediately.  If the `panic' sysctl is also non-zero then the
   machine will be rebooted.

==============================================================

pid_max:

PID allocation wrap value.  When the kernel's next PID value
reaches this value, it wraps back to a minimum PID value.
PIDs of value pid_max or larger are not allocated.

==============================================================

powersave-nap: (PPC only)

If set, Linux-PPC will use the 'nap' mode of powersaving,
otherwise the 'doze' mode will be used.

==============================================================

printk:

The four values in printk denote: console_loglevel,
default_message_loglevel, minimum_console_loglevel and
default_console_loglevel respectively.

These values influence printk() behavior when printing or
logging error messages. See 'man 2 syslog' for more info on
the different loglevels.

- console_loglevel: messages with a higher priority than
  this will be printed to the console
- default_message_level: messages without an explicit priority
  will be printed with this priority
- minimum_console_loglevel: minimum (highest) value to which
  console_loglevel can be set
- default_console_loglevel: default value for console_loglevel

==============================================================

printk_ratelimit:

Some warning messages are rate limited. printk_ratelimit specifies
the minimum length of time between these messages (in jiffies), by
default we allow one every 5 seconds.

A value of 0 will disable rate limiting.

==============================================================

printk_ratelimit_burst:

While long term we enforce one message per printk_ratelimit
seconds, we do allow a burst of messages to pass through.
printk_ratelimit_burst specifies the number of messages we can
send before ratelimiting kicks in.

==============================================================

randomize-va-space:

This option can be used to select the type of process address
space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
that support this feature.

0 - Turn the process address space randomization off by default.

1 - Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
    This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
    loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the location
    of code start is randomized.

    With heap randomization, the situation is a little bit more
    complicated.
    There a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
    versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
    just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
    start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
    non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
    systems it is safe to choose full randomization. However there is
    a CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option for systems with ancient and/or broken
    binaries, that makes heap non-randomized, but keeps all other
    parts of process address space randomized if randomize_va_space
    sysctl is turned on.

==============================================================

reboot-cmd: (Sparc only)

??? This seems to be a way to give an argument to the Sparc
ROM/Flash boot loader. Maybe to tell it what to do after
rebooting. ???

==============================================================

rtsig-max & rtsig-nr:

The file rtsig-max can be used to tune the maximum number
of POSIX realtime (queued) signals that can be outstanding
in the system.

rtsig-nr shows the number of RT signals currently queued.

==============================================================

sg-big-buff:

This file shows the size of the generic SCSI (sg) buffer.
You can't tune it just yet, but you could change it on
compile time by editing include/scsi/sg.h and changing
the value of SG_BIG_BUFF.

There shouldn't be any reason to change this value. If
you can come up with one, you probably know what you
are doing anyway :)

==============================================================

shmmax: 

This value can be used to query and set the run time limit
on the maximum shared memory segment size that can be created.
Shared memory segments up to 1Gb are now supported in the 
kernel.  This value defaults to SHMMAX.

==============================================================

softlockup_thresh:

This value can be used to lower the softlockup tolerance threshold.  The
default threshold is 60 seconds.  If a cpu is locked up for 60 seconds,
the kernel complains.  Valid values are 1-60 seconds.  Setting this
tunable to zero will disable the softlockup detection altogether.

==============================================================

tainted: 

Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted.  Numeric values, which
can be ORed together:

   1 - A module with a non-GPL license has been loaded, this
       includes modules with no license.
       Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
   2 - A module was force loaded by insmod -f.
       Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
   4 - Unsafe SMP processors: SMP with CPUs not designed for SMP.
   8 - A module was forcibly unloaded from the system by rmmod -f.
  16 - A hardware machine check error occurred on the system.
  32 - A bad page was discovered on the system.
  64 - The user has asked that the system be marked "tainted".  This
       could be because they are running software that directly modifies
       the hardware, or for other reasons.
 128 - The system has died.
 256 - The ACPI DSDT has been overridden with one supplied by the user
        instead of using the one provided by the hardware.
 512 - A kernel warning has occurred.
1024 - A module from drivers/staging was loaded.

==============================================================

auto_msgmni:

Enables/Disables automatic recomputing of msgmni upon memory add/remove or
upon ipc namespace creation/removal (see the msgmni description above).
Echoing "1" into this file enables msgmni automatic recomputing.
Echoing "0" turns it off.
auto_msgmni default value is 1.

==============================================================

nmi_watchdog:

Enables/Disables the NMI watchdog on x86 systems.  When the value is non-zero
the NMI watchdog is enabled and will continuously test all online cpus to
determine whether or not they are still functioning properly. Currently,
passing "nmi_watchdog=" parameter at boot time is required for this function
to work.

If LAPIC NMI watchdog method is in use (nmi_watchdog=2 kernel parameter), the
NMI watchdog shares registers with oprofile. By disabling the NMI watchdog,
oprofile may have more registers to utilize.

==============================================================

unknown_nmi_panic:

The value in this file affects behavior of handling NMI. When the value is
non-zero, unknown NMI is trapped and then panic occurs. At that time, kernel
debugging information is displayed on console.

NMI switch that most IA32 servers have fires unknown NMI up, for example.
If a system hangs up, try pressing the NMI switch.

==============================================================

panic_on_unrecovered_nmi:

The default Linux behaviour on an NMI of either memory or unknown is to continue
operation. For many environments such as scientific computing it is preferable
that the box is taken out and the error dealt with than an uncorrected
parity/ECC error get propogated.

A small number of systems do generate NMI's for bizarre random reasons such as
power management so the default is off. That sysctl works like the existing
panic controls already in that directory.