blob: c14374e71775f62ba1ed72a856a702cb1d819e47 [file] [log] [blame]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/* kernel version 2.2.10
2 (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -07003 (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07004
5For general info and legal blurb, please look in README.
6
7==============================================================
8
9This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in
10/proc/sys/kernel/ and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2.
11
12The files in this directory can be used to tune and monitor
13miscellaneous and general things in the operation of the Linux
14kernel. Since some of the files _can_ be used to screw up your
15system, it is advisable to read both documentation and source
16before actually making adjustments.
17
18Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration)
19show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -070020
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070021- acct
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -070022- acpi_video_flags
23- auto_msgmni
H. Peter Anvind75757a2009-12-11 14:23:44 -080024- bootloader_type [ X86 only ]
25- bootloader_version [ X86 only ]
Hans-Joachim Pichtc114728a2009-09-11 10:28:47 +020026- callhome [ S390 only ]
Dan Ballard73efc032011-10-31 17:11:20 -070027- cap_last_cap
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070028- core_pattern
Neil Hormana2939802009-09-23 15:56:56 -070029- core_pipe_limit
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070030- core_uses_pid
31- ctrl-alt-del
Dan Rosenbergeaf06b22010-11-11 14:05:18 -080032- dmesg_restrict
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070033- domainname
34- hostname
35- hotplug
Aaron Tomlin270750db2014-01-20 17:34:13 +000036- hung_task_panic
37- hung_task_check_count
38- hung_task_timeout_secs
39- hung_task_warnings
Kees Cook79847542014-01-23 15:55:59 -080040- kexec_load_disabled
Dan Rosenberg455cd5a2011-01-12 16:59:41 -080041- kptr_restrict
Chuck Ebbert0741f4d2006-12-07 02:14:11 +010042- kstack_depth_to_print [ X86 only ]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070043- l2cr [ PPC only ]
Michael Opdenackerac76cff2008-02-13 15:03:32 -080044- modprobe ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
Kees Cook3d433212009-04-02 15:49:29 -070045- modules_disabled
Stanislav Kinsbursky03f59562013-01-04 15:34:50 -080046- msg_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070047- msgmax
48- msgmnb
49- msgmni
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -070050- nmi_watchdog
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070051- osrelease
52- ostype
53- overflowgid
54- overflowuid
55- panic
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -070056- panic_on_oops
57- panic_on_unrecovered_nmi
Mitsuo Hayasaka55af7792011-11-29 15:08:36 +090058- panic_on_stackoverflow
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070059- pid_max
60- powersave-nap [ PPC only ]
61- printk
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -070062- printk_delay
63- printk_ratelimit
64- printk_ratelimit_burst
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +010065- randomize_va_space
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070066- real-root-dev ==> Documentation/initrd.txt
67- reboot-cmd [ SPARC only ]
68- rtsig-max
69- rtsig-nr
70- sem
Stanislav Kinsbursky03f59562013-01-04 15:34:50 -080071- sem_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070072- sg-big-buff [ generic SCSI device (sg) ]
Stanislav Kinsbursky03f59562013-01-04 15:34:50 -080073- shm_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
Vasiliy Kulikovb34a6b12011-07-26 16:08:48 -070074- shm_rmid_forced
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070075- shmall
76- shmmax [ sysv ipc ]
77- shmmni
Aaron Tomlined235872014-06-23 13:22:05 -070078- softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070079- stop-a [ SPARC only ]
80- sysrq ==> Documentation/sysrq.txt
Kees Cookf4aacea2014-06-06 14:37:19 -070081- sysctl_writes_strict
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070082- tainted
83- threads-max
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -070084- unknown_nmi_panic
Li Zefan08825c92013-05-17 10:31:20 +080085- watchdog_thresh
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070086- version
87
88==============================================================
89
90acct:
91
92highwater lowwater frequency
93
94If BSD-style process accounting is enabled these values control
95its behaviour. If free space on filesystem where the log lives
96goes below <lowwater>% accounting suspends. If free space gets
97above <highwater>% accounting resumes. <Frequency> determines
98how often do we check the amount of free space (value is in
99seconds). Default:
1004 2 30
101That is, suspend accounting if there left <= 2% free; resume it
102if we got >=4%; consider information about amount of free space
103valid for 30 seconds.
104
105==============================================================
106
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700107acpi_video_flags:
108
109flags
110
111See Doc*/kernel/power/video.txt, it allows mode of video boot to be
112set during run time.
113
114==============================================================
115
116auto_msgmni:
117
118Enables/Disables automatic recomputing of msgmni upon memory add/remove
119or upon ipc namespace creation/removal (see the msgmni description
120above). Echoing "1" into this file enables msgmni automatic recomputing.
121Echoing "0" turns it off. auto_msgmni default value is 1.
122
123
124==============================================================
125
H. Peter Anvind75757a2009-12-11 14:23:44 -0800126bootloader_type:
127
128x86 bootloader identification
129
130This gives the bootloader type number as indicated by the bootloader,
131shifted left by 4, and OR'd with the low four bits of the bootloader
132version. The reason for this encoding is that this used to match the
133type_of_loader field in the kernel header; the encoding is kept for
134backwards compatibility. That is, if the full bootloader type number
135is 0x15 and the full version number is 0x234, this file will contain
136the value 340 = 0x154.
137
138See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_type fields in
139Documentation/x86/boot.txt for additional information.
140
141==============================================================
142
143bootloader_version:
144
145x86 bootloader version
146
147The complete bootloader version number. In the example above, this
148file will contain the value 564 = 0x234.
149
150See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_ver fields in
151Documentation/x86/boot.txt for additional information.
152
153==============================================================
154
Hans-Joachim Pichtc114728a2009-09-11 10:28:47 +0200155callhome:
156
157Controls the kernel's callhome behavior in case of a kernel panic.
158
159The s390 hardware allows an operating system to send a notification
160to a service organization (callhome) in case of an operating system panic.
161
162When the value in this file is 0 (which is the default behavior)
163nothing happens in case of a kernel panic. If this value is set to "1"
164the complete kernel oops message is send to the IBM customer service
165organization in case the mainframe the Linux operating system is running
166on has a service contract with IBM.
167
168==============================================================
169
Dan Ballard73efc032011-10-31 17:11:20 -0700170cap_last_cap
171
172Highest valid capability of the running kernel. Exports
173CAP_LAST_CAP from the kernel.
174
175==============================================================
176
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700177core_pattern:
178
179core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
Matthias Urlichscd081042006-10-11 01:21:57 -0700180. max length 128 characters; default value is "core"
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700181. core_pattern is used as a pattern template for the output filename;
182 certain string patterns (beginning with '%') are substituted with
183 their actual values.
184. backward compatibility with core_uses_pid:
185 If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
186 and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
187 the filename.
188. corename format specifiers:
189 %<NUL> '%' is dropped
190 %% output one '%'
191 %p pid
Stéphane Graber65aafb12013-09-11 14:24:32 -0700192 %P global pid (init PID namespace)
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700193 %u uid
194 %g gid
Oleg Nesterov12a2b4b2012-10-04 17:15:25 -0700195 %d dump mode, matches PR_SET_DUMPABLE and
196 /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700197 %s signal number
198 %t UNIX time of dump
199 %h hostname
Jiri Slaby57cc0832011-05-26 16:25:46 -0700200 %e executable filename (may be shortened)
201 %E executable path
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700202 %<OTHER> both are dropped
Matthias Urlichscd081042006-10-11 01:21:57 -0700203. If the first character of the pattern is a '|', the kernel will treat
204 the rest of the pattern as a command to run. The core dump will be
205 written to the standard input of that program instead of to a file.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700206
207==============================================================
208
Neil Hormana2939802009-09-23 15:56:56 -0700209core_pipe_limit:
210
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700211This sysctl is only applicable when core_pattern is configured to pipe
212core files to a user space helper (when the first character of
213core_pattern is a '|', see above). When collecting cores via a pipe
214to an application, it is occasionally useful for the collecting
215application to gather data about the crashing process from its
216/proc/pid directory. In order to do this safely, the kernel must wait
217for the collecting process to exit, so as not to remove the crashing
218processes proc files prematurely. This in turn creates the
219possibility that a misbehaving userspace collecting process can block
220the reaping of a crashed process simply by never exiting. This sysctl
221defends against that. It defines how many concurrent crashing
222processes may be piped to user space applications in parallel. If
223this value is exceeded, then those crashing processes above that value
224are noted via the kernel log and their cores are skipped. 0 is a
225special value, indicating that unlimited processes may be captured in
226parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e. the collecting
227process is not guaranteed access to /proc/<crashing pid>/). This
228value defaults to 0.
Neil Hormana2939802009-09-23 15:56:56 -0700229
230==============================================================
231
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700232core_uses_pid:
233
234The default coredump filename is "core". By setting
235core_uses_pid to 1, the coredump filename becomes core.PID.
236If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
237and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
238the filename.
239
240==============================================================
241
242ctrl-alt-del:
243
244When the value in this file is 0, ctrl-alt-del is trapped and
245sent to the init(1) program to handle a graceful restart.
246When, however, the value is > 0, Linux's reaction to a Vulcan
247Nerve Pinch (tm) will be an immediate reboot, without even
248syncing its dirty buffers.
249
250Note: when a program (like dosemu) has the keyboard in 'raw'
251mode, the ctrl-alt-del is intercepted by the program before it
252ever reaches the kernel tty layer, and it's up to the program
253to decide what to do with it.
254
255==============================================================
256
Dan Rosenbergeaf06b22010-11-11 14:05:18 -0800257dmesg_restrict:
258
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700259This toggle indicates whether unprivileged users are prevented
260from using dmesg(8) to view messages from the kernel's log buffer.
261When dmesg_restrict is set to (0) there are no restrictions. When
Serge E. Hallyn38ef4c22010-12-08 15:19:01 +0000262dmesg_restrict is set set to (1), users must have CAP_SYSLOG to use
Dan Rosenbergeaf06b22010-11-11 14:05:18 -0800263dmesg(8).
264
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700265The kernel config option CONFIG_SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT sets the
266default value of dmesg_restrict.
Dan Rosenbergeaf06b22010-11-11 14:05:18 -0800267
268==============================================================
269
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700270domainname & hostname:
271
272These files can be used to set the NIS/YP domainname and the
273hostname of your box in exactly the same way as the commands
274domainname and hostname, i.e.:
275# echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
276# echo "mydomain" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname
277has the same effect as
278# hostname "darkstar"
279# domainname "mydomain"
280
281Note, however, that the classic darkstar.frop.org has the
282hostname "darkstar" and DNS (Internet Domain Name Server)
283domainname "frop.org", not to be confused with the NIS (Network
284Information Service) or YP (Yellow Pages) domainname. These two
285domain names are in general different. For a detailed discussion
286see the hostname(1) man page.
287
288==============================================================
289
290hotplug:
291
292Path for the hotplug policy agent.
293Default value is "/sbin/hotplug".
294
295==============================================================
296
Aaron Tomlin270750db2014-01-20 17:34:13 +0000297hung_task_panic:
298
299Controls the kernel's behavior when a hung task is detected.
300This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
301
3020: continue operation. This is the default behavior.
303
3041: panic immediately.
305
306==============================================================
307
308hung_task_check_count:
309
310The upper bound on the number of tasks that are checked.
311This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
312
313==============================================================
314
315hung_task_timeout_secs:
316
317Check interval. When a task in D state did not get scheduled
318for more than this value report a warning.
319This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
320
3210: means infinite timeout - no checking done.
Liu Hua80df2842014-04-07 15:38:57 -0700322Possible values to set are in range {0..LONG_MAX/HZ}.
Aaron Tomlin270750db2014-01-20 17:34:13 +0000323
324==============================================================
325
Aaron Tomlin70e0ac52014-01-27 09:00:57 +0000326hung_task_warnings:
Aaron Tomlin270750db2014-01-20 17:34:13 +0000327
328The maximum number of warnings to report. During a check interval
Aaron Tomlin70e0ac52014-01-27 09:00:57 +0000329if a hung task is detected, this value is decreased by 1.
330When this value reaches 0, no more warnings will be reported.
Aaron Tomlin270750db2014-01-20 17:34:13 +0000331This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
332
333-1: report an infinite number of warnings.
334
335==============================================================
336
Kees Cook79847542014-01-23 15:55:59 -0800337kexec_load_disabled:
338
339A toggle indicating if the kexec_load syscall has been disabled. This
340value defaults to 0 (false: kexec_load enabled), but can be set to 1
341(true: kexec_load disabled). Once true, kexec can no longer be used, and
342the toggle cannot be set back to false. This allows a kexec image to be
343loaded before disabling the syscall, allowing a system to set up (and
344later use) an image without it being altered. Generally used together
345with the "modules_disabled" sysctl.
346
347==============================================================
348
Dan Rosenberg455cd5a2011-01-12 16:59:41 -0800349kptr_restrict:
350
351This toggle indicates whether restrictions are placed on
Ryan Mallon312b4e22013-11-12 15:08:51 -0800352exposing kernel addresses via /proc and other interfaces.
353
354When kptr_restrict is set to (0), the default, there are no restrictions.
355
356When kptr_restrict is set to (1), kernel pointers printed using the %pK
357format specifier will be replaced with 0's unless the user has CAP_SYSLOG
358and effective user and group ids are equal to the real ids. This is
359because %pK checks are done at read() time rather than open() time, so
360if permissions are elevated between the open() and the read() (e.g via
361a setuid binary) then %pK will not leak kernel pointers to unprivileged
362users. Note, this is a temporary solution only. The correct long-term
363solution is to do the permission checks at open() time. Consider removing
364world read permissions from files that use %pK, and using dmesg_restrict
365to protect against uses of %pK in dmesg(8) if leaking kernel pointer
366values to unprivileged users is a concern.
367
368When kptr_restrict is set to (2), kernel pointers printed using
369%pK will be replaced with 0's regardless of privileges.
Dan Rosenberg455cd5a2011-01-12 16:59:41 -0800370
371==============================================================
372
Chuck Ebbert0741f4d2006-12-07 02:14:11 +0100373kstack_depth_to_print: (X86 only)
374
375Controls the number of words to print when dumping the raw
376kernel stack.
377
378==============================================================
379
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700380l2cr: (PPC only)
381
382This flag controls the L2 cache of G3 processor boards. If
3830, the cache is disabled. Enabled if nonzero.
384
385==============================================================
386
Kees Cook3d433212009-04-02 15:49:29 -0700387modules_disabled:
388
389A toggle value indicating if modules are allowed to be loaded
390in an otherwise modular kernel. This toggle defaults to off
391(0), but can be set true (1). Once true, modules can be
392neither loaded nor unloaded, and the toggle cannot be set back
Kees Cook79847542014-01-23 15:55:59 -0800393to false. Generally used with the "kexec_load_disabled" toggle.
Kees Cook3d433212009-04-02 15:49:29 -0700394
395==============================================================
396
Stanislav Kinsbursky03f59562013-01-04 15:34:50 -0800397msg_next_id, sem_next_id, and shm_next_id:
398
399These three toggles allows to specify desired id for next allocated IPC
400object: message, semaphore or shared memory respectively.
401
402By default they are equal to -1, which means generic allocation logic.
403Possible values to set are in range {0..INT_MAX}.
404
405Notes:
4061) kernel doesn't guarantee, that new object will have desired id. So,
407it's up to userspace, how to handle an object with "wrong" id.
4082) Toggle with non-default value will be set back to -1 by kernel after
409successful IPC object allocation.
410
411==============================================================
412
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700413nmi_watchdog:
414
415Enables/Disables the NMI watchdog on x86 systems. When the value is
416non-zero the NMI watchdog is enabled and will continuously test all
417online cpus to determine whether or not they are still functioning
418properly. Currently, passing "nmi_watchdog=" parameter at boot time is
419required for this function to work.
420
421If LAPIC NMI watchdog method is in use (nmi_watchdog=2 kernel
422parameter), the NMI watchdog shares registers with oprofile. By
423disabling the NMI watchdog, oprofile may have more registers to
424utilize.
425
426==============================================================
427
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100428numa_balancing
429
430Enables/disables automatic page fault based NUMA memory
431balancing. Memory is moved automatically to nodes
432that access it often.
433
434Enables/disables automatic NUMA memory balancing. On NUMA machines, there
435is a performance penalty if remote memory is accessed by a CPU. When this
436feature is enabled the kernel samples what task thread is accessing memory
437by periodically unmapping pages and later trapping a page fault. At the
438time of the page fault, it is determined if the data being accessed should
439be migrated to a local memory node.
440
441The unmapping of pages and trapping faults incur additional overhead that
442ideally is offset by improved memory locality but there is no universal
443guarantee. If the target workload is already bound to NUMA nodes then this
444feature should be disabled. Otherwise, if the system overhead from the
445feature is too high then the rate the kernel samples for NUMA hinting
446faults may be controlled by the numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms,
Mel Gorman930aa172013-10-07 11:29:37 +0100447numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms, numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms,
Rik van Riel52bf84a2014-01-27 17:03:40 -0500448numa_balancing_scan_size_mb, and numa_balancing_settle_count sysctls.
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100449
450==============================================================
451
452numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms, numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms,
Mel Gorman930aa172013-10-07 11:29:37 +0100453numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms, numa_balancing_scan_size_mb
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100454
455Automatic NUMA balancing scans tasks address space and unmaps pages to
456detect if pages are properly placed or if the data should be migrated to a
457memory node local to where the task is running. Every "scan delay" the task
458scans the next "scan size" number of pages in its address space. When the
459end of the address space is reached the scanner restarts from the beginning.
460
461In combination, the "scan delay" and "scan size" determine the scan rate.
462When "scan delay" decreases, the scan rate increases. The scan delay and
463hence the scan rate of every task is adaptive and depends on historical
464behaviour. If pages are properly placed then the scan delay increases,
465otherwise the scan delay decreases. The "scan size" is not adaptive but
466the higher the "scan size", the higher the scan rate.
467
468Higher scan rates incur higher system overhead as page faults must be
469trapped and potentially data must be migrated. However, the higher the scan
470rate, the more quickly a tasks memory is migrated to a local node if the
471workload pattern changes and minimises performance impact due to remote
472memory accesses. These sysctls control the thresholds for scan delays and
473the number of pages scanned.
474
Mel Gorman598f0ec2013-10-07 11:28:55 +0100475numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms is the minimum time in milliseconds to
476scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the maximum scanning
477rate for each task.
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100478
479numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms is the starting "scan delay" used for a task
480when it initially forks.
481
Mel Gorman598f0ec2013-10-07 11:28:55 +0100482numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms is the maximum time in milliseconds to
483scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the minimum scanning
484rate for each task.
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100485
486numa_balancing_scan_size_mb is how many megabytes worth of pages are
487scanned for a given scan.
488
Mel Gorman10fc05d2013-10-07 11:28:40 +0100489==============================================================
490
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700491osrelease, ostype & version:
492
493# cat osrelease
4942.1.88
495# cat ostype
496Linux
497# cat version
498#5 Wed Feb 25 21:49:24 MET 1998
499
500The files osrelease and ostype should be clear enough. Version
501needs a little more clarification however. The '#5' means that
502this is the fifth kernel built from this source base and the
503date behind it indicates the time the kernel was built.
504The only way to tune these values is to rebuild the kernel :-)
505
506==============================================================
507
508overflowgid & overflowuid:
509
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700510if your architecture did not always support 32-bit UIDs (i.e. arm,
511i386, m68k, sh, and sparc32), a fixed UID and GID will be returned to
512applications that use the old 16-bit UID/GID system calls, if the
513actual UID or GID would exceed 65535.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700514
515These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID.
516The default is 65534.
517
518==============================================================
519
520panic:
521
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700522The value in this file represents the number of seconds the kernel
523waits before rebooting on a panic. When you use the software watchdog,
524the recommended setting is 60.
525
526==============================================================
527
528panic_on_unrecovered_nmi:
529
530The default Linux behaviour on an NMI of either memory or unknown is
531to continue operation. For many environments such as scientific
532computing it is preferable that the box is taken out and the error
533dealt with than an uncorrected parity/ECC error get propagated.
534
535A small number of systems do generate NMI's for bizarre random reasons
536such as power management so the default is off. That sysctl works like
537the existing panic controls already in that directory.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700538
539==============================================================
540
541panic_on_oops:
542
543Controls the kernel's behaviour when an oops or BUG is encountered.
544
5450: try to continue operation
546
Matt LaPlantea982ac02007-05-09 07:35:06 +02005471: panic immediately. If the `panic' sysctl is also non-zero then the
Maxime Bizon8b23d04d2006-08-05 12:14:32 -0700548 machine will be rebooted.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700549
550==============================================================
551
Mitsuo Hayasaka55af7792011-11-29 15:08:36 +0900552panic_on_stackoverflow:
553
554Controls the kernel's behavior when detecting the overflows of
555kernel, IRQ and exception stacks except a user stack.
556This file shows up if CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW is enabled.
557
5580: try to continue operation.
559
5601: panic immediately.
561
562==============================================================
563
Dave Hansen14c63f12013-06-21 08:51:36 -0700564perf_cpu_time_max_percent:
565
566Hints to the kernel how much CPU time it should be allowed to
567use to handle perf sampling events. If the perf subsystem
568is informed that its samples are exceeding this limit, it
569will drop its sampling frequency to attempt to reduce its CPU
570usage.
571
572Some perf sampling happens in NMIs. If these samples
573unexpectedly take too long to execute, the NMIs can become
574stacked up next to each other so much that nothing else is
575allowed to execute.
576
5770: disable the mechanism. Do not monitor or correct perf's
578 sampling rate no matter how CPU time it takes.
579
5801-100: attempt to throttle perf's sample rate to this
581 percentage of CPU. Note: the kernel calculates an
582 "expected" length of each sample event. 100 here means
583 100% of that expected length. Even if this is set to
584 100, you may still see sample throttling if this
585 length is exceeded. Set to 0 if you truly do not care
586 how much CPU is consumed.
587
588==============================================================
589
Mitsuo Hayasaka55af7792011-11-29 15:08:36 +0900590
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700591pid_max:
592
Robert P. J. Daybeb7dd82007-05-09 07:14:03 +0200593PID allocation wrap value. When the kernel's next PID value
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700594reaches this value, it wraps back to a minimum PID value.
595PIDs of value pid_max or larger are not allocated.
596
597==============================================================
598
Pavel Emelyanovb8f566b2012-01-12 17:20:27 -0800599ns_last_pid:
600
601The last pid allocated in the current (the one task using this sysctl
602lives in) pid namespace. When selecting a pid for a next task on fork
603kernel tries to allocate a number starting from this one.
604
605==============================================================
606
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700607powersave-nap: (PPC only)
608
609If set, Linux-PPC will use the 'nap' mode of powersaving,
610otherwise the 'doze' mode will be used.
611
612==============================================================
613
614printk:
615
616The four values in printk denote: console_loglevel,
617default_message_loglevel, minimum_console_loglevel and
618default_console_loglevel respectively.
619
620These values influence printk() behavior when printing or
621logging error messages. See 'man 2 syslog' for more info on
622the different loglevels.
623
624- console_loglevel: messages with a higher priority than
625 this will be printed to the console
Paul Bolle87889e12011-02-06 21:00:41 +0100626- default_message_loglevel: messages without an explicit priority
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700627 will be printed with this priority
628- minimum_console_loglevel: minimum (highest) value to which
629 console_loglevel can be set
630- default_console_loglevel: default value for console_loglevel
631
632==============================================================
633
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700634printk_delay:
635
636Delay each printk message in printk_delay milliseconds
637
638Value from 0 - 10000 is allowed.
639
640==============================================================
641
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700642printk_ratelimit:
643
644Some warning messages are rate limited. printk_ratelimit specifies
645the minimum length of time between these messages (in jiffies), by
646default we allow one every 5 seconds.
647
648A value of 0 will disable rate limiting.
649
650==============================================================
651
652printk_ratelimit_burst:
653
654While long term we enforce one message per printk_ratelimit
655seconds, we do allow a burst of messages to pass through.
656printk_ratelimit_burst specifies the number of messages we can
657send before ratelimiting kicks in.
658
659==============================================================
660
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700661randomize_va_space:
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100662
663This option can be used to select the type of process address
664space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
665that support this feature.
666
Horst Schirmeierb7f5ab62009-07-03 14:20:17 +02006670 - Turn the process address space randomization off. This is the
668 default for architectures that do not support this feature anyways,
669 and kernels that are booted with the "norandmaps" parameter.
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100670
6711 - Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
672 This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
Horst Schirmeierb7f5ab62009-07-03 14:20:17 +0200673 loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the
674 location of code start is randomized. This is the default if the
675 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option is enabled.
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100676
Horst Schirmeierb7f5ab62009-07-03 14:20:17 +02006772 - Additionally enable heap randomization. This is the default if
678 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK is disabled.
679
680 There are a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100681 versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
Horst Schirmeierb7f5ab62009-07-03 14:20:17 +0200682 just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
683 start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100684 non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
Horst Schirmeierb7f5ab62009-07-03 14:20:17 +0200685 systems it is safe to choose full randomization.
686
687 Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured
688 with CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK enabled, which excludes the heap from process
689 address space randomization.
Jiri Kosina1ec7fd52008-02-09 23:24:08 +0100690
691==============================================================
692
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700693reboot-cmd: (Sparc only)
694
695??? This seems to be a way to give an argument to the Sparc
696ROM/Flash boot loader. Maybe to tell it what to do after
697rebooting. ???
698
699==============================================================
700
701rtsig-max & rtsig-nr:
702
703The file rtsig-max can be used to tune the maximum number
704of POSIX realtime (queued) signals that can be outstanding
705in the system.
706
707rtsig-nr shows the number of RT signals currently queued.
708
709==============================================================
710
711sg-big-buff:
712
713This file shows the size of the generic SCSI (sg) buffer.
714You can't tune it just yet, but you could change it on
715compile time by editing include/scsi/sg.h and changing
716the value of SG_BIG_BUFF.
717
718There shouldn't be any reason to change this value. If
719you can come up with one, you probably know what you
720are doing anyway :)
721
722==============================================================
723
Carlos Alberto Lopez Perez358e4192013-01-04 15:35:05 -0800724shmall:
725
726This parameter sets the total amount of shared memory pages that
727can be used system wide. Hence, SHMALL should always be at least
728ceil(shmmax/PAGE_SIZE).
729
730If you are not sure what the default PAGE_SIZE is on your Linux
731system, you can run the following command:
732
733# getconf PAGE_SIZE
734
735==============================================================
736
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700737shmmax:
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700738
739This value can be used to query and set the run time limit
740on the maximum shared memory segment size that can be created.
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700741Shared memory segments up to 1Gb are now supported in the
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700742kernel. This value defaults to SHMMAX.
743
744==============================================================
745
Vasiliy Kulikovb34a6b12011-07-26 16:08:48 -0700746shm_rmid_forced:
747
748Linux lets you set resource limits, including how much memory one
749process can consume, via setrlimit(2). Unfortunately, shared memory
750segments are allowed to exist without association with any process, and
751thus might not be counted against any resource limits. If enabled,
752shared memory segments are automatically destroyed when their attach
753count becomes zero after a detach or a process termination. It will
754also destroy segments that were created, but never attached to, on exit
755from the process. The only use left for IPC_RMID is to immediately
756destroy an unattached segment. Of course, this breaks the way things are
757defined, so some applications might stop working. Note that this
758feature will do you no good unless you also configure your resource
759limits (in particular, RLIMIT_AS and RLIMIT_NPROC). Most systems don't
760need this.
761
762Note that if you change this from 0 to 1, already created segments
763without users and with a dead originative process will be destroyed.
764
765==============================================================
766
Kees Cookf4aacea2014-06-06 14:37:19 -0700767sysctl_writes_strict:
768
769Control how file position affects the behavior of updating sysctl values
770via the /proc/sys interface:
771
772 -1 - Legacy per-write sysctl value handling, with no printk warnings.
773 Each write syscall must fully contain the sysctl value to be
774 written, and multiple writes on the same sysctl file descriptor
775 will rewrite the sysctl value, regardless of file position.
776 0 - (default) Same behavior as above, but warn about processes that
777 perform writes to a sysctl file descriptor when the file position
778 is not 0.
779 1 - Respect file position when writing sysctl strings. Multiple writes
780 will append to the sysctl value buffer. Anything past the max length
781 of the sysctl value buffer will be ignored. Writes to numeric sysctl
782 entries must always be at file position 0 and the value must be
783 fully contained in the buffer sent in the write syscall.
784
785==============================================================
786
Aaron Tomlined235872014-06-23 13:22:05 -0700787softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace:
788
789This value controls the soft lockup detector thread's behavior
790when a soft lockup condition is detected as to whether or not
791to gather further debug information. If enabled, each cpu will
792be issued an NMI and instructed to capture stack trace.
793
794This feature is only applicable for architectures which support
795NMI.
796
7970: do nothing. This is the default behavior.
798
7991: on detection capture more debug information.
800
801==============================================================
802
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700803tainted:
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700804
805Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted. Numeric values, which
806can be ORed together:
807
Greg Kroah-Hartmanbb206982008-10-17 15:01:07 -0700808 1 - A module with a non-GPL license has been loaded, this
809 includes modules with no license.
810 Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
811 2 - A module was force loaded by insmod -f.
812 Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
813 4 - Unsafe SMP processors: SMP with CPUs not designed for SMP.
814 8 - A module was forcibly unloaded from the system by rmmod -f.
815 16 - A hardware machine check error occurred on the system.
816 32 - A bad page was discovered on the system.
817 64 - The user has asked that the system be marked "tainted". This
818 could be because they are running software that directly modifies
819 the hardware, or for other reasons.
820 128 - The system has died.
821 256 - The ACPI DSDT has been overridden with one supplied by the user
822 instead of using the one provided by the hardware.
823 512 - A kernel warning has occurred.
8241024 - A module from drivers/staging was loaded.
Larry Fingerf5fe1842012-02-06 09:49:50 -08008252048 - The system is working around a severe firmware bug.
8264096 - An out-of-tree module has been loaded.
Mathieu Desnoyers66cc69e2014-03-13 12:11:30 +10308278192 - An unsigned module has been loaded in a kernel supporting module
828 signature.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700829
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -0700830==============================================================
831
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -0700832unknown_nmi_panic:
833
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700834The value in this file affects behavior of handling NMI. When the
835value is non-zero, unknown NMI is trapped and then panic occurs. At
836that time, kernel debugging information is displayed on console.
Shen Feng760df932009-04-02 16:57:20 -0700837
Borislav Petkov807094c2011-07-23 10:39:29 -0700838NMI switch that most IA32 servers have fires unknown NMI up, for
839example. If a system hangs up, try pressing the NMI switch.
Li Zefan08825c92013-05-17 10:31:20 +0800840
841==============================================================
842
843watchdog_thresh:
844
845This value can be used to control the frequency of hrtimer and NMI
846events and the soft and hard lockup thresholds. The default threshold
847is 10 seconds.
848
849The softlockup threshold is (2 * watchdog_thresh). Setting this
850tunable to zero will disable lockup detection altogether.
851
852==============================================================