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Alexey Dobriyan6eedf8d2008-07-25 01:48:30 -07001config PROC_FS
David Rientjes6a108a12011-01-20 14:44:16 -08002 bool "/proc file system support" if EXPERT
Alexey Dobriyan6eedf8d2008-07-25 01:48:30 -07003 default y
4 help
5 This is a virtual file system providing information about the status
6 of the system. "Virtual" means that it doesn't take up any space on
7 your hard disk: the files are created on the fly by the kernel when
8 you try to access them. Also, you cannot read the files with older
9 version of the program less: you need to use more or cat.
10
11 It's totally cool; for example, "cat /proc/interrupts" gives
12 information about what the different IRQs are used for at the moment
13 (there is a small number of Interrupt ReQuest lines in your computer
14 that are used by the attached devices to gain the CPU's attention --
15 often a source of trouble if two devices are mistakenly configured
16 to use the same IRQ). The program procinfo to display some
17 information about your system gathered from the /proc file system.
18
19 Before you can use the /proc file system, it has to be mounted,
20 meaning it has to be given a location in the directory hierarchy.
21 That location should be /proc. A command such as "mount -t proc proc
22 /proc" or the equivalent line in /etc/fstab does the job.
23
24 The /proc file system is explained in the file
25 <file:Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt> and on the proc(5) manpage
26 ("man 5 proc").
27
28 This option will enlarge your kernel by about 67 KB. Several
29 programs depend on this, so everyone should say Y here.
30
31config PROC_KCORE
32 bool "/proc/kcore support" if !ARM
33 depends on PROC_FS && MMU
34
35config PROC_VMCORE
WANG Conga4f73262010-10-26 14:21:21 -070036 bool "/proc/vmcore support"
37 depends on PROC_FS && CRASH_DUMP
Alexey Dobriyan6eedf8d2008-07-25 01:48:30 -070038 default y
39 help
40 Exports the dump image of crashed kernel in ELF format.
41
42config PROC_SYSCTL
David Rientjes6a108a12011-01-20 14:44:16 -080043 bool "Sysctl support (/proc/sys)" if EXPERT
Alexey Dobriyan6eedf8d2008-07-25 01:48:30 -070044 depends on PROC_FS
45 select SYSCTL
46 default y
47 ---help---
48 The sysctl interface provides a means of dynamically changing
49 certain kernel parameters and variables on the fly without requiring
50 a recompile of the kernel or reboot of the system. The primary
51 interface is through /proc/sys. If you say Y here a tree of
52 modifiable sysctl entries will be generated beneath the
53 /proc/sys directory. They are explained in the files
54 in <file:Documentation/sysctl/>. Note that enabling this
55 option will enlarge the kernel by at least 8 KB.
56
57 As it is generally a good thing, you should say Y here unless
58 building a kernel for install/rescue disks or your system is very
59 limited in memory.
Alexey Dobriyan53167a32008-10-03 02:01:51 +040060
61config PROC_PAGE_MONITOR
62 default y
63 depends on PROC_FS && MMU
David Rientjes6a108a12011-01-20 14:44:16 -080064 bool "Enable /proc page monitoring" if EXPERT
Alexey Dobriyan53167a32008-10-03 02:01:51 +040065 help
66 Various /proc files exist to monitor process memory utilization:
67 /proc/pid/smaps, /proc/pid/clear_refs, /proc/pid/pagemap,
68 /proc/kpagecount, and /proc/kpageflags. Disabling these
69 interfaces will reduce the size of the kernel by approximately 4kb.