blob: 80331cfe9593db86396a5ea8d292acc4253f7aea [file] [log] [blame]
b.liue9582032025-04-17 19:18:16 +08001===================================
2Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/
3===================================
4
5kernel version 2.2.10
6
7Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
8
9Copyright (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>
10
11For general info and legal blurb, please look in index.rst.
12
13------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14
15This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in
16/proc/sys/kernel/ and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2.
17
18The files in this directory can be used to tune and monitor
19miscellaneous and general things in the operation of the Linux
20kernel. Since some of the files _can_ be used to screw up your
21system, it is advisable to read both documentation and source
22before actually making adjustments.
23
24Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration)
25show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
26
27- acct
28- acpi_video_flags
29- auto_msgmni
30- bootloader_type [ X86 only ]
31- bootloader_version [ X86 only ]
32- cap_last_cap
33- core_pattern
34- core_pipe_limit
35- core_uses_pid
36- ctrl-alt-del
37- dmesg_restrict
38- domainname
39- hostname
40- hotplug
41- hardlockup_all_cpu_backtrace
42- hardlockup_panic
43- hung_task_panic
44- hung_task_check_count
45- hung_task_timeout_secs
46- hung_task_check_interval_secs
47- hung_task_warnings
48- hyperv_record_panic_msg
49- kexec_load_disabled
50- kptr_restrict
51- l2cr [ PPC only ]
52- modprobe ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
53- modules_disabled
54- msg_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
55- msgmax
56- msgmnb
57- msgmni
58- nmi_watchdog
59- osrelease
60- ostype
61- overflowgid
62- overflowuid
63- panic
64- panic_on_oops
65- panic_on_stackoverflow
66- panic_on_unrecovered_nmi
67- panic_on_warn
68- panic_print
69- panic_on_rcu_stall
70- perf_cpu_time_max_percent
71- perf_event_paranoid
72- perf_event_max_stack
73- perf_event_mlock_kb
74- perf_event_max_contexts_per_stack
75- pid_max
76- powersave-nap [ PPC only ]
77- printk
78- printk_delay
79- printk_ratelimit
80- printk_ratelimit_burst
81- pty ==> Documentation/filesystems/devpts.txt
82- randomize_va_space
83- real-root-dev ==> Documentation/admin-guide/initrd.rst
84- reboot-cmd [ SPARC only ]
85- rtsig-max
86- rtsig-nr
87- sched_energy_aware
88- seccomp/ ==> Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst
89- sem
90- sem_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
91- sg-big-buff [ generic SCSI device (sg) ]
92- shm_next_id [ sysv ipc ]
93- shm_rmid_forced
94- shmall
95- shmmax [ sysv ipc ]
96- shmmni
97- softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace
98- soft_watchdog
99- stack_erasing
100- stop-a [ SPARC only ]
101- sysrq ==> Documentation/admin-guide/sysrq.rst
102- sysctl_writes_strict
103- tainted ==> Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst
104- threads-max
105- unknown_nmi_panic
106- watchdog
107- watchdog_thresh
108- version
109
110
111acct:
112=====
113
114highwater lowwater frequency
115
116If BSD-style process accounting is enabled these values control
117its behaviour. If free space on filesystem where the log lives
118goes below <lowwater>% accounting suspends. If free space gets
119above <highwater>% accounting resumes. <Frequency> determines
120how often do we check the amount of free space (value is in
121seconds). Default:
1224 2 30
123That is, suspend accounting if there left <= 2% free; resume it
124if we got >=4%; consider information about amount of free space
125valid for 30 seconds.
126
127
128acpi_video_flags:
129=================
130
131flags
132
133See Doc*/kernel/power/video.txt, it allows mode of video boot to be
134set during run time.
135
136
137auto_msgmni:
138============
139
140This variable has no effect and may be removed in future kernel
141releases. Reading it always returns 0.
142Up to Linux 3.17, it enabled/disabled automatic recomputing of msgmni
143upon memory add/remove or upon ipc namespace creation/removal.
144Echoing "1" into this file enabled msgmni automatic recomputing.
145Echoing "0" turned it off. auto_msgmni default value was 1.
146
147
148bootloader_type:
149================
150
151x86 bootloader identification
152
153This gives the bootloader type number as indicated by the bootloader,
154shifted left by 4, and OR'd with the low four bits of the bootloader
155version. The reason for this encoding is that this used to match the
156type_of_loader field in the kernel header; the encoding is kept for
157backwards compatibility. That is, if the full bootloader type number
158is 0x15 and the full version number is 0x234, this file will contain
159the value 340 = 0x154.
160
161See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_type fields in
162Documentation/x86/boot.rst for additional information.
163
164
165bootloader_version:
166===================
167
168x86 bootloader version
169
170The complete bootloader version number. In the example above, this
171file will contain the value 564 = 0x234.
172
173See the type_of_loader and ext_loader_ver fields in
174Documentation/x86/boot.rst for additional information.
175
176
177cap_last_cap:
178=============
179
180Highest valid capability of the running kernel. Exports
181CAP_LAST_CAP from the kernel.
182
183
184core_pattern:
185=============
186
187core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
188
189* max length 127 characters; default value is "core"
190* core_pattern is used as a pattern template for the output filename;
191 certain string patterns (beginning with '%') are substituted with
192 their actual values.
193* backward compatibility with core_uses_pid:
194
195 If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
196 and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
197 the filename.
198
199* corename format specifiers::
200
201 %<NUL> '%' is dropped
202 %% output one '%'
203 %p pid
204 %P global pid (init PID namespace)
205 %i tid
206 %I global tid (init PID namespace)
207 %u uid (in initial user namespace)
208 %g gid (in initial user namespace)
209 %d dump mode, matches PR_SET_DUMPABLE and
210 /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable
211 %s signal number
212 %t UNIX time of dump
213 %h hostname
214 %e executable filename (may be shortened)
215 %E executable path
216 %<OTHER> both are dropped
217
218* If the first character of the pattern is a '|', the kernel will treat
219 the rest of the pattern as a command to run. The core dump will be
220 written to the standard input of that program instead of to a file.
221
222
223core_pipe_limit:
224================
225
226This sysctl is only applicable when core_pattern is configured to pipe
227core files to a user space helper (when the first character of
228core_pattern is a '|', see above). When collecting cores via a pipe
229to an application, it is occasionally useful for the collecting
230application to gather data about the crashing process from its
231/proc/pid directory. In order to do this safely, the kernel must wait
232for the collecting process to exit, so as not to remove the crashing
233processes proc files prematurely. This in turn creates the
234possibility that a misbehaving userspace collecting process can block
235the reaping of a crashed process simply by never exiting. This sysctl
236defends against that. It defines how many concurrent crashing
237processes may be piped to user space applications in parallel. If
238this value is exceeded, then those crashing processes above that value
239are noted via the kernel log and their cores are skipped. 0 is a
240special value, indicating that unlimited processes may be captured in
241parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e. the collecting
242process is not guaranteed access to /proc/<crashing pid>/). This
243value defaults to 0.
244
245
246core_uses_pid:
247==============
248
249The default coredump filename is "core". By setting
250core_uses_pid to 1, the coredump filename becomes core.PID.
251If core_pattern does not include "%p" (default does not)
252and core_uses_pid is set, then .PID will be appended to
253the filename.
254
255
256ctrl-alt-del:
257=============
258
259When the value in this file is 0, ctrl-alt-del is trapped and
260sent to the init(1) program to handle a graceful restart.
261When, however, the value is > 0, Linux's reaction to a Vulcan
262Nerve Pinch (tm) will be an immediate reboot, without even
263syncing its dirty buffers.
264
265Note:
266 when a program (like dosemu) has the keyboard in 'raw'
267 mode, the ctrl-alt-del is intercepted by the program before it
268 ever reaches the kernel tty layer, and it's up to the program
269 to decide what to do with it.
270
271
272dmesg_restrict:
273===============
274
275This toggle indicates whether unprivileged users are prevented
276from using dmesg(8) to view messages from the kernel's log buffer.
277When dmesg_restrict is set to (0) there are no restrictions. When
278dmesg_restrict is set set to (1), users must have CAP_SYSLOG to use
279dmesg(8).
280
281The kernel config option CONFIG_SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT sets the
282default value of dmesg_restrict.
283
284
285domainname & hostname:
286======================
287
288These files can be used to set the NIS/YP domainname and the
289hostname of your box in exactly the same way as the commands
290domainname and hostname, i.e.::
291
292 # echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
293 # echo "mydomain" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname
294
295has the same effect as::
296
297 # hostname "darkstar"
298 # domainname "mydomain"
299
300Note, however, that the classic darkstar.frop.org has the
301hostname "darkstar" and DNS (Internet Domain Name Server)
302domainname "frop.org", not to be confused with the NIS (Network
303Information Service) or YP (Yellow Pages) domainname. These two
304domain names are in general different. For a detailed discussion
305see the hostname(1) man page.
306
307
308hardlockup_all_cpu_backtrace:
309=============================
310
311This value controls the hard lockup detector behavior when a hard
312lockup condition is detected as to whether or not to gather further
313debug information. If enabled, arch-specific all-CPU stack dumping
314will be initiated.
315
3160: do nothing. This is the default behavior.
317
3181: on detection capture more debug information.
319
320
321hardlockup_panic:
322=================
323
324This parameter can be used to control whether the kernel panics
325when a hard lockup is detected.
326
327 0 - don't panic on hard lockup
328 1 - panic on hard lockup
329
330See Documentation/admin-guide/lockup-watchdogs.rst for more information. This can
331also be set using the nmi_watchdog kernel parameter.
332
333
334hotplug:
335========
336
337Path for the hotplug policy agent.
338Default value is "/sbin/hotplug".
339
340
341hung_task_panic:
342================
343
344Controls the kernel's behavior when a hung task is detected.
345This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
346
3470: continue operation. This is the default behavior.
348
3491: panic immediately.
350
351
352hung_task_check_count:
353======================
354
355The upper bound on the number of tasks that are checked.
356This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
357
358
359hung_task_timeout_secs:
360=======================
361
362When a task in D state did not get scheduled
363for more than this value report a warning.
364This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
365
3660: means infinite timeout - no checking done.
367
368Possible values to set are in range {0..LONG_MAX/HZ}.
369
370
371hung_task_check_interval_secs:
372==============================
373
374Hung task check interval. If hung task checking is enabled
375(see hung_task_timeout_secs), the check is done every
376hung_task_check_interval_secs seconds.
377This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
378
3790 (default): means use hung_task_timeout_secs as checking interval.
380Possible values to set are in range {0..LONG_MAX/HZ}.
381
382
383hung_task_warnings:
384===================
385
386The maximum number of warnings to report. During a check interval
387if a hung task is detected, this value is decreased by 1.
388When this value reaches 0, no more warnings will be reported.
389This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
390
391-1: report an infinite number of warnings.
392
393
394hyperv_record_panic_msg:
395========================
396
397Controls whether the panic kmsg data should be reported to Hyper-V.
398
3990: do not report panic kmsg data.
400
4011: report the panic kmsg data. This is the default behavior.
402
403
404kexec_load_disabled:
405====================
406
407A toggle indicating if the kexec_load syscall has been disabled. This
408value defaults to 0 (false: kexec_load enabled), but can be set to 1
409(true: kexec_load disabled). Once true, kexec can no longer be used, and
410the toggle cannot be set back to false. This allows a kexec image to be
411loaded before disabling the syscall, allowing a system to set up (and
412later use) an image without it being altered. Generally used together
413with the "modules_disabled" sysctl.
414
415
416kptr_restrict:
417==============
418
419This toggle indicates whether restrictions are placed on
420exposing kernel addresses via /proc and other interfaces.
421
422When kptr_restrict is set to 0 (the default) the address is hashed before
423printing. (This is the equivalent to %p.)
424
425When kptr_restrict is set to (1), kernel pointers printed using the %pK
426format specifier will be replaced with 0's unless the user has CAP_SYSLOG
427and effective user and group ids are equal to the real ids. This is
428because %pK checks are done at read() time rather than open() time, so
429if permissions are elevated between the open() and the read() (e.g via
430a setuid binary) then %pK will not leak kernel pointers to unprivileged
431users. Note, this is a temporary solution only. The correct long-term
432solution is to do the permission checks at open() time. Consider removing
433world read permissions from files that use %pK, and using dmesg_restrict
434to protect against uses of %pK in dmesg(8) if leaking kernel pointer
435values to unprivileged users is a concern.
436
437When kptr_restrict is set to (2), kernel pointers printed using
438%pK will be replaced with 0's regardless of privileges.
439
440
441l2cr: (PPC only)
442================
443
444This flag controls the L2 cache of G3 processor boards. If
4450, the cache is disabled. Enabled if nonzero.
446
447
448modules_disabled:
449=================
450
451A toggle value indicating if modules are allowed to be loaded
452in an otherwise modular kernel. This toggle defaults to off
453(0), but can be set true (1). Once true, modules can be
454neither loaded nor unloaded, and the toggle cannot be set back
455to false. Generally used with the "kexec_load_disabled" toggle.
456
457
458msg_next_id, sem_next_id, and shm_next_id:
459==========================================
460
461These three toggles allows to specify desired id for next allocated IPC
462object: message, semaphore or shared memory respectively.
463
464By default they are equal to -1, which means generic allocation logic.
465Possible values to set are in range {0..INT_MAX}.
466
467Notes:
468 1) kernel doesn't guarantee, that new object will have desired id. So,
469 it's up to userspace, how to handle an object with "wrong" id.
470 2) Toggle with non-default value will be set back to -1 by kernel after
471 successful IPC object allocation. If an IPC object allocation syscall
472 fails, it is undefined if the value remains unmodified or is reset to -1.
473
474
475nmi_watchdog:
476=============
477
478This parameter can be used to control the NMI watchdog
479(i.e. the hard lockup detector) on x86 systems.
480
4810 - disable the hard lockup detector
482
4831 - enable the hard lockup detector
484
485The hard lockup detector monitors each CPU for its ability to respond to
486timer interrupts. The mechanism utilizes CPU performance counter registers
487that are programmed to generate Non-Maskable Interrupts (NMIs) periodically
488while a CPU is busy. Hence, the alternative name 'NMI watchdog'.
489
490The NMI watchdog is disabled by default if the kernel is running as a guest
491in a KVM virtual machine. This default can be overridden by adding::
492
493 nmi_watchdog=1
494
495to the guest kernel command line (see Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst).
496
497
498numa_balancing:
499===============
500
501Enables/disables automatic page fault based NUMA memory
502balancing. Memory is moved automatically to nodes
503that access it often.
504
505Enables/disables automatic NUMA memory balancing. On NUMA machines, there
506is a performance penalty if remote memory is accessed by a CPU. When this
507feature is enabled the kernel samples what task thread is accessing memory
508by periodically unmapping pages and later trapping a page fault. At the
509time of the page fault, it is determined if the data being accessed should
510be migrated to a local memory node.
511
512The unmapping of pages and trapping faults incur additional overhead that
513ideally is offset by improved memory locality but there is no universal
514guarantee. If the target workload is already bound to NUMA nodes then this
515feature should be disabled. Otherwise, if the system overhead from the
516feature is too high then the rate the kernel samples for NUMA hinting
517faults may be controlled by the numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms,
518numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms, numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms,
519numa_balancing_scan_size_mb, and numa_balancing_settle_count sysctls.
520
521numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms, numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms, numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms, numa_balancing_scan_size_mb
522===============================================================================================================================
523
524
525Automatic NUMA balancing scans tasks address space and unmaps pages to
526detect if pages are properly placed or if the data should be migrated to a
527memory node local to where the task is running. Every "scan delay" the task
528scans the next "scan size" number of pages in its address space. When the
529end of the address space is reached the scanner restarts from the beginning.
530
531In combination, the "scan delay" and "scan size" determine the scan rate.
532When "scan delay" decreases, the scan rate increases. The scan delay and
533hence the scan rate of every task is adaptive and depends on historical
534behaviour. If pages are properly placed then the scan delay increases,
535otherwise the scan delay decreases. The "scan size" is not adaptive but
536the higher the "scan size", the higher the scan rate.
537
538Higher scan rates incur higher system overhead as page faults must be
539trapped and potentially data must be migrated. However, the higher the scan
540rate, the more quickly a tasks memory is migrated to a local node if the
541workload pattern changes and minimises performance impact due to remote
542memory accesses. These sysctls control the thresholds for scan delays and
543the number of pages scanned.
544
545numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms is the minimum time in milliseconds to
546scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the maximum scanning
547rate for each task.
548
549numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms is the starting "scan delay" used for a task
550when it initially forks.
551
552numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms is the maximum time in milliseconds to
553scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the minimum scanning
554rate for each task.
555
556numa_balancing_scan_size_mb is how many megabytes worth of pages are
557scanned for a given scan.
558
559
560oops_limit
561==========
562
563Number of kernel oopses after which the kernel should panic when
564``panic_on_oops`` is not set. Setting this to 0 disables checking
565the count. Setting this to 1 has the same effect as setting
566``panic_on_oops=1``. The default value is 10000.
567
568
569osrelease, ostype & version:
570============================
571
572::
573
574 # cat osrelease
575 2.1.88
576 # cat ostype
577 Linux
578 # cat version
579 #5 Wed Feb 25 21:49:24 MET 1998
580
581The files osrelease and ostype should be clear enough. Version
582needs a little more clarification however. The '#5' means that
583this is the fifth kernel built from this source base and the
584date behind it indicates the time the kernel was built.
585The only way to tune these values is to rebuild the kernel :-)
586
587
588overflowgid & overflowuid:
589==========================
590
591if your architecture did not always support 32-bit UIDs (i.e. arm,
592i386, m68k, sh, and sparc32), a fixed UID and GID will be returned to
593applications that use the old 16-bit UID/GID system calls, if the
594actual UID or GID would exceed 65535.
595
596These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID.
597The default is 65534.
598
599
600panic:
601======
602
603The value in this file represents the number of seconds the kernel
604waits before rebooting on a panic. When you use the software watchdog,
605the recommended setting is 60.
606
607
608panic_on_io_nmi:
609================
610
611Controls the kernel's behavior when a CPU receives an NMI caused by
612an IO error.
613
6140: try to continue operation (default)
615
6161: panic immediately. The IO error triggered an NMI. This indicates a
617 serious system condition which could result in IO data corruption.
618 Rather than continuing, panicking might be a better choice. Some
619 servers issue this sort of NMI when the dump button is pushed,
620 and you can use this option to take a crash dump.
621
622
623panic_on_oops:
624==============
625
626Controls the kernel's behaviour when an oops or BUG is encountered.
627
6280: try to continue operation
629
6301: panic immediately. If the `panic` sysctl is also non-zero then the
631 machine will be rebooted.
632
633
634panic_on_stackoverflow:
635=======================
636
637Controls the kernel's behavior when detecting the overflows of
638kernel, IRQ and exception stacks except a user stack.
639This file shows up if CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW is enabled.
640
6410: try to continue operation.
642
6431: panic immediately.
644
645
646panic_on_unrecovered_nmi:
647=========================
648
649The default Linux behaviour on an NMI of either memory or unknown is
650to continue operation. For many environments such as scientific
651computing it is preferable that the box is taken out and the error
652dealt with than an uncorrected parity/ECC error get propagated.
653
654A small number of systems do generate NMI's for bizarre random reasons
655such as power management so the default is off. That sysctl works like
656the existing panic controls already in that directory.
657
658
659panic_on_warn:
660==============
661
662Calls panic() in the WARN() path when set to 1. This is useful to avoid
663a kernel rebuild when attempting to kdump at the location of a WARN().
664
6650: only WARN(), default behaviour.
666
6671: call panic() after printing out WARN() location.
668
669
670panic_print:
671============
672
673Bitmask for printing system info when panic happens. User can chose
674combination of the following bits:
675
676===== ========================================
677bit 0 print all tasks info
678bit 1 print system memory info
679bit 2 print timer info
680bit 3 print locks info if CONFIG_LOCKDEP is on
681bit 4 print ftrace buffer
682===== ========================================
683
684So for example to print tasks and memory info on panic, user can::
685
686 echo 3 > /proc/sys/kernel/panic_print
687
688
689panic_on_rcu_stall:
690===================
691
692When set to 1, calls panic() after RCU stall detection messages. This
693is useful to define the root cause of RCU stalls using a vmcore.
694
6950: do not panic() when RCU stall takes place, default behavior.
696
6971: panic() after printing RCU stall messages.
698
699
700perf_cpu_time_max_percent:
701==========================
702
703Hints to the kernel how much CPU time it should be allowed to
704use to handle perf sampling events. If the perf subsystem
705is informed that its samples are exceeding this limit, it
706will drop its sampling frequency to attempt to reduce its CPU
707usage.
708
709Some perf sampling happens in NMIs. If these samples
710unexpectedly take too long to execute, the NMIs can become
711stacked up next to each other so much that nothing else is
712allowed to execute.
713
7140:
715 disable the mechanism. Do not monitor or correct perf's
716 sampling rate no matter how CPU time it takes.
717
7181-100:
719 attempt to throttle perf's sample rate to this
720 percentage of CPU. Note: the kernel calculates an
721 "expected" length of each sample event. 100 here means
722 100% of that expected length. Even if this is set to
723 100, you may still see sample throttling if this
724 length is exceeded. Set to 0 if you truly do not care
725 how much CPU is consumed.
726
727
728perf_event_paranoid:
729====================
730
731Controls use of the performance events system by unprivileged
732users (without CAP_SYS_ADMIN). The default value is 2.
733
734=== ==================================================================
735 -1 Allow use of (almost) all events by all users
736
737 Ignore mlock limit after perf_event_mlock_kb without CAP_IPC_LOCK
738
739>=0 Disallow ftrace function tracepoint by users without CAP_SYS_ADMIN
740
741 Disallow raw tracepoint access by users without CAP_SYS_ADMIN
742
743>=1 Disallow CPU event access by users without CAP_SYS_ADMIN
744
745>=2 Disallow kernel profiling by users without CAP_SYS_ADMIN
746=== ==================================================================
747
748
749perf_event_max_stack:
750=====================
751
752Controls maximum number of stack frames to copy for (attr.sample_type &
753PERF_SAMPLE_CALLCHAIN) configured events, for instance, when using
754'perf record -g' or 'perf trace --call-graph fp'.
755
756This can only be done when no events are in use that have callchains
757enabled, otherwise writing to this file will return -EBUSY.
758
759The default value is 127.
760
761
762perf_event_mlock_kb:
763====================
764
765Control size of per-cpu ring buffer not counted agains mlock limit.
766
767The default value is 512 + 1 page
768
769
770perf_event_max_contexts_per_stack:
771==================================
772
773Controls maximum number of stack frame context entries for
774(attr.sample_type & PERF_SAMPLE_CALLCHAIN) configured events, for
775instance, when using 'perf record -g' or 'perf trace --call-graph fp'.
776
777This can only be done when no events are in use that have callchains
778enabled, otherwise writing to this file will return -EBUSY.
779
780The default value is 8.
781
782
783pid_max:
784========
785
786PID allocation wrap value. When the kernel's next PID value
787reaches this value, it wraps back to a minimum PID value.
788PIDs of value pid_max or larger are not allocated.
789
790
791ns_last_pid:
792============
793
794The last pid allocated in the current (the one task using this sysctl
795lives in) pid namespace. When selecting a pid for a next task on fork
796kernel tries to allocate a number starting from this one.
797
798
799powersave-nap: (PPC only)
800=========================
801
802If set, Linux-PPC will use the 'nap' mode of powersaving,
803otherwise the 'doze' mode will be used.
804
805==============================================================
806
807printk:
808=======
809
810The four values in printk denote: console_loglevel,
811default_message_loglevel, minimum_console_loglevel and
812default_console_loglevel respectively.
813
814These values influence printk() behavior when printing or
815logging error messages. See 'man 2 syslog' for more info on
816the different loglevels.
817
818- console_loglevel:
819 messages with a higher priority than
820 this will be printed to the console
821- default_message_loglevel:
822 messages without an explicit priority
823 will be printed with this priority
824- minimum_console_loglevel:
825 minimum (highest) value to which
826 console_loglevel can be set
827- default_console_loglevel:
828 default value for console_loglevel
829
830
831printk_delay:
832=============
833
834Delay each printk message in printk_delay milliseconds
835
836Value from 0 - 10000 is allowed.
837
838
839printk_ratelimit:
840=================
841
842Some warning messages are rate limited. printk_ratelimit specifies
843the minimum length of time between these messages (in jiffies), by
844default we allow one every 5 seconds.
845
846A value of 0 will disable rate limiting.
847
848
849printk_ratelimit_burst:
850=======================
851
852While long term we enforce one message per printk_ratelimit
853seconds, we do allow a burst of messages to pass through.
854printk_ratelimit_burst specifies the number of messages we can
855send before ratelimiting kicks in.
856
857
858printk_devkmsg:
859===============
860
861Control the logging to /dev/kmsg from userspace:
862
863ratelimit:
864 default, ratelimited
865
866on: unlimited logging to /dev/kmsg from userspace
867
868off: logging to /dev/kmsg disabled
869
870The kernel command line parameter printk.devkmsg= overrides this and is
871a one-time setting until next reboot: once set, it cannot be changed by
872this sysctl interface anymore.
873
874pty
875===
876
877See Documentation/filesystems/devpts.rst.
878
879
880random
881======
882
883This is a directory, with the following entries:
884
885* ``boot_id``: a UUID generated the first time this is retrieved, and
886 unvarying after that;
887
888* ``uuid``: a UUID generated every time this is retrieved (this can
889 thus be used to generate UUIDs at will);
890
891* ``entropy_avail``: the pool's entropy count, in bits;
892
893* ``poolsize``: the entropy pool size, in bits;
894
895* ``urandom_min_reseed_secs``: obsolete (used to determine the minimum
896 number of seconds between urandom pool reseeding). This file is
897 writable for compatibility purposes, but writing to it has no effect
898 on any RNG behavior;
899
900* ``write_wakeup_threshold``: when the entropy count drops below this
901 (as a number of bits), processes waiting to write to ``/dev/random``
902 are woken up. This file is writable for compatibility purposes, but
903 writing to it has no effect on any RNG behavior.
904
905
906randomize_va_space
907==================
908
909This option can be used to select the type of process address
910space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
911that support this feature.
912
913== ===========================================================================
9140 Turn the process address space randomization off. This is the
915 default for architectures that do not support this feature anyways,
916 and kernels that are booted with the "norandmaps" parameter.
917
9181 Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
919 This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
920 loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the
921 location of code start is randomized. This is the default if the
922 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option is enabled.
923
9242 Additionally enable heap randomization. This is the default if
925 CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK is disabled.
926
927 There are a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
928 versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
929 just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
930 start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
931 non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
932 systems it is safe to choose full randomization.
933
934 Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured
935 with CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK enabled, which excludes the heap from process
936 address space randomization.
937== ===========================================================================
938
939
940reboot-cmd: (Sparc only)
941========================
942
943??? This seems to be a way to give an argument to the Sparc
944ROM/Flash boot loader. Maybe to tell it what to do after
945rebooting. ???
946
947
948rtsig-max & rtsig-nr:
949=====================
950
951The file rtsig-max can be used to tune the maximum number
952of POSIX realtime (queued) signals that can be outstanding
953in the system.
954
955rtsig-nr shows the number of RT signals currently queued.
956
957
958sched_energy_aware:
959===================
960
961Enables/disables Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS). EAS starts
962automatically on platforms where it can run (that is,
963platforms with asymmetric CPU topologies and having an Energy
964Model available). If your platform happens to meet the
965requirements for EAS but you do not want to use it, change
966this value to 0.
967
968
969sched_schedstats:
970=================
971
972Enables/disables scheduler statistics. Enabling this feature
973incurs a small amount of overhead in the scheduler but is
974useful for debugging and performance tuning.
975
976sched_util_clamp_min:
977=====================
978
979Max allowed *minimum* utilization.
980
981Default value is 1024, which is the maximum possible value.
982
983It means that any requested uclamp.min value cannot be greater than
984sched_util_clamp_min, i.e., it is restricted to the range
985[0:sched_util_clamp_min].
986
987sched_util_clamp_max:
988=====================
989
990Max allowed *maximum* utilization.
991
992Default value is 1024, which is the maximum possible value.
993
994It means that any requested uclamp.max value cannot be greater than
995sched_util_clamp_max, i.e., it is restricted to the range
996[0:sched_util_clamp_max].
997
998sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default:
999================================
1000
1001By default Linux is tuned for performance. Which means that RT tasks always run
1002at the highest frequency and most capable (highest capacity) CPU (in
1003heterogeneous systems).
1004
1005Uclamp achieves this by setting the requested uclamp.min of all RT tasks to
10061024 by default, which effectively boosts the tasks to run at the highest
1007frequency and biases them to run on the biggest CPU.
1008
1009This knob allows admins to change the default behavior when uclamp is being
1010used. In battery powered devices particularly, running at the maximum
1011capacity and frequency will increase energy consumption and shorten the battery
1012life.
1013
1014This knob is only effective for RT tasks which the user hasn't modified their
1015requested uclamp.min value via sched_setattr() syscall.
1016
1017This knob will not escape the range constraint imposed by sched_util_clamp_min
1018defined above.
1019
1020For example if
1021
1022 sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default = 800
1023 sched_util_clamp_min = 600
1024
1025Then the boost will be clamped to 600 because 800 is outside of the permissible
1026range of [0:600]. This could happen for instance if a powersave mode will
1027restrict all boosts temporarily by modifying sched_util_clamp_min. As soon as
1028this restriction is lifted, the requested sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default
1029will take effect.
1030
1031sg-big-buff:
1032============
1033
1034This file shows the size of the generic SCSI (sg) buffer.
1035You can't tune it just yet, but you could change it on
1036compile time by editing include/scsi/sg.h and changing
1037the value of SG_BIG_BUFF.
1038
1039There shouldn't be any reason to change this value. If
1040you can come up with one, you probably know what you
1041are doing anyway :)
1042
1043
1044shmall:
1045=======
1046
1047This parameter sets the total amount of shared memory pages that
1048can be used system wide. Hence, SHMALL should always be at least
1049ceil(shmmax/PAGE_SIZE).
1050
1051If you are not sure what the default PAGE_SIZE is on your Linux
1052system, you can run the following command:
1053
1054 # getconf PAGE_SIZE
1055
1056
1057shmmax:
1058=======
1059
1060This value can be used to query and set the run time limit
1061on the maximum shared memory segment size that can be created.
1062Shared memory segments up to 1Gb are now supported in the
1063kernel. This value defaults to SHMMAX.
1064
1065
1066shm_rmid_forced:
1067================
1068
1069Linux lets you set resource limits, including how much memory one
1070process can consume, via setrlimit(2). Unfortunately, shared memory
1071segments are allowed to exist without association with any process, and
1072thus might not be counted against any resource limits. If enabled,
1073shared memory segments are automatically destroyed when their attach
1074count becomes zero after a detach or a process termination. It will
1075also destroy segments that were created, but never attached to, on exit
1076from the process. The only use left for IPC_RMID is to immediately
1077destroy an unattached segment. Of course, this breaks the way things are
1078defined, so some applications might stop working. Note that this
1079feature will do you no good unless you also configure your resource
1080limits (in particular, RLIMIT_AS and RLIMIT_NPROC). Most systems don't
1081need this.
1082
1083Note that if you change this from 0 to 1, already created segments
1084without users and with a dead originative process will be destroyed.
1085
1086
1087sysctl_writes_strict:
1088=====================
1089
1090Control how file position affects the behavior of updating sysctl values
1091via the /proc/sys interface:
1092
1093 == ======================================================================
1094 -1 Legacy per-write sysctl value handling, with no printk warnings.
1095 Each write syscall must fully contain the sysctl value to be
1096 written, and multiple writes on the same sysctl file descriptor
1097 will rewrite the sysctl value, regardless of file position.
1098 0 Same behavior as above, but warn about processes that perform writes
1099 to a sysctl file descriptor when the file position is not 0.
1100 1 (default) Respect file position when writing sysctl strings. Multiple
1101 writes will append to the sysctl value buffer. Anything past the max
1102 length of the sysctl value buffer will be ignored. Writes to numeric
1103 sysctl entries must always be at file position 0 and the value must
1104 be fully contained in the buffer sent in the write syscall.
1105 == ======================================================================
1106
1107
1108softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace:
1109=============================
1110
1111This value controls the soft lockup detector thread's behavior
1112when a soft lockup condition is detected as to whether or not
1113to gather further debug information. If enabled, each cpu will
1114be issued an NMI and instructed to capture stack trace.
1115
1116This feature is only applicable for architectures which support
1117NMI.
1118
11190: do nothing. This is the default behavior.
1120
11211: on detection capture more debug information.
1122
1123
1124soft_watchdog:
1125==============
1126
1127This parameter can be used to control the soft lockup detector.
1128
1129 0 - disable the soft lockup detector
1130
1131 1 - enable the soft lockup detector
1132
1133The soft lockup detector monitors CPUs for threads that are hogging the CPUs
1134without rescheduling voluntarily, and thus prevent the 'watchdog/N' threads
1135from running. The mechanism depends on the CPUs ability to respond to timer
1136interrupts which are needed for the 'watchdog/N' threads to be woken up by
1137the watchdog timer function, otherwise the NMI watchdog - if enabled - can
1138detect a hard lockup condition.
1139
1140
1141stack_erasing:
1142==============
1143
1144This parameter can be used to control kernel stack erasing at the end
1145of syscalls for kernels built with CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_STACKLEAK.
1146
1147That erasing reduces the information which kernel stack leak bugs
1148can reveal and blocks some uninitialized stack variable attacks.
1149The tradeoff is the performance impact: on a single CPU system kernel
1150compilation sees a 1% slowdown, other systems and workloads may vary.
1151
1152 0: kernel stack erasing is disabled, STACKLEAK_METRICS are not updated.
1153
1154 1: kernel stack erasing is enabled (default), it is performed before
1155 returning to the userspace at the end of syscalls.
1156
1157
1158tainted
1159=======
1160
1161Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted. Numeric values, which can be
1162ORed together. The letters are seen in "Tainted" line of Oops reports.
1163
1164====== ===== ==============================================================
1165 1 `(P)` proprietary module was loaded
1166 2 `(F)` module was force loaded
1167 4 `(S)` SMP kernel oops on an officially SMP incapable processor
1168 8 `(R)` module was force unloaded
1169 16 `(M)` processor reported a Machine Check Exception (MCE)
1170 32 `(B)` bad page referenced or some unexpected page flags
1171 64 `(U)` taint requested by userspace application
1172 128 `(D)` kernel died recently, i.e. there was an OOPS or BUG
1173 256 `(A)` an ACPI table was overridden by user
1174 512 `(W)` kernel issued warning
1175 1024 `(C)` staging driver was loaded
1176 2048 `(I)` workaround for bug in platform firmware applied
1177 4096 `(O)` externally-built ("out-of-tree") module was loaded
1178 8192 `(E)` unsigned module was loaded
1179 16384 `(L)` soft lockup occurred
1180 32768 `(K)` kernel has been live patched
1181 65536 `(X)` Auxiliary taint, defined and used by for distros
1182131072 `(T)` The kernel was built with the struct randomization plugin
1183====== ===== ==============================================================
1184
1185See Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst for more information.
1186
1187
1188threads-max:
1189============
1190
1191This value controls the maximum number of threads that can be created
1192using fork().
1193
1194During initialization the kernel sets this value such that even if the
1195maximum number of threads is created, the thread structures occupy only
1196a part (1/8th) of the available RAM pages.
1197
1198The minimum value that can be written to threads-max is 20.
1199
1200The maximum value that can be written to threads-max is given by the
1201constant FUTEX_TID_MASK (0x3fffffff).
1202
1203If a value outside of this range is written to threads-max an error
1204EINVAL occurs.
1205
1206The value written is checked against the available RAM pages. If the
1207thread structures would occupy too much (more than 1/8th) of the
1208available RAM pages threads-max is reduced accordingly.
1209
1210
1211unknown_nmi_panic:
1212==================
1213
1214The value in this file affects behavior of handling NMI. When the
1215value is non-zero, unknown NMI is trapped and then panic occurs. At
1216that time, kernel debugging information is displayed on console.
1217
1218NMI switch that most IA32 servers have fires unknown NMI up, for
1219example. If a system hangs up, try pressing the NMI switch.
1220
1221
1222unprivileged_bpf_disabled:
1223==========================
1224
1225Writing 1 to this entry will disable unprivileged calls to ``bpf()``;
1226once disabled, calling ``bpf()`` without ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` will return
1227``-EPERM``. Once set to 1, this can't be cleared from the running kernel
1228anymore.
1229
1230Writing 2 to this entry will also disable unprivileged calls to ``bpf()``,
1231however, an admin can still change this setting later on, if needed, by
1232writing 0 or 1 to this entry.
1233
1234If ``BPF_UNPRIV_DEFAULT_OFF`` is enabled in the kernel config, then this
1235entry will default to 2 instead of 0.
1236
1237= =============================================================
12380 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are enabled
12391 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are disabled without recovery
12402 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are disabled
1241= =============================================================
1242
1243
1244warn_limit
1245==========
1246
1247Number of kernel warnings after which the kernel should panic when
1248``panic_on_warn`` is not set. Setting this to 0 disables checking
1249the warning count. Setting this to 1 has the same effect as setting
1250``panic_on_warn=1``. The default value is 0.
1251
1252
1253watchdog:
1254=========
1255
1256This parameter can be used to disable or enable the soft lockup detector
1257_and_ the NMI watchdog (i.e. the hard lockup detector) at the same time.
1258
1259 0 - disable both lockup detectors
1260
1261 1 - enable both lockup detectors
1262
1263The soft lockup detector and the NMI watchdog can also be disabled or
1264enabled individually, using the soft_watchdog and nmi_watchdog parameters.
1265If the watchdog parameter is read, for example by executing::
1266
1267 cat /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog
1268
1269the output of this command (0 or 1) shows the logical OR of soft_watchdog
1270and nmi_watchdog.
1271
1272
1273watchdog_cpumask:
1274=================
1275
1276This value can be used to control on which cpus the watchdog may run.
1277The default cpumask is all possible cores, but if NO_HZ_FULL is
1278enabled in the kernel config, and cores are specified with the
1279nohz_full= boot argument, those cores are excluded by default.
1280Offline cores can be included in this mask, and if the core is later
1281brought online, the watchdog will be started based on the mask value.
1282
1283Typically this value would only be touched in the nohz_full case
1284to re-enable cores that by default were not running the watchdog,
1285if a kernel lockup was suspected on those cores.
1286
1287The argument value is the standard cpulist format for cpumasks,
1288so for example to enable the watchdog on cores 0, 2, 3, and 4 you
1289might say::
1290
1291 echo 0,2-4 > /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog_cpumask
1292
1293
1294watchdog_thresh:
1295================
1296
1297This value can be used to control the frequency of hrtimer and NMI
1298events and the soft and hard lockup thresholds. The default threshold
1299is 10 seconds.
1300
1301The softlockup threshold is (2 * watchdog_thresh). Setting this
1302tunable to zero will disable lockup detection altogether.