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Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/* version 0.1
(c) 1998, Rik van Riel <H.H.vanRiel@phys.uu.nl>
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 2.1.
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 are in /proc/sys/kernel:
- ctrl-alt-del
- dentry-state
- domainname
- file-max
- file-nr
- hostname
- inode-max
- inode-nr
- inode-state
- modprobe ==> Documentation/kmod.txt
- osrelease
- ostype
- panic
- printk
- real-root-dev ==> Documentation/initrd.txt
- reboot-cmd ==> SPARC specific
- securelevel
- version
==============================================================
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.
==============================================================
dentry-state:
From linux/fs/dentry.c:
--------------------------------------------------------------
struct {
int nr_dentry;
int nr_unused;
int age_limit; /* age in seconds */
int want_pages; /* pages requested by system */
int dummy[2];
} dentry_stat = {0, 0, 45, 0,};
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dentries are dynamically allocated and deallocated, and
nr_dentry seems to be 0 all the time. Hence it's safe to
assume that only nr_unused, age_limit and want_pages are
used. Nr_unused seems to be exactly what its name says.
Age_limit is the age in seconds after which dcache entries
can be reclaimed when memory is short and want_pages is
nonzero when shrink_dcache_pages() has been called and the
dcache isn't pruned yet.
==============================================================
domainname & hostname:
These files can be controlled to set the domainname and
hostname of your box. For the classic darkstar.frop.org
a simple:
# echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
# echo "frop.org" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname
would suffice to set your hostname and domainname.
==============================================================
file-max & file-nr:
The kernel allocates file handles dynamically, but as yet it
doesn't free them again.
The value in file-max denotes the maximum number of file-
handles that the Linux kernel will allocate. When you get lots
of error messages about running out of file handles, you might
want to increase this limit.
The three values in file-nr denote the number of allocated
file handles, the number of used file handles and the maximum
number of file handles. When the allocated file handles come
close to the maximum, but the number of actually used ones is
far behind, you've encountered a peak in your usage of file
handles and you don't need to increase the maximum.
==============================================================
inode-max, inode-nr & inode-state:
As with file handles, the kernel allocates the inode structures
dynamically, but can't free them yet.
The value in inode-max denotes the maximum number of inode
handlers. This value should be 3-4 times larger than the value
in file-max, since stdin, stdout and network sockets also
need an inode struct to handle them. When you regularly run
out of inodes, you need to increase this value.
The file inode-nr contains the first two items from
inode-state, so we'll skip to that file...
Inode-state contains three actual numbers and four dummies.
The actual numbers are, in order of appearance, nr_inodes,
nr_free_inodes and preshrink.
Nr_inodes stands for the number of inodes the system has
allocated, this can be slightly more than inode-max because
Linux allocates them one pageful at a time.
Nr_free_inodes represents the number of free inodes (?) and
preshrink is nonzero when the nr_inodes > inode-max and the
system needs to prune the inode list instead of allocating
more.
==============================================================
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 :-)
==============================================================
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.
==============================================================
printk:
The four values in printk denote: console_loglevel,
default_message_loglevel, minimum_console_level 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
Note: a quick look in linux/kernel/printk.c will reveal that
these variables aren't put inside a structure, so their order
in-core isn't formally guaranteed and garbage values _might_
occur when the compiler changes. (???)
==============================================================
securelevel:
When the value in this file is nonzero, root is prohibited
from:
- changing the immutable and append-only flags on files
- changing sysctl things (limited ???)
==============================================================
real-root-dev: (CONFIG_INITRD only)
This file is used to configure the real root device when using
an initial ramdisk to configure the system before switching to
the 'real' root device. See linux/Documentation/initrd.txt for
more info.
==============================================================
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. ???
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