Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/* kernel version 2.2.10
(c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
+ (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>
For general info and legal blurb, please look in README.
show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
- acpi_video_flags
- acct
+- auto_msgmni
- core_pattern
- core_uses_pid
- ctrl-alt-del
- java-interpreter [ binfmt_java, obsolete ]
- kstack_depth_to_print [ X86 only ]
- l2cr [ PPC only ]
-- modprobe ==> Documentation/kmod.txt
+- modprobe ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
+- modules_disabled
- msgmax
- msgmnb
- msgmni
+- nmi_watchdog
- osrelease
- ostype
- overflowgid
- panic
- pid_max
- powersave-nap [ PPC only ]
+- panic_on_unrecovered_nmi
- printk
+- randomize_va_space
- real-root-dev ==> Documentation/initrd.txt
- reboot-cmd [ SPARC only ]
- rtsig-max
- sysrq ==> Documentation/sysrq.txt
- tainted
- threads-max
+- unknown_nmi_panic
- version
==============================================================
==============================================================
+modules_disabled:
+
+A toggle value indicating if modules are allowed to be loaded
+in an otherwise modular kernel. This toggle defaults to off
+(0), but can be set true (1). Once true, modules can be
+neither loaded nor unloaded, and the toggle cannot be set back
+to false.
+
+==============================================================
+
osrelease, ostype & version:
# cat osrelease
0: try to continue operation
-1: panic immediatly. If the `panic' sysctl is also non-zero then the
+1: panic immediately. If the `panic' sysctl is also non-zero then the
machine will be rebooted.
==============================================================
==============================================================
+randomize-va-space:
+
+This option can be used to select the type of process address
+space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
+that support this feature.
+
+0 - Turn the process address space randomization off by default.
+
+1 - Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
+ This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
+ loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the location
+ of code start is randomized.
+
+ With heap randomization, the situation is a little bit more
+ complicated.
+ There a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
+ versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
+ just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
+ start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
+ non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
+ systems it is safe to choose full randomization. However there is
+ a CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option for systems with ancient and/or broken
+ binaries, that makes heap non-randomized, but keeps all other
+ parts of process address space randomized if randomize_va_space
+ sysctl is turned on.
+
+==============================================================
+
reboot-cmd: (Sparc only)
??? This seems to be a way to give an argument to the Sparc
==============================================================
+softlockup_thresh:
+
+This value can be used to lower the softlockup tolerance threshold. The
+default threshold is 60 seconds. If a cpu is locked up for 60 seconds,
+the kernel complains. Valid values are 1-60 seconds. Setting this
+tunable to zero will disable the softlockup detection altogether.
+
+==============================================================
+
tainted:
Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted. Numeric values, which
can be ORed together:
- 1 - A module with a non-GPL license has been loaded, this
- includes modules with no license.
- Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
- 2 - A module was force loaded by insmod -f.
- Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
- 4 - Unsafe SMP processors: SMP with CPUs not designed for SMP.
+ 1 - A module with a non-GPL license has been loaded, this
+ includes modules with no license.
+ Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
+ 2 - A module was force loaded by insmod -f.
+ Set by modutils >= 2.4.9 and module-init-tools.
+ 4 - Unsafe SMP processors: SMP with CPUs not designed for SMP.
+ 8 - A module was forcibly unloaded from the system by rmmod -f.
+ 16 - A hardware machine check error occurred on the system.
+ 32 - A bad page was discovered on the system.
+ 64 - The user has asked that the system be marked "tainted". This
+ could be because they are running software that directly modifies
+ the hardware, or for other reasons.
+ 128 - The system has died.
+ 256 - The ACPI DSDT has been overridden with one supplied by the user
+ instead of using the one provided by the hardware.
+ 512 - A kernel warning has occurred.
+1024 - A module from drivers/staging was loaded.
+
+==============================================================
+
+auto_msgmni:
+
+Enables/Disables automatic recomputing of msgmni upon memory add/remove or
+upon ipc namespace creation/removal (see the msgmni description above).
+Echoing "1" into this file enables msgmni automatic recomputing.
+Echoing "0" turns it off.
+auto_msgmni default value is 1.
+
+==============================================================
+
+nmi_watchdog:
+
+Enables/Disables the NMI watchdog on x86 systems. When the value is non-zero
+the NMI watchdog is enabled and will continuously test all online cpus to
+determine whether or not they are still functioning properly. Currently,
+passing "nmi_watchdog=" parameter at boot time is required for this function
+to work.
+
+If LAPIC NMI watchdog method is in use (nmi_watchdog=2 kernel parameter), the
+NMI watchdog shares registers with oprofile. By disabling the NMI watchdog,
+oprofile may have more registers to utilize.
+
+==============================================================
+
+unknown_nmi_panic:
+
+The value in this file affects behavior of handling NMI. When the value is
+non-zero, unknown NMI is trapped and then panic occurs. At that time, kernel
+debugging information is displayed on console.
+
+NMI switch that most IA32 servers have fires unknown NMI up, for example.
+If a system hangs up, try pressing the NMI switch.
+
+==============================================================
+
+panic_on_unrecovered_nmi:
+
+The default Linux behaviour on an NMI of either memory or unknown is to continue
+operation. For many environments such as scientific computing it is preferable
+that the box is taken out and the error dealt with than an uncorrected
+parity/ECC error get propogated.
+
+A small number of systems do generate NMI's for bizarre random reasons such as
+power management so the default is off. That sysctl works like the existing
+panic controls already in that directory.