diff options
| author | Niklas Cassel <cassel@kernel.org> | 2026-09-16 15:00:32 +0200 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Niklas Cassel <cassel@kernel.org> | 2026-09-16 16:18:00 +0200 |
| commit | 8d836581f9b1f57ceaa2b47654754ef1260b410b (patch) | |
| tree | 1dbd4d0dfb99c2e238356cbe947e5b0be3e3a571 /Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl | |
| download | linux-stable-8d836581f9b1f57ceaa2b47654754ef1260b410b.tar.gz linux-stable-8d836581f9b1f57ceaa2b47654754ef1260b410b.zip | |
ata: libata-scsi: fix ata_dsm_trim_pages() kernel-docgrafted
make htmldocs fails with:
Documentation/driver-api/libata:604: ./drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c:2301:
ERROR: Unexpected indentation. [docutils]
The Return: section of ata_dsm_trim_pages() ends its first sentence with
a colon and continues with an indented bullet list. reStructuredText
requires a blank line before an indented block, so docutils chokes on
the list.
Simply adding the missing blank line does not work either: Return: is a
kernel-doc "special section", which is terminated by the first blank
line, so the bullet list would end up in the Description section,
detached from the sentence introducing it.
Spell the two bounds out as prose instead, so that the Return: section
stays self-contained. Documentation-only change.
Fixes: e64e6b5dc867 ("ata: libata-scsi: scale DSM TRIM payload by MAX PAGES PER DSM COMMAND")
Reported-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ide/b0a0b8e8-cc4f-4c7b-8bc5-fee0712d405a@redhat.com/
Reviewed-by: Damien Le Moal <dlemoal@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260916130031.29990-2-cassel@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Niklas Cassel <cassel@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/abi.rst | 34 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/crypto.rst | 83 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/debug.rst | 52 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/fs.rst | 374 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst | 107 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 1753 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst | 587 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/sunrpc.rst | 25 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/user.rst | 84 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst | 1230 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/xen.rst | 31 |
11 files changed, 4360 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/abi.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/abi.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4e6db0a2a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/abi.rst @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ + +================================ +Documentation for /proc/sys/abi/ +================================ + +.. See scripts/check-sysctl-docs to keep this up to date: +.. scripts/check-sysctl-docs -vtable="abi" \ +.. Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/abi.rst \ +.. $(git grep -l register_sysctl_) + +Copyright (c) 2020, Stephen Kitt + +For general info, see Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The files in ``/proc/sys/abi`` can be used to see and modify +ABI-related settings. + +Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration) +show up in ``/proc/sys/kernel``: + +.. contents:: :local: + +vsyscall32 (x86) +================ + +Determines whether the kernels maps a vDSO page into 32-bit processes; +can be set to 1 to enable, or 0 to disable. Defaults to enabled if +``CONFIG_COMPAT_VDSO`` is set, disabled otherwise. + +This controls the same setting as the ``vdso32`` kernel boot +parameter. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/crypto.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/crypto.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9a1bd5328 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/crypto.rst @@ -0,0 +1,83 @@ +================= +/proc/sys/crypto/ +================= + +These files show up in ``/proc/sys/crypto/``, depending on the +kernel configuration: + +.. contents:: :local: + +.. _af_alg_restrict: + +af_alg_restrict +=============== + +Controls the level of restriction of AF_ALG. + +AF_ALG is a deprecated and rarely-used userspace interface that is a +frequent source of vulnerabilities. It also unnecessarily exposes a +large number of kernel implementation details. For more information +about AF_ALG, see :ref:`Documentation/crypto/userspace-if.rst +<crypto_userspace_interface>`. + +Starting in Linux v7.3, AF_ALG supports only a limited set of +algorithms by default. This sysctl allows the system administrator to +remove this restriction when needed for compatibility reasons, or to +go further and disable AF_ALG entirely. The default value is 1. + +=== ================================================================== +0 AF_ALG is unrestricted. + +1 AF_ALG is supported with a limited list of algorithms. The list + is designed for compatibility with known users such as iwd and + bluez that haven't yet been fixed to use userspace crypto code. + + Specifically, there is an allowlist for unprivileged processes + and a somewhat longer allowlist for processes that hold + CAP_SYS_ADMIN or CAP_NET_ADMIN in the initial user namespace. + + Attempts to bind() an AF_ALG socket with a disallowed algorithm + fail with ENOENT. + +2 AF_ALG is completely disabled. Attempts to create an AF_ALG + socket fail with EAFNOSUPPORT. +=== ================================================================== + +fips_enabled +============ + +Read-only flag that indicates whether FIPS mode is enabled. + +- ``0``: FIPS mode is disabled (default). +- ``1``: FIPS mode is enabled. + +This value is set at boot time via the ``fips=1`` kernel command line +parameter. When enabled, the cryptographic API will restrict the use +of certain algorithms and perform self-tests to ensure compliance with +FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) requirements, such as +FIPS 140-2 and the newer FIPS 140-3, depending on the kernel +configuration and the module in use. + +fips_name +========= + +Read-only file that contains the name of the FIPS module currently in use. +The value is typically configured via the ``CONFIG_CRYPTO_FIPS_NAME`` +kernel configuration option. + +fips_version +============ + +Read-only file that contains the version string of the FIPS module. +If ``CONFIG_CRYPTO_FIPS_CUSTOM_VERSION`` is set, it uses the value from +``CONFIG_CRYPTO_FIPS_VERSION``. Otherwise, it defaults to the kernel +release version (``UTS_RELEASE``). + +Copyright (c) 2026, Shubham Chakraborty <chakrabortyshubham66@gmail.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in +Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst. + +.. See scripts/check-sysctl-docs to keep this up to date: +.. scripts/check-sysctl-docs -vtable="crypto" \ +.. $(git grep -l register_sysctl_) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/debug.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/debug.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..506bd5e48 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/debug.rst @@ -0,0 +1,52 @@ +================ +/proc/sys/debug/ +================ + +These files show up in ``/proc/sys/debug/``, depending on the +kernel configuration: + +.. contents:: :local: + +exception-trace +=============== + +This flag controls whether the kernel prints information about unhandled +signals (like segmentation faults) to the kernel log (``dmesg``). + +- ``0``: Unhandled signals are not traced. +- ``1``: Information about unhandled signals is printed. + +The default value is ``1`` on most architectures (like x86, MIPS, RISC-V), +but it is ``0`` on **arm64**. + +The actual information printed and the context provided varies +significantly depending on the CPU architecture. For example: + +- On **x86**, it typically prints the instruction pointer (IP), error + code, and address that caused a page fault. +- On **PowerPC**, it may print the next instruction pointer (NIP), + link register (LR), and other relevant registers. + +When enabled, this feature is often rate-limited to prevent the kernel +log from being flooded during a crash loop. + +kprobes-optimization +==================== + +This flag enables or disables the optimization of Kprobes on certain +architectures (like x86). + +- ``0``: Kprobes optimization is turned off. +- ``1``: Kprobes optimization is turned on (default). + +For more details on Kprobes and its optimization, please refer to +Documentation/trace/kprobes.rst. + +Copyright (c) 2026, Shubham Chakraborty <chakrabortyshubham66@gmail.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in +Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst. + +.. See scripts/check-sysctl-docs to keep this up to date: +.. scripts/check-sysctl-docs -vtable="debug" \ +.. $(git grep -l register_sysctl_) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/fs.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/fs.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9b7f65c3e --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/fs.rst @@ -0,0 +1,374 @@ +=============================== +Documentation for /proc/sys/fs/ +=============================== + +Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> + +Copyright (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in intro.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains documentation for the sysctl files and directories +in ``/proc/sys/fs/``. + +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. + +1. /proc/sys/fs +=============== + +Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration) +show up in ``/proc/sys/fs``: + +.. contents:: :local: + + +aio-nr & aio-max-nr +------------------- + +``aio-nr`` shows the current system-wide number of asynchronous io +requests. ``aio-max-nr`` allows you to change the maximum value +``aio-nr`` can grow to. If ``aio-nr`` reaches ``aio-nr-max`` then +``io_setup`` will fail with ``EAGAIN``. Note that raising +``aio-max-nr`` does not result in the +pre-allocation or re-sizing of any kernel data structures. + +dentry-negative +---------------------------- + +Policy for negative dentries. Set to 1 to always delete the dentry when a +file is removed, and 0 to disable it. By default, this behavior is disabled. + +dentry-state +------------ + +This file shows the values in ``struct dentry_stat_t``, as defined in +``fs/dcache.c``:: + + struct dentry_stat_t dentry_stat { + long nr_dentry; + long nr_unused; + long age_limit; /* age in seconds */ + long want_pages; /* pages requested by system */ + long nr_negative; /* # of unused negative dentries */ + long dummy; /* Reserved for future use */ + }; + +Dentries are dynamically allocated and deallocated. + +``nr_dentry`` shows the total number of dentries allocated (active ++ unused). ``nr_unused shows`` the number of dentries that are not +actively used, but are saved in the LRU list for future reuse. + +``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. + +``nr_negative`` shows the number of unused dentries that are also +negative dentries which do not map to any files. Instead, +they help speeding up rejection of non-existing files provided +by the users. + + +file-max & file-nr +------------------ + +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. + +Historically,the kernel was able to allocate file handles +dynamically, but not to free them again. The three values in +``file-nr`` denote the number of allocated file handles, the number +of allocated but unused file handles, and the maximum number of +file handles. Linux 2.6 and later always reports 0 as the number of free +file handles -- this is not an error, it just means that the +number of allocated file handles exactly matches the number of +used file handles. + +Attempts to allocate more file descriptors than ``file-max`` are +reported with ``printk``, look for:: + + VFS: file-max limit <number> reached + +in the kernel logs. + + +inode-nr & inode-state +---------------------- + +As with file handles, the kernel allocates the inode structures +dynamically, but can't free them yet. + +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. + +``nr_free_inodes`` represents the number of free inodes (?) and +preshrink is nonzero when the +system needs to prune the inode list instead of allocating +more. + + +mount-max +--------- + +This denotes the maximum number of mounts that may exist +in a mount namespace. + + +nr_open +------- + +This denotes the maximum number of file-handles a process can +allocate. Default value is 1024*1024 (1048576) which should be +enough for most machines. Actual limit depends on ``RLIMIT_NOFILE`` +resource limit. + + +overflowgid & overflowuid +------------------------- + +Some filesystems only support 16-bit UIDs and GIDs, although in Linux +UIDs and GIDs are 32 bits. When one of these filesystems is mounted +with writes enabled, any UID or GID that would exceed 65535 is translated +to a fixed value before being written to disk. + +These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID. +The default is 65534. + + +pipe-user-pages-hard +-------------------- + +Maximum total number of pages a non-privileged user may allocate for pipes. +Once this limit is reached, no new pipes may be allocated until usage goes +below the limit again. When set to 0, no limit is applied, which is the default +setting. + + +pipe-user-pages-soft +-------------------- + +Maximum total number of pages a non-privileged user may allocate for pipes +before the pipe size gets limited to two pages. Once this limit is reached, +new pipes will be limited to two pages in size for this user in order to +limit total memory usage, and trying to increase them using ``fcntl()`` will be +denied until usage goes below the limit again. The default value allows to +allocate up to 1024 pipes at their default size. When set to 0, no limit is +applied. + + +protected_fifos +--------------- + +The intent of this protection is to avoid unintentional writes to +an attacker-controlled FIFO, where a program expected to create a regular +file. + +When set to "0", writing to FIFOs is unrestricted. + +When set to "1" don't allow ``O_CREAT`` open on FIFOs that we don't own +in world writable sticky directories, unless they are owned by the +owner of the directory. + +When set to "2" it also applies to group writable sticky directories. + +This protection is based on the restrictions in Openwall. + + +protected_hardlinks +-------------------- + +A long-standing class of security issues is the hardlink-based +time-of-check-time-of-use race, most commonly seen in world-writable +directories like ``/tmp``. The common method of exploitation of this flaw +is to cross privilege boundaries when following a given hardlink (i.e. a +root process follows a hardlink created by another user). Additionally, +on systems without separated partitions, this stops unauthorized users +from "pinning" vulnerable setuid/setgid files against being upgraded by +the administrator, or linking to special files. + +When set to "0", hardlink creation behavior is unrestricted. + +When set to "1" hardlinks cannot be created by users if they do not +already own the source file, or do not have read/write access to it. + +This protection is based on the restrictions in Openwall and grsecurity. + + +protected_regular +----------------- + +This protection is similar to `protected_fifos`_, but it +avoids writes to an attacker-controlled regular file, where a program +expected to create one. + +When set to "0", writing to regular files is unrestricted. + +When set to "1" don't allow ``O_CREAT`` open on regular files that we +don't own in world writable sticky directories, unless they are +owned by the owner of the directory. + +When set to "2" it also applies to group writable sticky directories. + + +protected_symlinks +------------------ + +A long-standing class of security issues is the symlink-based +time-of-check-time-of-use race, most commonly seen in world-writable +directories like ``/tmp``. The common method of exploitation of this flaw +is to cross privilege boundaries when following a given symlink (i.e. a +root process follows a symlink belonging to another user). For a likely +incomplete list of hundreds of examples across the years, please see: +https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=/tmp + +When set to "0", symlink following behavior is unrestricted. + +When set to "1" symlinks are permitted to be followed only when outside +a sticky world-writable directory, or when the uid of the symlink and +follower match, or when the directory owner matches the symlink's owner. + +This protection is based on the restrictions in Openwall and grsecurity. + + +suid_dumpable +------------- + +This value can be used to query and set the core dump mode for setuid +or otherwise protected/tainted binaries. The modes are + += ========== =============================================================== +0 (default) Traditional behaviour. Any process which has changed + privilege levels or is execute only will not be dumped. +1 (debug) All processes dump core when possible. The core dump is + owned by the current user and no security is applied. This is + intended for system debugging situations only. + Ptrace is unchecked. + This is insecure as it allows regular users to examine the + memory contents of privileged processes. +2 (suidsafe) Any binary which normally would not be dumped is dumped + anyway, but only if the ``core_pattern`` kernel sysctl (see + :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst <core_pattern>`) + is set to + either a pipe handler or a fully qualified path. (For more + details on this limitation, see CVE-2006-2451.) This mode is + appropriate when administrators are attempting to debug + problems in a normal environment, and either have a core dump + pipe handler that knows to treat privileged core dumps with + care, or specific directory defined for catching core dumps. + If a core dump happens without a pipe handler or fully + qualified path, a message will be emitted to syslog warning + about the lack of a correct setting. += ========== =============================================================== + + + +2. /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc +=========================== + +Documentation for the files in ``/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc`` is +in Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst. + + +3. /proc/sys/fs/mqueue - POSIX message queues filesystem +======================================================== + + +The "mqueue" filesystem provides the necessary kernel features to enable the +creation of a user space library that implements the POSIX message queues +API (as noted by the MSG tag in the POSIX 1003.1-2001 version of the System +Interfaces specification.) + +The "mqueue" filesystem contains values for determining/setting the +amount of resources used by the file system. + +``/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/queues_max`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the maximum number of message queues allowed on the +system. + +``/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msg_max`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the maximum number of messages in a queue value. In +fact it is the limiting value for another (user) limit which is set in +``mq_open`` invocation. This attribute of a queue must be less than +or equal to ``msg_max``. + +``/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msgsize_max`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the maximum message size value (it is an attribute of +every message queue, set during its creation). + +``/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msg_default`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the default number of messages in a queue value if the +``attr`` parameter of ``mq_open(2)`` is ``NULL``. If it exceeds +``msg_max``, the default value is initialized to ``msg_max``. + +``/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msgsize_default`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the default message size value if the ``attr`` +parameter of ``mq_open(2)`` is ``NULL``. If it exceeds +``msgsize_max``, the default value is initialized to ``msgsize_max``. + +4. /proc/sys/fs/epoll - Configuration options for the epoll interface +===================================================================== + +This directory contains configuration options for the epoll(7) interface. + +max_user_watches +---------------- + +Every epoll file descriptor can store a number of files to be monitored +for event readiness. Each one of these monitored files constitutes a "watch". +This configuration option sets the maximum number of "watches" that are +allowed for each user. +Each "watch" costs roughly 90 bytes on a 32-bit kernel, and roughly 160 bytes +on a 64-bit one. +The current default value for ``max_user_watches`` is 4% of the +available low memory, divided by the "watch" cost in bytes. + +5. /proc/sys/fs/fuse - Configuration options for FUSE filesystems +===================================================================== + +This directory contains the following configuration options for FUSE +filesystems: + +``/proc/sys/fs/fuse/max_pages_limit`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the maximum number of pages that can be used for servicing +requests in FUSE. + +``/proc/sys/fs/fuse/default_request_timeout`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the default timeout (in seconds) for a fuse server to +reply to a kernel-issued request in the event where the server did not +specify a timeout at mount. If the server set a timeout, +then default_request_timeout will be ignored. The default +"default_request_timeout" is set to 0. 0 indicates no default timeout. +The maximum value that can be set is 65535. + +``/proc/sys/fs/fuse/max_request_timeout`` is a read/write file for +setting/getting the maximum timeout (in seconds) for a fuse server to +reply to a kernel-issued request. A value greater than 0 automatically opts +the server into a timeout that will be set to at most "max_request_timeout", +even if the server did not specify a timeout and default_request_timeout is +set to 0. If max_request_timeout is greater than 0 and the server set a timeout +greater than max_request_timeout or default_request_timeout is set to a value +greater than max_request_timeout, the system will use max_request_timeout as the +timeout. 0 indicates no max request timeout. The maximum value that can be set +is 65535. + +For timeouts, if the server does not respond to the request by the time +the set timeout elapses, then the connection to the fuse server will be aborted. +Please note that the timeouts are not 100% precise (eg you may set 60 seconds but +the timeout may kick in after 70 seconds). The upper margin of error for the +timeout is roughly FUSE_TIMEOUT_TIMER_FREQ seconds. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..50f00514f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,107 @@ +=========================== +Documentation for /proc/sys +=========================== + +Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +'Why', I hear you ask, 'would anyone even _want_ documentation +for them sysctl files? If anybody really needs it, it's all in +the source...' + +Well, this documentation is written because some people either +don't know they need to tweak something, or because they don't +have the time or knowledge to read the source code. + +Furthermore, the programmers who built sysctl have built it to +be actually used, not just for the fun of programming it :-) + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Legal blurb: + +As usual, there are two main things to consider: + +1. you get what you pay for +2. it's free + +The consequences are that I won't guarantee the correctness of +this document, and if you come to me complaining about how you +screwed up your system because of wrong documentation, I won't +feel sorry for you. I might even laugh at you... + +But of course, if you _do_ manage to screw up your system using +only the sysctl options used in this file, I'd like to hear of +it. Not only to have a great laugh, but also to make sure that +you're the last RTFMing person to screw up. + +In short, e-mail your suggestions, corrections and / or horror +stories to: <riel@nl.linux.org> + +Rik van Riel. + +-------------------------------------------------------------- + +Introduction +============ + +Sysctl is a means of configuring certain aspects of the kernel +at run-time, and the /proc/sys/ directory is there so that you +don't even need special tools to do it! +In fact, there are only four things needed to use these config +facilities: + +- a running Linux system +- root access +- common sense (this is especially hard to come by these days) +- knowledge of what all those values mean + +As a quick 'ls /proc/sys' will show, the directory consists of +several (arch-dependent?) subdirs. Each subdir is mainly about +one part of the kernel, so you can do configuration on a piece +by piece basis, or just some 'thematic frobbing'. + +This documentation is about: + +=============== =============================================================== +abi/ execution domains & personalities +<$ARCH> tuning controls for various CPU architecture (e.g. csky, s390) +crypto/ cryptographic subsystem +debug/ debugging features +dev/ device specific information (e.g. dev/cdrom/info) +fs/ specific filesystems + filehandle, inode, dentry and quota tuning + binfmt_misc <Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst> +kernel/ global kernel info / tuning + miscellaneous stuff + some architecture-specific controls + security (LSM) stuff +net/ networking stuff, for documentation look in: + <Documentation/networking/> +proc/ <empty> +sunrpc/ SUN Remote Procedure Call (NFS) +user/ Per user namespace limits +vm/ memory management tuning + buffer and cache management +xen/ Xen hypervisor controls +=============== =============================================================== + +These are the subdirs I have on my system or have been discovered by +searching through the source code. There might be more or other subdirs +in another setup. If you see another dir, I'd really like to hear about +it :-) + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 1 + + abi + crypto + debug + fs + kernel + net + sunrpc + user + vm + xen diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b6328cd0f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst @@ -0,0 +1,1753 @@ +=================================== +Documentation for /proc/sys/kernel/ +=================================== + +.. See scripts/check-sysctl-docs to keep this up to date + + +Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> + +Copyright (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in +Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in +``/proc/sys/kernel/``. + +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 might (depending on your configuration) +show up in ``/proc/sys/kernel``: + +.. contents:: :local: + + +acct +==== + +:: + + highwater lowwater frequency + +If BSD-style process accounting is enabled these values control +its behaviour. If free space on filesystem where the log lives +goes below ``lowwater``\ % accounting suspends. If free space gets +above ``highwater``\ % accounting resumes. ``frequency`` determines +how often do we check the amount of free space (value is in +seconds). Default: + +:: + + 4 2 30 + +That is, suspend accounting if free space drops below 2%; resume it +if it increases to at least 4%; consider information about amount of +free space valid for 30 seconds. + + +acpi_video_flags +================ + +See Documentation/power/video.rst. This allows the video resume mode to be set, +in a similar fashion to the ``acpi_sleep`` kernel parameter, by +combining the following values: + += ======= +1 s3_bios +2 s3_mode +4 s3_beep += ======= + +arch +==== + +The machine hardware name, the same output as ``uname -m`` +(e.g. ``x86_64`` or ``aarch64``). + +auto_msgmni +=========== + +This variable has no effect and may be removed in future kernel +releases. Reading it always returns 0. +Up to Linux 3.17, it enabled/disabled automatic recomputing of +`msgmni`_ +upon memory add/remove or upon IPC namespace creation/removal. +Echoing "1" into this file enabled msgmni automatic recomputing. +Echoing "0" turned it off. The default value was 1. + + +bootloader_type (x86 only) +========================== + +This gives the bootloader type number as indicated by the bootloader, +shifted left by 4, and OR'd with the low four bits of the bootloader +version. The reason for this encoding is that this used to match the +``type_of_loader`` field in the kernel header; the encoding is kept for +backwards compatibility. That is, if the full bootloader type number +is 0x15 and the full version number is 0x234, this file will contain +the value 340 = 0x154. + +See the ``type_of_loader`` and ``ext_loader_type`` fields in +Documentation/arch/x86/boot.rst for additional information. + + +bootloader_version (x86 only) +============================= + +The complete bootloader version number. In the example above, this +file will contain the value 564 = 0x234. + +See the ``type_of_loader`` and ``ext_loader_ver`` fields in +Documentation/arch/x86/boot.rst for additional information. + + +bpf_stats_enabled +================= + +Controls whether the kernel should collect statistics on BPF programs +(total time spent running, number of times run...). Enabling +statistics causes a slight reduction in performance on each program +run. The statistics can be seen using ``bpftool``. + += =================================== +0 Don't collect statistics (default). +1 Collect statistics. += =================================== + + +cad_pid +======= + +This is the pid which will be signalled on reboot (notably, by +Ctrl-Alt-Delete). Writing a value to this file which doesn't +correspond to a running process will result in ``-ESRCH``. + +See also `ctrl-alt-del`_. + + +cap_last_cap +============ + +Highest valid capability of the running kernel. Exports +``CAP_LAST_CAP`` from the kernel. + + +.. _core_pattern: + +core_pattern +============ + +``core_pattern`` is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name. + +* max length 127 characters; default value is "core" +* ``core_pattern`` is used as a pattern template for the output + filename; certain string patterns (beginning with '%') are + substituted with their actual values. +* backward compatibility with ``core_uses_pid``: + + If ``core_pattern`` does not include "%p" (default does not) + and ``core_uses_pid`` is set, then .PID will be appended to + the filename. + +* corename format specifiers + + ======== ========================================== + %<NUL> '%' is dropped + %% output one '%' + %p pid + %P global pid (init PID namespace) + %i tid + %I global tid (init PID namespace) + %u uid (in initial user namespace) + %g gid (in initial user namespace) + %d dump mode, matches ``PR_SET_DUMPABLE`` and + ``/proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable`` + %s signal number + %t UNIX time of dump + %h hostname + %e executable filename (may be shortened, could be changed by prctl etc) + %f executable filename + %E executable path + %c maximum size of core file by resource limit RLIMIT_CORE + %C CPU the task ran on + %F pidfd number + %<OTHER> both are dropped + ======== ========================================== + +* If the first character of the pattern is a '|', the kernel will treat + the rest of the pattern as a command to run. The core dump will be + written to the standard input of that program instead of to a file. + + +core_pipe_limit +=============== + +This sysctl is only applicable when `core_pattern`_ is configured to +pipe core files to a user space helper (when the first character of +``core_pattern`` is a '|', see above). +When collecting cores via a pipe to an application, it is occasionally +useful for the collecting application to gather data about the +crashing process from its ``/proc/pid`` directory. +In order to do this safely, the kernel must wait for the collecting +process to exit, so as not to remove the crashing processes proc files +prematurely. +This in turn creates the possibility that a misbehaving userspace +collecting process can block the reaping of a crashed process simply +by never exiting. +This sysctl defends against that. +It defines how many concurrent crashing processes may be piped to user +space applications in parallel. +If this value is exceeded, then those crashing processes above that +value are noted via the kernel log and their cores are skipped. +0 is a special value, indicating that unlimited processes may be +captured in parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e. the +collecting process is not guaranteed access to ``/proc/<crashing +pid>/``). +This value defaults to 0. + + +core_sort_vma +============= + +The default coredump writes VMAs in address order. By setting +``core_sort_vma`` to 1, VMAs will be written from smallest size +to largest size. This is known to break at least elfutils, but +can be handy when dealing with very large (and truncated) +coredumps where the more useful debugging details are included +in the smaller VMAs. + + +core_uses_pid +============= + +The default coredump filename is "core". By setting +``core_uses_pid`` to 1, the coredump filename becomes core.PID. +If `core_pattern`_ does not include "%p" (default does not) +and ``core_uses_pid`` is set, then .PID will be appended to +the filename. + + +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. + + +dmesg_restrict +============== + +This toggle indicates whether unprivileged users are prevented +from using ``dmesg(8)`` to view messages from the kernel's log +buffer. +When ``dmesg_restrict`` is set to 0 there are no restrictions. +When ``dmesg_restrict`` is set to 1, users must have +``CAP_SYSLOG`` to use ``dmesg(8)``. + +The kernel config option ``CONFIG_SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT`` sets the +default value of ``dmesg_restrict``. + + +domainname & hostname +===================== + +These files can be used to set the NIS/YP domainname and the +hostname of your box in exactly the same way as the commands +domainname and hostname, i.e.:: + + # echo "darkstar" > /proc/sys/kernel/hostname + # echo "mydomain" > /proc/sys/kernel/domainname + +has the same effect as:: + + # hostname "darkstar" + # domainname "mydomain" + +Note, however, that the classic darkstar.frop.org has the +hostname "darkstar" and DNS (Internet Domain Name Server) +domainname "frop.org", not to be confused with the NIS (Network +Information Service) or YP (Yellow Pages) domainname. These two +domain names are in general different. For a detailed discussion +see the ``hostname(1)`` man page. + + +firmware_config +=============== + +See Documentation/driver-api/firmware/fallback-mechanisms.rst. + +The entries in this directory allow the firmware loader helper +fallback to be controlled: + +* ``force_sysfs_fallback``, when set to 1, forces the use of the + fallback; +* ``ignore_sysfs_fallback``, when set to 1, ignores any fallback. + + +ftrace_dump_on_oops +=================== + +Determines whether ``ftrace_dump()`` should be called on an oops (or +kernel panic). This will output the contents of the ftrace buffers to +the console. This is very useful for capturing traces that lead to +crashes and outputting them to a serial console. + +======================= =========================================== +0 Disabled (default). +1 Dump buffers of all CPUs. +2(orig_cpu) Dump the buffer of the CPU that triggered the + oops. +<instance> Dump the specific instance buffer on all CPUs. +<instance>=2(orig_cpu) Dump the specific instance buffer on the CPU + that triggered the oops. +======================= =========================================== + +Multiple instance dump is also supported, and instances are separated +by commas. If global buffer also needs to be dumped, please specify +the dump mode (1/2/orig_cpu) first for global buffer. + +So for example to dump "foo" and "bar" instance buffer on all CPUs, +user can:: + + echo "foo,bar" > /proc/sys/kernel/ftrace_dump_on_oops + +To dump global buffer and "foo" instance buffer on all +CPUs along with the "bar" instance buffer on CPU that triggered the +oops, user can:: + + echo "1,foo,bar=2" > /proc/sys/kernel/ftrace_dump_on_oops + +ftrace_enabled, stack_tracer_enabled +==================================== + +See Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst. + + +hardlockup_all_cpu_backtrace +============================ + +This value controls the hard lockup detector behavior when a hard +lockup condition is detected as to whether or not to gather further +debug information. If enabled, arch-specific all-CPU stack dumping +will be initiated. + += ============================================ +0 Do nothing. This is the default behavior. +1 On detection capture more debug information. += ============================================ + + +hardlockup_panic +================ + +This parameter can be used to control whether the kernel panics +when a hard lockup is detected. + += =========================== +0 Don't panic on hard lockup. +1 Panic on hard lockup. += =========================== + +See Documentation/admin-guide/lockup-watchdogs.rst for more information. +This can also be set using the nmi_watchdog kernel parameter. + + +hotplug +======= + +Path for the hotplug policy agent. +Default value is ``CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH``, which in turn defaults +to the empty string. + +This file only exists when ``CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER`` is enabled. Most +modern systems rely exclusively on the netlink-based uevent source and +don't need this. + + +hung_task_all_cpu_backtrace +=========================== + +If this option is set, the kernel will send an NMI to all CPUs to dump +their backtraces when a hung task is detected. This file shows up if +CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK and CONFIG_SMP are enabled. + +0: Won't show all CPUs backtraces when a hung task is detected. +This is the default behavior. + +1: Will non-maskably interrupt all CPUs and dump their backtraces when +a hung task is detected. + + +hung_task_panic +=============== + +When set to a non-zero value, a kernel panic will be triggered if the +number of hung tasks found during a single scan reaches this value. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + += ======================================================= +0 Continue operation. This is the default behavior. +N Panic when N hung tasks are found during a single scan. += ======================================================= + + +hung_task_check_count +===================== + +The upper bound on the number of tasks that are checked. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + + +hung_task_detect_count +====================== + +Indicates the total number of tasks that have been detected as hung since +the system boot or since the counter was reset. The counter is zeroed when +a value of 0 is written. + +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + +hung_task_sys_info +================== +A comma separated list of extra system information to be dumped when +hung task is detected, for example, "tasks,mem,timers,locks,...". +Refer 'panic_sys_info' section below for more details. + +hung_task_timeout_secs +====================== + +When a task in D state did not get scheduled +for more than this value report a warning. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + +0 means infinite timeout, no checking is done. + +Possible values to set are in range {0:``LONG_MAX``/``HZ``}. + + +hung_task_check_interval_secs +============================= + +Hung task check interval. If hung task checking is enabled +(see `hung_task_timeout_secs`_), the check is done every +``hung_task_check_interval_secs`` seconds. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + +0 (default) means use ``hung_task_timeout_secs`` as checking +interval. + +Possible values to set are in range {0:``LONG_MAX``/``HZ``}. + + +hung_task_warnings +================== + +The maximum number of warnings to report. During a check interval +if a hung task is detected, this value is decreased by 1. +When this value reaches 0, no more warnings will be reported. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK`` is enabled. + +-1: report an infinite number of warnings. + + +hyperv_record_panic_msg +======================= + +Controls whether the panic kmsg data should be reported to Hyper-V. + += ========================================================= +0 Do not report panic kmsg data. +1 Report the panic kmsg data. This is the default behavior. += ========================================================= + + +ignore-unaligned-usertrap +========================= + +On architectures where unaligned accesses cause traps, and where this +feature is supported (``CONFIG_SYSCTL_ARCH_UNALIGN_NO_WARN``; +currently, ``arc``, ``parisc`` and ``loongarch``), controls whether all +unaligned traps are logged. + += ============================================================= +0 Log all unaligned accesses. +1 Only warn the first time a process traps. This is the default + setting. += ============================================================= + +See also `unaligned-trap`_. + +io_uring_disabled +================= + +Prevents all processes from creating new io_uring instances. Enabling this +shrinks the kernel's attack surface. + += ====================================================================== +0 All processes can create io_uring instances as normal. This is the + default setting. +1 io_uring creation is disabled (io_uring_setup() will fail with + -EPERM) for unprivileged processes not in the io_uring_group group. + Existing io_uring instances can still be used. See the + documentation for io_uring_group for more information. +2 io_uring creation is disabled for all processes. io_uring_setup() + always fails with -EPERM. Existing io_uring instances can still be + used. += ====================================================================== + + +io_uring_group +============== + +When io_uring_disabled is set to 1, a process must either be +privileged (CAP_SYS_ADMIN) or be in the io_uring_group group in order +to create an io_uring instance. If io_uring_group is set to -1 (the +default), only processes with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability may create +io_uring instances. + + +kernel_sys_info +=============== +A comma separated list of extra system information to be dumped when +soft/hard lockup is detected, for example, "tasks,mem,timers,locks,...". +Refer 'panic_sys_info' section below for more details. + +It serves as the default kernel control knob, which will take effect +when a kernel module calls sys_info() with parameter==0. + +kexec_load_disabled +=================== + +A toggle indicating if the syscalls ``kexec_load`` and +``kexec_file_load`` have been disabled. +This value defaults to 0 (false: ``kexec_*load`` enabled), but can be +set to 1 (true: ``kexec_*load`` disabled). +Once true, kexec can no longer be used, and the toggle cannot be set +back to false. +This allows a kexec image to be loaded before disabling the syscall, +allowing a system to set up (and later use) an image without it being +altered. +Generally used together with the `modules_disabled`_ sysctl. + +kexec_load_limit_panic +====================== + +This parameter specifies a limit to the number of times the syscalls +``kexec_load`` and ``kexec_file_load`` can be called with a crash +image. It can only be set with a more restrictive value than the +current one. + +== ====================================================== +-1 Unlimited calls to kexec. This is the default setting. +N Number of calls left. +== ====================================================== + +kexec_load_limit_reboot +======================= + +Similar functionality as ``kexec_load_limit_panic``, but for a normal +image. + +kptr_restrict +============= + +This toggle indicates whether restrictions are placed on +exposing kernel addresses via ``/proc`` and other interfaces. + +When ``kptr_restrict`` is set to 0 (the default) the address is hashed +before printing. +(This is the equivalent to %p.) + +When ``kptr_restrict`` is set to 1, kernel pointers printed using the +%pK format specifier will be replaced with 0s unless the user has +``CAP_SYSLOG`` and effective user and group ids are equal to the real +ids. +This is because %pK checks are done at read() time rather than open() +time, so if permissions are elevated between the open() and the read() +(e.g via a setuid binary) then %pK will not leak kernel pointers to +unprivileged users. +Note, this is a temporary solution only. +The correct long-term solution is to do the permission checks at +open() time. +Consider removing world read permissions from files that use %pK, and +using `dmesg_restrict`_ to protect against uses of %pK in ``dmesg(8)`` +if leaking kernel pointer values to unprivileged users is a concern. + +When ``kptr_restrict`` is set to 2, kernel pointers printed using +%pK will be replaced with 0s regardless of privileges. + +For disabling these security restrictions early at boot time (and once +for all), use the ``hash_pointers`` boot parameter instead. + +softlockup_sys_info & hardlockup_sys_info +========================================= +A comma separated list of extra system information to be dumped when +soft/hard lockup is detected, for example, "tasks,mem,timers,locks,...". +Refer 'panic_sys_info' section below for more details. + +modprobe +======== + +The full path to the usermode helper for autoloading kernel modules, +by default ``CONFIG_MODPROBE_PATH``, which in turn defaults to +"/sbin/modprobe". This binary is executed when the kernel requests a +module. For example, if userspace passes an unknown filesystem type +to mount(), then the kernel will automatically request the +corresponding filesystem module by executing this usermode helper. +This usermode helper should insert the needed module into the kernel. + +This sysctl only affects module autoloading. It has no effect on the +ability to explicitly insert modules. + +This sysctl can be used to debug module loading requests:: + + echo '#! /bin/sh' > /tmp/modprobe + echo 'echo "$@" >> /tmp/modprobe.log' >> /tmp/modprobe + echo 'exec /sbin/modprobe "$@"' >> /tmp/modprobe + chmod a+x /tmp/modprobe + echo /tmp/modprobe > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe + +Alternatively, if this sysctl is set to the empty string, then module +autoloading is completely disabled. The kernel will not try to +execute a usermode helper at all, nor will it call the +kernel_module_request LSM hook. + +If CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER=y is set in the kernel configuration, +then the configured static usermode helper overrides this sysctl, +except that the empty string is still accepted to completely disable +module autoloading as described above. + +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. Generally used with the `kexec_load_disabled`_ toggle. + + +.. _msgmni: + +msgmax, msgmnb, and msgmni +========================== + +``msgmax`` is the maximum size of an IPC message, in bytes. 8192 by +default (``MSGMAX``). + +``msgmnb`` is the maximum size of an IPC queue, in bytes. 16384 by +default (``MSGMNB``). + +``msgmni`` is the maximum number of IPC queues. 32000 by default +(``MSGMNI``). + +All of these parameters are set per ipc namespace. The maximum number of bytes +in POSIX message queues is limited by ``RLIMIT_MSGQUEUE``. This limit is +respected hierarchically in the each user namespace. + +msg_next_id, sem_next_id, and shm_next_id (System V IPC) +======================================================== + +These three toggles allows to specify desired id for next allocated IPC +object: message, semaphore or shared memory respectively. + +By default they are equal to -1, which means generic allocation logic. +Possible values to set are in range {0:``INT_MAX``}. + +Notes: + 1) kernel doesn't guarantee, that new object will have desired id. So, + it's up to userspace, how to handle an object with "wrong" id. + 2) Toggle with non-default value will be set back to -1 by kernel after + successful IPC object allocation. If an IPC object allocation syscall + fails, it is undefined if the value remains unmodified or is reset to -1. + + +ngroups_max +=========== + +Maximum number of supplementary groups, _i.e._ the maximum size which +``setgroups`` will accept. Exports ``NGROUPS_MAX`` from the kernel. + + + +nmi_watchdog +============ + +This parameter can be used to control the NMI watchdog +(i.e. the hard lockup detector) on x86 systems. + += ================================= +0 Disable the hard lockup detector. +1 Enable the hard lockup detector. += ================================= + +The hard lockup detector monitors each CPU for its ability to respond to +timer interrupts. The mechanism utilizes CPU performance counter registers +that are programmed to generate Non-Maskable Interrupts (NMIs) periodically +while a CPU is busy. Hence, the alternative name 'NMI watchdog'. + +The NMI watchdog is disabled by default if the kernel is running as a guest +in a KVM virtual machine. This default can be overridden by adding:: + + nmi_watchdog=1 + +to the guest kernel command line (see +Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst). + + +nmi_wd_lpm_factor (PPC only) +============================ + +Factor to apply to the NMI watchdog timeout (only when ``nmi_watchdog`` is +set to 1). This factor represents the percentage added to +``watchdog_thresh`` when calculating the NMI watchdog timeout during an +LPM. The soft lockup timeout is not impacted. + +A value of 0 means no change. The default value is 200 meaning the NMI +watchdog is set to 30s (based on ``watchdog_thresh`` equal to 10). + + +numa_balancing +============== + +Enables/disables and configures automatic page fault based NUMA memory +balancing. Memory is moved automatically to nodes that access it often. +The value to set can be the result of ORing the following: + += ================================= +0 NUMA_BALANCING_DISABLED +1 NUMA_BALANCING_NORMAL +2 NUMA_BALANCING_MEMORY_TIERING += ================================= + +Or NUMA_BALANCING_NORMAL to optimize page placement among different +NUMA nodes to reduce remote accessing. On NUMA machines, there is a +performance penalty if remote memory is accessed by a CPU. When this +feature is enabled the kernel samples what task thread is accessing +memory by periodically unmapping pages and later trapping a page +fault. At the time of the page fault, it is determined if the data +being accessed should be migrated to a local memory node. + +The unmapping of pages and trapping faults incur additional overhead that +ideally is offset by improved memory locality but there is no universal +guarantee. If the target workload is already bound to NUMA nodes then this +feature should be disabled. + +Or NUMA_BALANCING_MEMORY_TIERING to optimize page placement among +different types of memory (represented as different NUMA nodes) to +place the hot pages in the fast memory. This is implemented based on +unmapping and page fault too. + +numa_balancing_promote_rate_limit_MBps +====================================== + +Too high promotion/demotion throughput between different memory types +may hurt application latency. This can be used to rate limit the +promotion throughput. The per-node max promotion throughput in MB/s +will be limited to be no more than the set value. + +A rule of thumb is to set this to less than 1/10 of the PMEM node +write bandwidth. + +oops_all_cpu_backtrace +====================== + +If this option is set, the kernel will send an NMI to all CPUs to dump +their backtraces when an oops event occurs. It should be used as a last +resort in case a panic cannot be triggered (to protect VMs running, for +example) or kdump can't be collected. This file shows up if CONFIG_SMP +is enabled. + +0: Won't show all CPUs backtraces when an oops is detected. +This is the default behavior. + +1: Will non-maskably interrupt all CPUs and dump their backtraces when +an oops event is detected. + + +oops_limit +========== + +Number of kernel oopses after which the kernel should panic when +``panic_on_oops`` is not set. Setting this to 0 disables checking +the count. Setting this to 1 has the same effect as setting +``panic_on_oops=1``. The default value is 10000. + + +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 :-) + + +overflowgid & overflowuid +========================= + +if your architecture did not always support 32-bit UIDs (i.e. arm, +i386, m68k, sh, and sparc32), a fixed UID and GID will be returned to +applications that use the old 16-bit UID/GID system calls, if the +actual UID or GID would exceed 65535. + +These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID. +The default is 65534. + + +panic +===== + +The value in this file determines the behaviour of the kernel on a +panic: + +* if zero, the kernel will loop forever; +* if negative, the kernel will reboot immediately; +* if positive, the kernel will reboot after the corresponding number + of seconds. + +When you use the software watchdog, the recommended setting is 60. + + +panic_on_io_nmi +=============== + +Controls the kernel's behavior when a CPU receives an NMI caused by +an IO error. + += ================================================================== +0 Try to continue operation (default). +1 Panic immediately. The IO error triggered an NMI. This indicates a + serious system condition which could result in IO data corruption. + Rather than continuing, panicking might be a better choice. Some + servers issue this sort of NMI when the dump button is pushed, + and you can use this option to take a crash dump. += ================================================================== + + +panic_on_oops +============= + +Controls the kernel's behaviour when an oops or BUG is encountered. + += =================================================================== +0 Try to continue operation. +1 Panic immediately. If the `panic` sysctl is also non-zero then the + machine will be rebooted. += =================================================================== + + +panic_on_stackoverflow +====================== + +Controls the kernel's behavior when detecting the overflows of +kernel, IRQ and exception stacks except a user stack. +This file shows up if ``CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW`` is enabled. + += ========================== +0 Try to continue operation. +1 Panic immediately. += ========================== + + +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 propagated. + +A small number of systems do generate NMIs 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. + + +panic_on_warn +============= + +Calls panic() in the WARN() path when set to 1. This is useful to avoid +a kernel rebuild when attempting to kdump at the location of a WARN(). + += ================================================ +0 Only WARN(), default behaviour. +1 Call panic() after printing out WARN() location. += ================================================ + + +panic_print +=========== + +Bitmask for printing system info when panic happens. User can chose +combination of the following bits: + +===== ============================================ +bit 0 print all tasks info +bit 1 print system memory info +bit 2 print timer info +bit 3 print locks info if ``CONFIG_LOCKDEP`` is on +bit 4 print ftrace buffer +bit 5 replay all kernel messages on consoles at the end of panic +bit 6 print all CPUs backtrace (if available in the arch) +bit 7 print only tasks in uninterruptible (blocked) state +===== ============================================ + +So for example to print tasks and memory info on panic, user can:: + + echo 3 > /proc/sys/kernel/panic_print + + +panic_sys_info +============== + +A comma separated list of extra information to be dumped on panic, +for example, "tasks,mem,timers,...". It is a human readable alternative +to 'panic_print'. Possible values are: + +============= =================================================== +tasks print all tasks info +mem print system memory info +timers print timers info +locks print locks info if CONFIG_LOCKDEP is on +ftrace print ftrace buffer +all_bt print all CPUs backtrace (if available in the arch) +blocked_tasks print only tasks in uninterruptible (blocked) state +============= =================================================== + + +panic_on_rcu_stall +================== + +When set to 1, calls panic() after RCU stall detection messages. This +is useful to define the root cause of RCU stalls using a vmcore. + += ============================================================ +0 Do not panic() when RCU stall takes place, default behavior. +1 panic() after printing RCU stall messages. += ============================================================ + +max_rcu_stall_to_panic +====================== + +When ``panic_on_rcu_stall`` is set to 1, this value determines the +number of times that RCU can stall before panic() is called. + +When ``panic_on_rcu_stall`` is set to 0, this value is has no effect. + +perf_cpu_time_max_percent +========================= + +Hints to the kernel how much CPU time it should be allowed to +use to handle perf sampling events. If the perf subsystem +is informed that its samples are exceeding this limit, it +will drop its sampling frequency to attempt to reduce its CPU +usage. + +Some perf sampling happens in NMIs. If these samples +unexpectedly take too long to execute, the NMIs can become +stacked up next to each other so much that nothing else is +allowed to execute. + +===== ======================================================== +0 Disable the mechanism. Do not monitor or correct perf's + sampling rate no matter how CPU time it takes. + +1-100 Attempt to throttle perf's sample rate to this + percentage of CPU. Note: the kernel calculates an + "expected" length of each sample event. 100 here means + 100% of that expected length. Even if this is set to + 100, you may still see sample throttling if this + length is exceeded. Set to 0 if you truly do not care + how much CPU is consumed. +===== ======================================================== + + +perf_event_paranoid +=================== + +Controls use of the performance events system by unprivileged +users (without CAP_PERFMON). The default value is 2. + +For backward compatibility reasons access to system performance +monitoring and observability remains open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN +privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN usage for secure system +performance monitoring and observability operations is discouraged +with respect to CAP_PERFMON use cases. + +=== ================================================================== + -1 Allow use of (almost) all events by all users. + + Ignore mlock limit after perf_event_mlock_kb without + ``CAP_IPC_LOCK``. + +>=0 Disallow ftrace function tracepoint by users without + ``CAP_PERFMON``. + + Disallow raw tracepoint access by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``. + +>=1 Disallow CPU event access by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``. + +>=2 Disallow kernel profiling by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``. +=== ================================================================== + + +perf_event_max_stack +==================== + +Controls maximum number of stack frames to copy for (``attr.sample_type & +PERF_SAMPLE_CALLCHAIN``) configured events, for instance, when using +'``perf record -g``' or '``perf trace --call-graph fp``'. + +This can only be done when no events are in use that have callchains +enabled, otherwise writing to this file will return ``-EBUSY``. + +The default value is 127. + + +perf_event_mlock_kb +=================== + +Control size of per-cpu ring buffer not counted against mlock limit. + +The default value is 512 + 1 page + + +perf_event_max_contexts_per_stack +================================= + +Controls maximum number of stack frame context entries for +(``attr.sample_type & PERF_SAMPLE_CALLCHAIN``) configured events, for +instance, when using '``perf record -g``' or '``perf trace --call-graph fp``'. + +This can only be done when no events are in use that have callchains +enabled, otherwise writing to this file will return ``-EBUSY``. + +The default value is 8. + + +perf_user_access (arm64 and riscv only) +======================================= + +Controls user space access for reading perf event counters. + +* for arm64 + The default value is 0 (access disabled). + + When set to 1, user space can read performance monitor counter registers + directly. + + See Documentation/arch/arm64/perf.rst for more information. + +* for riscv + When set to 0, user space access is disabled. + + The default value is 1, user space can read performance monitor counter + registers through perf, any direct access without perf intervention will trigger + an illegal instruction. + + When set to 2, which enables legacy mode (user space has direct access to cycle + and insret CSRs only). Note that this legacy value is deprecated and will be + removed once all user space applications are fixed. + + Note that the time CSR is always directly accessible to all modes. + +pid_max +======= + +PID allocation wrap value. When the kernel's next PID value +reaches this value, it wraps back to a minimum PID value. +PIDs of value ``pid_max`` or larger are not allocated. + + +ns_last_pid +=========== + +The last pid allocated in the current (the one task using this sysctl +lives in) pid namespace. When selecting a pid for a next task on fork +kernel tries to allocate a number starting from this one. + + +powersave-nap (PPC only) +======================== + +If set, Linux-PPC will use the 'nap' mode of powersaving, +otherwise the 'doze' mode will be used. + + +============================================================== + +printk +====== + +The four values in printk denote: ``console_loglevel``, +``default_message_loglevel``, ``minimum_console_loglevel`` 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_loglevel 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 +======================== ===================================== + + +printk_delay +============ + +Delay each printk message in ``printk_delay`` milliseconds + +Value from 0 - 10000 is allowed. + + +printk_ratelimit +================ + +Some warning messages are rate limited. ``printk_ratelimit`` specifies +the minimum length of time between these messages (in seconds). +The default value is 5 seconds. + +A value of 0 will disable rate limiting. + + +printk_ratelimit_burst +====================== + +While long term we enforce one message per `printk_ratelimit`_ +seconds, we do allow a burst of messages to pass through. +``printk_ratelimit_burst`` specifies the number of messages we can +send before ratelimiting kicks in. After `printk_ratelimit`_ seconds +have elapsed, another burst of messages may be sent. + +The default value is 10 messages. + + +printk_devkmsg +============== + +Control the logging to ``/dev/kmsg`` from userspace: + +========= ============================================= +ratelimit default, ratelimited +on unlimited logging to /dev/kmsg from userspace +off logging to /dev/kmsg disabled +========= ============================================= + +The kernel command line parameter ``printk.devkmsg=`` overrides this and is +a one-time setting until next reboot: once set, it cannot be changed by +this sysctl interface anymore. + +============================================================== + + +pty +=== + +See Documentation/filesystems/devpts.rst. + + +random +====== + +This is a directory, with the following entries: + +* ``boot_id``: a UUID generated the first time this is retrieved, and + unvarying after that; + +* ``uuid``: a UUID generated every time this is retrieved (this can + thus be used to generate UUIDs at will); + +* ``entropy_avail``: the pool's entropy count, in bits; + +* ``poolsize``: the entropy pool size, in bits; + +* ``urandom_min_reseed_secs``: obsolete (used to determine the minimum + number of seconds between urandom pool reseeding). This file is + writable for compatibility purposes, but writing to it has no effect + on any RNG behavior; + +* ``write_wakeup_threshold``: when the entropy count drops below this + (as a number of bits), processes waiting to write to ``/dev/random`` + are woken up. This file is writable for compatibility purposes, but + writing to it has no effect on any RNG behavior. + + +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. This is the + default for architectures that do not support this feature anyways, + and kernels that are booted with the "norandmaps" parameter. + +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. This is the default if the + ``CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK`` option is enabled. + +2 Additionally enable heap randomization. This is the default if + ``CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK`` is disabled. + + There are 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. + + Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured + with ``CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK`` enabled, which excludes the heap from process + address space randomization. +== =========================================================================== + + +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. ??? + + +sched_energy_aware +================== + +Enables/disables Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS). EAS starts +automatically on platforms where it can run (that is, +platforms with asymmetric CPU topologies and having an Energy +Model available). If your platform happens to meet the +requirements for EAS but you do not want to use it, change +this value to 0. On Non-EAS platforms, write operation fails and +read doesn't return anything. + +task_delayacct +=============== + +Enables/disables task delay accounting (see +Documentation/accounting/delay-accounting.rst. Enabling this feature incurs +a small amount of overhead in the scheduler but is useful for debugging +and performance tuning. It is required by some tools such as iotop. + +sched_schedstats +================ + +Enables/disables scheduler statistics. Enabling this feature +incurs a small amount of overhead in the scheduler but is +useful for debugging and performance tuning. + +sched_util_clamp_min +==================== + +Max allowed *minimum* utilization. + +Default value is 1024, which is the maximum possible value. + +It means that any requested uclamp.min value cannot be greater than +sched_util_clamp_min, i.e., it is restricted to the range +[0:sched_util_clamp_min]. + +sched_util_clamp_max +==================== + +Max allowed *maximum* utilization. + +Default value is 1024, which is the maximum possible value. + +It means that any requested uclamp.max value cannot be greater than +sched_util_clamp_max, i.e., it is restricted to the range +[0:sched_util_clamp_max]. + +sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default +=============================== + +By default Linux is tuned for performance. Which means that RT tasks always run +at the highest frequency and most capable (highest capacity) CPU (in +heterogeneous systems). + +Uclamp achieves this by setting the requested uclamp.min of all RT tasks to +1024 by default, which effectively boosts the tasks to run at the highest +frequency and biases them to run on the biggest CPU. + +This knob allows admins to change the default behavior when uclamp is being +used. In battery powered devices particularly, running at the maximum +capacity and frequency will increase energy consumption and shorten the battery +life. + +This knob is only effective for RT tasks which the user hasn't modified their +requested uclamp.min value via sched_setattr() syscall. + +This knob will not escape the range constraint imposed by sched_util_clamp_min +defined above. + +For example if + + sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default = 800 + sched_util_clamp_min = 600 + +Then the boost will be clamped to 600 because 800 is outside of the permissible +range of [0:600]. This could happen for instance if a powersave mode will +restrict all boosts temporarily by modifying sched_util_clamp_min. As soon as +this restriction is lifted, the requested sched_util_clamp_min_rt_default +will take effect. + +seccomp +======= + +See Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst. + + +sg-big-buff +=========== + +This file shows the size of the generic SCSI (sg) buffer. +You can't tune it just yet, but you could change it on +compile time by editing ``include/scsi/sg.h`` and changing +the value of ``SG_BIG_BUFF``. + +There shouldn't be any reason to change this value. If +you can come up with one, you probably know what you +are doing anyway :) + + +shmall +====== + +This parameter sets the total amount of shared memory pages that can be used +inside ipc namespace. The shared memory pages counting occurs for each ipc +namespace separately and is not inherited. Hence, ``shmall`` should always be at +least ``ceil(shmmax/PAGE_SIZE)``. + +If you are not sure what the default ``PAGE_SIZE`` is on your Linux +system, you can run the following command:: + + # getconf PAGE_SIZE + +To reduce or disable the ability to allocate shared memory, you must create a +new ipc namespace, set this parameter to the required value and prohibit the +creation of a new ipc namespace in the current user namespace or cgroups can +be used. + +shmmax +====== + +This value can be used to query and set the run time limit +on the maximum shared memory segment size that can be created. +Shared memory segments up to 1Gb are now supported in the +kernel. This value defaults to ``SHMMAX``. + + +shmmni +====== + +This value determines the maximum number of shared memory segments. +4096 by default (``SHMMNI``). + + +shm_rmid_forced +=============== + +Linux lets you set resource limits, including how much memory one +process can consume, via ``setrlimit(2)``. Unfortunately, shared memory +segments are allowed to exist without association with any process, and +thus might not be counted against any resource limits. If enabled, +shared memory segments are automatically destroyed when their attach +count becomes zero after a detach or a process termination. It will +also destroy segments that were created, but never attached to, on exit +from the process. The only use left for ``IPC_RMID`` is to immediately +destroy an unattached segment. Of course, this breaks the way things are +defined, so some applications might stop working. Note that this +feature will do you no good unless you also configure your resource +limits (in particular, ``RLIMIT_AS`` and ``RLIMIT_NPROC``). Most systems don't +need this. + +Note that if you change this from 0 to 1, already created segments +without users and with a dead originative process will be destroyed. + + +syscall_user_dispatch +===================== + +Controls whether userspace may arm Syscall User Dispatch via +``prctl(PR_SET_SYSCALL_USER_DISPATCH, ...)`` or the +``PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_USER_DISPATCH_CONFIG`` ptrace request: + + == =================================================================== + 0 Arming syscall user dispatch is denied with ``-EPERM``. Tasks that + already armed it keep it, and disabling it is always permitted. + 1 (default) Arming syscall user dispatch is permitted. + == =================================================================== + +Only present when the kernel is built with ``CONFIG_SYSCALL_USER_DISPATCH`` +and ``CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL``. + + +sysctl_writes_strict +==================== + +Control how file position affects the behavior of updating sysctl values +via the ``/proc/sys`` interface: + + == ====================================================================== + -1 Legacy per-write sysctl value handling, with no printk warnings. + Each write syscall must fully contain the sysctl value to be + written, and multiple writes on the same sysctl file descriptor + will rewrite the sysctl value, regardless of file position. + 0 Same behavior as above, but warn about processes that perform writes + to a sysctl file descriptor when the file position is not 0. + 1 (default) Respect file position when writing sysctl strings. Multiple + writes will append to the sysctl value buffer. Anything past the max + length of the sysctl value buffer will be ignored. Writes to numeric + sysctl entries must always be at file position 0 and the value must + be fully contained in the buffer sent in the write syscall. + == ====================================================================== + + +softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace +============================ + +This value controls the soft lockup detector thread's behavior +when a soft lockup condition is detected as to whether or not +to gather further debug information. If enabled, each cpu will +be issued an NMI and instructed to capture stack trace. + +This feature is only applicable for architectures which support +NMI. + += ============================================ +0 Do nothing. This is the default behavior. +1 On detection capture more debug information. += ============================================ + + +softlockup_panic +================= + +This parameter can be used to control whether the kernel panics +when a soft lockup is detected. + += ============================================ +0 Don't panic on soft lockup. +1 Panic on soft lockup. += ============================================ + +This can also be set using the softlockup_panic kernel parameter. + + +soft_watchdog +============= + +This parameter can be used to control the soft lockup detector. + += ================================= +0 Disable the soft lockup detector. +1 Enable the soft lockup detector. += ================================= + +The soft lockup detector monitors CPUs for threads that are hogging the CPUs +without rescheduling voluntarily, and thus prevent the 'migration/N' threads +from running, causing the watchdog work fail to execute. The mechanism depends +on the CPUs ability to respond to timer interrupts which are needed for the +watchdog work to be queued by the watchdog timer function, otherwise the NMI +watchdog — if enabled — can detect a hard lockup condition. + + +split_lock_mitigate (x86 only) +============================== + +On x86, each "split lock" imposes a system-wide performance penalty. On larger +systems, large numbers of split locks from unprivileged users can result in +denials of service to well-behaved and potentially more important users. + +The kernel mitigates these bad users by detecting split locks and imposing +penalties: forcing them to wait and only allowing one core to execute split +locks at a time. + +These mitigations can make those bad applications unbearably slow. Setting +split_lock_mitigate=0 may restore some application performance, but will also +increase system exposure to denial of service attacks from split lock users. + += =================================================================== +0 Disable the mitigation mode - just warns the split lock on kernel log + and exposes the system to denials of service from the split lockers. +1 Enable the mitigation mode (this is the default) - penalizes the split + lockers with intentional performance degradation. += =================================================================== + + +stack_erasing +============= + +This parameter can be used to control kernel stack erasing at the end +of syscalls for kernels built with ``CONFIG_KSTACK_ERASE``. + +That erasing reduces the information which kernel stack leak bugs +can reveal and blocks some uninitialized stack variable attacks. +The tradeoff is the performance impact: on a single CPU system kernel +compilation sees a 1% slowdown, other systems and workloads may vary. + += ==================================================================== +0 Kernel stack erasing is disabled, KSTACK_ERASE_METRICS are not updated. +1 Kernel stack erasing is enabled (default), it is performed before + returning to the userspace at the end of syscalls. += ==================================================================== + + +stop-a (SPARC only) +=================== + +Controls Stop-A: + += ==================================== +0 Stop-A has no effect. +1 Stop-A breaks to the PROM (default). += ==================================== + +Stop-A is always enabled on a panic, so that the user can return to +the boot PROM. + + +sysrq +===== + +See Documentation/admin-guide/sysrq.rst. + + +tainted +======= + +Non-zero if the kernel has been tainted. Numeric values, which can be +ORed together. The letters are seen in "Tainted" line of Oops reports. + +====== ===== ============================================================== + 1 `(P)` proprietary module was loaded + 2 `(F)` module was force loaded + 4 `(S)` kernel running on an out of specification system + 8 `(R)` module was force unloaded + 16 `(M)` processor reported a Machine Check Exception (MCE) + 32 `(B)` bad page referenced or some unexpected page flags + 64 `(U)` taint requested by userspace application + 128 `(D)` kernel died recently, i.e. there was an OOPS or BUG + 256 `(A)` an ACPI table was overridden by user + 512 `(W)` kernel issued warning + 1024 `(C)` staging driver was loaded + 2048 `(I)` workaround for bug in platform firmware applied + 4096 `(O)` externally-built ("out-of-tree") module was loaded + 8192 `(E)` unsigned module was loaded + 16384 `(L)` soft lockup occurred + 32768 `(K)` kernel has been live patched + 65536 `(X)` Auxiliary taint, defined and used by for distros +131072 `(T)` The kernel was built with the struct randomization plugin +====== ===== ============================================================== + +See Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst for more information. + +Note: + writes to this sysctl interface will fail with ``EINVAL`` if the kernel is + booted with the command line option ``panic_on_taint=<bitmask>,nousertaint`` + and any of the ORed together values being written to ``tainted`` match with + the bitmask declared on panic_on_taint. + See Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst for more details on + that particular kernel command line option and its optional + ``nousertaint`` switch. + +threads-max +=========== + +This value controls the maximum number of threads that can be created +using ``fork()``. + +During initialization the kernel sets this value such that even if the +maximum number of threads is created, the thread structures occupy only +a part (1/8th) of the available RAM pages. + +The minimum value that can be written to ``threads-max`` is 1. + +The maximum value that can be written to ``threads-max`` is given by the +constant ``FUTEX_TID_MASK`` (0x3fffffff). + +If a value outside of this range is written to ``threads-max`` an +``EINVAL`` error occurs. + +timer_migration +=============== + +When set to a non-zero value, attempt to migrate timers away from idle cpus to +allow them to remain in low power states longer. + +Default is set (1). + +traceoff_on_warning +=================== + +When set, disables tracing (see Documentation/trace/ftrace.rst) when a +``WARN()`` is hit. + + +tracepoint_printk +================= + +When tracepoints are sent to printk() (enabled by the ``tp_printk`` +boot parameter), this entry provides runtime control:: + + echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/tracepoint_printk + +will stop tracepoints from being sent to printk(), and:: + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/tracepoint_printk + +will send them to printk() again. + +This only works if the kernel was booted with ``tp_printk`` enabled. + +See Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst and +Documentation/trace/boottime-trace.rst. + + +unaligned-trap +============== + +On architectures where unaligned accesses cause traps, and where this +feature is supported (``CONFIG_SYSCTL_ARCH_UNALIGN_ALLOW``; currently, +``arc``, ``parisc`` and ``loongarch``), controls whether unaligned traps +are caught and emulated (instead of failing). + += ======================================================== +0 Do not emulate unaligned accesses. +1 Emulate unaligned accesses. This is the default setting. += ======================================================== + +See also `ignore-unaligned-usertrap`_. + + +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. + + +unprivileged_bpf_disabled +========================= + +Writing 1 to this entry will disable unprivileged calls to ``bpf()``; +once disabled, calling ``bpf()`` without ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` or ``CAP_BPF`` +will return ``-EPERM``. Once set to 1, this can't be cleared from the +running kernel anymore. + +Writing 2 to this entry will also disable unprivileged calls to ``bpf()``, +however, an admin can still change this setting later on, if needed, by +writing 0 or 1 to this entry. + +If ``BPF_UNPRIV_DEFAULT_OFF`` is enabled in the kernel config, then this +entry will default to 2 instead of 0. + += ============================================================= +0 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are enabled +1 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are disabled without recovery +2 Unprivileged calls to ``bpf()`` are disabled += ============================================================= + + +warn_limit +========== + +Number of kernel warnings after which the kernel should panic when +``panic_on_warn`` is not set. Setting this to 0 disables checking +the warning count. Setting this to 1 has the same effect as setting +``panic_on_warn=1``. The default value is 0. + + +watchdog +======== + +This parameter can be used to disable or enable the soft lockup detector +*and* the NMI watchdog (i.e. the hard lockup detector) at the same time. + += ============================== +0 Disable both lockup detectors. +1 Enable both lockup detectors. += ============================== + +The soft lockup detector and the NMI watchdog can also be disabled or +enabled individually, using the ``soft_watchdog`` and ``nmi_watchdog`` +parameters. +If the ``watchdog`` parameter is read, for example by executing:: + + cat /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog + +the output of this command (0 or 1) shows the logical OR of +``soft_watchdog`` and ``nmi_watchdog``. + + +watchdog_cpumask +================ + +This value can be used to control on which cpus the watchdog may run. +The default cpumask is all possible cores, but if ``NO_HZ_FULL`` is +enabled in the kernel config, and cores are specified with the +``nohz_full=`` boot argument, those cores are excluded by default. +Offline cores can be included in this mask, and if the core is later +brought online, the watchdog will be started based on the mask value. + +Typically this value would only be touched in the ``nohz_full`` case +to re-enable cores that by default were not running the watchdog, +if a kernel lockup was suspected on those cores. + +The argument value is the standard cpulist format for cpumasks, +so for example to enable the watchdog on cores 0, 2, 3, and 4 you +might say:: + + echo 0,2-4 > /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog_cpumask + + +watchdog_thresh +=============== + +This value can be used to control the frequency of hrtimer and NMI +events and the soft and hard lockup thresholds. The default threshold +is 10 seconds. + +The softlockup threshold is (``2 * watchdog_thresh``). Setting this +tunable to zero will disable lockup detection altogether. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e586e17fc --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst @@ -0,0 +1,587 @@ +================================ +Documentation for /proc/sys/net/ +================================ + +Copyright + +Copyright (c) 1999 + + - Terrehon Bowden <terrehon@pacbell.net> + - Bodo Bauer <bb@ricochet.net> + +Copyright (c) 2000 + + - Jorge Nerin <comandante@zaralinux.com> + +Copyright (c) 2009 + + - Shen Feng <shen@cn.fujitsu.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains the documentation for the sysctl files in +/proc/sys/net + +The interface to the networking parts of the kernel is located in +/proc/sys/net. The following table shows all possible subdirectories. You may +see only some of them, depending on your kernel's configuration. + + +Table : Subdirectories in /proc/sys/net + + ========= =================== = ========== =================== + Directory Content Directory Content + ========= =================== = ========== =================== + 802 E802 protocol mptcp Multipath TCP + appletalk Appletalk protocol netfilter Network Filter + bridge Bridging tipc TIPC + core General parameter unix Unix domain sockets + ethernet Ethernet protocol vsock VSOCK sockets + ipv4 IP version 4 x25 X.25 protocol + ipv6 IP version 6 + ========= =================== = ========== =================== + +1. /proc/sys/net/core - Network core options +============================================ + +bpf_jit_enable +-------------- + +This enables the BPF Just in Time (JIT) compiler. BPF is a flexible +and efficient infrastructure allowing to execute bytecode at various +hook points. It is used in a number of Linux kernel subsystems such +as networking (e.g. XDP, tc), tracing (e.g. kprobes, uprobes, tracepoints) +and security (e.g. seccomp). LLVM has a BPF back end that can compile +restricted C into a sequence of BPF instructions. After program load +through bpf(2) and passing a verifier in the kernel, a JIT will then +translate these BPF proglets into native CPU instructions. There are +two flavors of JITs, the newer eBPF JIT currently supported on: + + - x86_64 + - x86_32 + - arm64 + - arm32 + - ppc64 + - ppc32 + - sparc64 + - mips64 + - s390x + - riscv64 + - riscv32 + - loongarch64 + - arc + +And the older cBPF JIT supported on the following archs: + + - mips + - sparc + +eBPF JITs are a superset of cBPF JITs, meaning the kernel will +migrate cBPF instructions into eBPF instructions and then JIT +compile them transparently. Older cBPF JITs can only translate +tcpdump filters, seccomp rules, etc, but not mentioned eBPF +programs loaded through bpf(2). + +Values: + + - 0 - disable the JIT (default value) + - 1 - enable the JIT + - 2 - enable the JIT and ask the compiler to emit traces on kernel log. + +bpf_jit_harden +-------------- + +This enables hardening for the BPF JIT compiler. Supported are eBPF +JIT backends. Enabling hardening trades off performance, but can +mitigate JIT spraying. + +Values: + + - 0 - disable JIT hardening (default value) + - 1 - enable JIT hardening for unprivileged users only + - 2 - enable JIT hardening for all users + +where "privileged user" in this context means a process having +CAP_BPF or CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the root user name space. + +bpf_jit_kallsyms +---------------- + +When BPF JIT compiler is enabled, then compiled images are unknown +addresses to the kernel, meaning they neither show up in traces nor +in /proc/kallsyms. This enables export of these addresses, which can +be used for debugging/tracing. If bpf_jit_harden is enabled, this +feature is disabled. + +Values : + + - 0 - disable JIT kallsyms export (default value) + - 1 - enable JIT kallsyms export for privileged users only + +bpf_jit_limit +------------- + +This enforces a global limit for memory allocations to the BPF JIT +compiler in order to reject unprivileged JIT requests once it has +been surpassed. bpf_jit_limit contains the value of the global limit +in bytes. + +dev_weight +---------- + +The maximum number of packets that kernel can handle on a NAPI interrupt, +it's a Per-CPU variable. For drivers that support LRO or GRO_HW, a hardware +aggregated packet is counted as one packet in this context. + +Default: 64 + +dev_weight_rx_bias +------------------ + +RPS (e.g. RFS, aRFS) processing is competing with the registered NAPI poll function +of the driver for the per softirq cycle netdev_budget. This parameter influences +the proportion of the configured netdev_budget that is spent on RPS based packet +processing during RX softirq cycles. It is further meant for making current +dev_weight adaptable for asymmetric CPU needs on RX/TX side of the network stack. +(see dev_weight_tx_bias) It is effective on a per CPU basis. Determination is based +on dev_weight and is calculated multiplicative (dev_weight * dev_weight_rx_bias). + +Default: 1 + +dev_weight_tx_bias +------------------ + +Scales the maximum number of packets that can be processed during a TX softirq cycle. +Effective on a per CPU basis. Allows scaling of current dev_weight for asymmetric +net stack processing needs. Be careful to avoid making TX softirq processing a CPU hog. + +Calculation is based on dev_weight (dev_weight * dev_weight_tx_bias). + +Default: 1 + +default_qdisc +------------- + +The default queuing discipline to use for network devices. This allows +overriding the default of pfifo_fast with an alternative. Since the default +queuing discipline is created without additional parameters so is best suited +to queuing disciplines that work well without configuration like stochastic +fair queue (sfq), CoDel (codel) or fair queue CoDel (fq_codel). Don't use +queuing disciplines like Hierarchical Token Bucket or Deficit Round Robin +which require setting up classes and bandwidths. Note that physical multiqueue +interfaces still use mq as root qdisc, which in turn uses this default for its +leaves. Virtual devices (like e.g. lo or veth) ignore this setting and instead +default to noqueue. + +Default: pfifo_fast + +busy_read +--------- + +Low latency busy poll timeout for socket reads. (needs CONFIG_NET_RX_BUSY_POLL) +Approximate time in us to busy loop waiting for packets on the device queue. +This sets the default value of the SO_BUSY_POLL socket option. +Can be set or overridden per socket by setting socket option SO_BUSY_POLL, +which is the preferred method of enabling. If you need to enable the feature +globally via sysctl, a value of 50 is recommended. + +Will increase power usage. + +Default: 0 (off) + +busy_poll +---------------- +Low latency busy poll timeout for poll and select. (needs CONFIG_NET_RX_BUSY_POLL) +Approximate time in us to busy loop waiting for events. +Recommended value depends on the number of sockets you poll on. +For several sockets 50, for several hundreds 100. +For more than that you probably want to use epoll. +Note that only sockets with SO_BUSY_POLL set will be busy polled, +so you want to either selectively set SO_BUSY_POLL on those sockets or set +sysctl.net.busy_read globally. + +Will increase power usage. + +Default: 0 (off) + +mem_pcpu_rsv +------------ + +Per-cpu reserved forward alloc cache size in page units. Default 1MB per CPU. + +bypass_prot_mem +--------------- + +Skip charging socket buffers to the global per-protocol memory +accounting controlled by net.ipv4.tcp_mem, net.ipv4.udp_mem, etc. + +Default: 0 (off) + +rmem_default +------------ + +The default setting of the socket receive buffer in bytes. + +rmem_max +-------- + +The maximum receive socket buffer size in bytes. + +Default: 4194304 + +rps_default_mask +---------------- + +The default RPS CPU mask used on newly created network devices. An empty +mask means RPS disabled by default. + +tstamp_allow_data +----------------- +Allow processes to receive tx timestamps looped together with the original +packet contents. If disabled, transmit timestamp requests from unprivileged +processes are dropped unless socket option SOF_TIMESTAMPING_OPT_TSONLY is set. + +Default: 1 (on) + + +wmem_default +------------ + +The default setting (in bytes) of the socket send buffer. + +wmem_max +-------- + +The maximum send socket buffer size in bytes. + +Default: 4194304 + +message_burst and message_cost +------------------------------ + +These parameters are used to limit the warning messages written to the kernel +log from the networking code. They enforce a rate limit to make a +denial-of-service attack impossible. A higher message_cost factor, results in +fewer messages that will be written. Message_burst controls when messages will +be dropped. The default settings limit warning messages to one every five +seconds. + +warnings +-------- + +This sysctl is now unused. + +This was used to control console messages from the networking stack that +occur because of problems on the network like duplicate address or bad +checksums. + +These messages are now emitted at KERN_DEBUG and can generally be enabled +and controlled by the dynamic_debug facility. + +netdev_budget +------------- + +Maximum number of packets taken from all interfaces in one polling cycle (NAPI +poll). In one polling cycle interfaces which are registered to polling are +probed in a round-robin manner. Also, a polling cycle may not exceed +netdev_budget_usecs microseconds, even if netdev_budget has not been +exhausted. + +netdev_budget_usecs +--------------------- + +Maximum number of microseconds in one NAPI polling cycle. Polling +will exit when either netdev_budget_usecs have elapsed during the +poll cycle or the number of packets processed reaches netdev_budget. + +netdev_max_backlog +------------------ + +Maximum number of packets, queued on the INPUT side, when the interface +receives packets faster than kernel can process them. + +qdisc_max_burst +------------------ + +Maximum number of packets that can be temporarily stored before +reaching qdisc. + +Default: 1000 + +netdev_rss_key +-------------- + +RSS (Receive Side Scaling) enabled drivers use a host key that +is randomly generated. +Some user space might need to gather its content even if drivers do not +provide ethtool -x support yet. + +:: + + myhost:~# cat /proc/sys/net/core/netdev_rss_key + 84:50:f4:00:a8:15:d1:a7:e9:7f:1d:60:35:c7:47:25:42:97:74:ca:56:bb:b6:a1:d8: ... (256 bytes total) + +File contains all nul bytes if no driver ever called netdev_rss_key_fill() +function. + +Note: + /proc/sys/net/core/netdev_rss_key contains 256 bytes of key, + but many drivers only use 40 or 52 bytes of it. + +:: + + myhost:~# ethtool -x eth0 + RX flow hash indirection table for eth0 with 8 RX ring(s): + 0: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 + RSS hash key: + 84:50:f4:00:a8:15:d1:a7:e9:7f:1d:60:35:c7:47:25:42:97:74:ca:56:bb:b6:a1:d8:43:e3:c9:0c:fd:17:55:c2:3a:4d:69:ed:f1:42:89 + +netdev_tstamp_prequeue +---------------------- + +If set to 0, RX packet timestamps can be sampled after RPS processing, when +the target CPU processes packets. It might give some delay on timestamps, but +permit to distribute the load on several cpus. + +If set to 1 (default), timestamps are sampled as soon as possible, before +queueing. + +netdev_unregister_timeout_secs +------------------------------ + +Unregister network device timeout in seconds. +This option controls the timeout (in seconds) used to issue a warning while +waiting for a network device refcount to drop to 0 during device +unregistration. A lower value may be useful during bisection to detect +a leaked reference faster. A larger value may be useful to prevent false +warnings on slow/loaded systems. +Default value is 10, minimum 1, maximum 3600. + +skb_defer_max +------------- + +Max size (in skbs) of the per-cpu list of skbs being freed +by the cpu which allocated them. + +Default: 128 + +optmem_max +---------- + +Maximum ancillary buffer size allowed per socket. Ancillary data is a sequence +of struct cmsghdr structures with appended data. TCP tx zerocopy also uses +optmem_max as a limit for its internal structures. + +Default : 128 KB + +fb_tunnels_only_for_init_net +---------------------------- + +Controls if fallback tunnels (like tunl0, gre0, gretap0, erspan0, +sit0, ip6tnl0, ip6gre0) are automatically created. There are 3 possibilities +(a) value = 0; respective fallback tunnels are created when module is +loaded in every net namespaces (backward compatible behavior). +(b) value = 1; [kcmd value: initns] respective fallback tunnels are +created only in init net namespace and every other net namespace will +not have them. +(c) value = 2; [kcmd value: none] fallback tunnels are not created +when a module is loaded in any of the net namespace. Setting value to +"2" is pointless after boot if these modules are built-in, so there is +a kernel command-line option that can change this default. Please refer to +Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt for additional details. + +Not creating fallback tunnels gives control to userspace to create +whatever is needed only and avoid creating devices which are redundant. + +Default : 0 (for compatibility reasons) + +devconf_inherit_init_net +------------------------ + +Controls if a new network namespace should inherit all current +settings under /proc/sys/net/{ipv4,ipv6}/conf/{all,default}/. By +default, we keep the current behavior: for IPv4 we inherit all current +settings from init_net and for IPv6 we reset all settings to default. + +If set to 1, both IPv4 and IPv6 settings are forced to inherit from +current ones in init_net. If set to 2, both IPv4 and IPv6 settings are +forced to reset to their default values. If set to 3, both IPv4 and IPv6 +settings are forced to inherit from current ones in the netns where this +new netns has been created. + +Default : 0 (for compatibility reasons) + +txrehash +-------- + +Controls default hash rethink behaviour on socket when SO_TXREHASH option is set +to SOCK_TXREHASH_DEFAULT (i. e. not overridden by setsockopt). + +If set to 1 (default), hash rethink is performed on listening socket. +If set to 0, hash rethink is not performed. + +txq_reselection_ms +------------------ + +Controls how often (in ms) a busy connected flow can select another tx queue. + +A resection is desirable when/if user thread has migrated and XPS +would select a different queue. Same can occur without XPS +if the flow hash has changed. + +But switching txq can introduce reorders, especially if the +old queue is under high pressure. Modern TCP stacks deal +well with reorders if they happen not too often. + +To disable this feature, set the value to 0. + +Default : 1000 + +gro_normal_batch +---------------- + +Maximum number of the segments to batch up on output of GRO. When a packet +exits GRO, either as a coalesced superframe or as an original packet which +GRO has decided not to coalesce, it is placed on a per-NAPI list. This +list is then passed to the stack when the number of segments reaches the +gro_normal_batch limit. + +high_order_alloc_disable +------------------------ + +By default the allocator for page frags tries to use high order pages (order-3 +on x86). While the default behavior gives good results in most cases, some users +might have hit a contention in page allocations/freeing. This was especially +true on older kernels (< 5.14) when high-order pages were not stored on per-cpu +lists. This allows to opt-in for order-0 allocation instead but is now mostly of +historical importance. + +Default: 0 + +2. /proc/sys/net/unix - Parameters for Unix domain sockets +---------------------------------------------------------- + +There is only one file in this directory. +unix_dgram_qlen limits the max number of datagrams queued in Unix domain +socket's buffer. It will not take effect unless PF_UNIX flag is specified. + + +3. /proc/sys/net/ipv4 - IPV4 settings +------------------------------------- +Please see: Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst and +Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst for descriptions of these entries. + + +4. TIPC +------- + +tipc_rmem +--------- + +The TIPC protocol now has a tunable for the receive memory, similar to the +tcp_rmem - i.e. a vector of 3 INTEGERs: (min, default, max) + +:: + + # cat /proc/sys/net/tipc/tipc_rmem + 4252725 34021800 68043600 + # + +The max value is set to CONN_OVERLOAD_LIMIT, and the default and min values +are scaled (shifted) versions of that same value. Note that the min value +is not at this point in time used in any meaningful way, but the triplet is +preserved in order to be consistent with things like tcp_rmem. + +named_timeout +------------- + +TIPC name table updates are distributed asynchronously in a cluster, without +any form of transaction handling. This means that different race scenarios are +possible. One such is that a name withdrawal sent out by one node and received +by another node may arrive after a second, overlapping name publication already +has been accepted from a third node, although the conflicting updates +originally may have been issued in the correct sequential order. +If named_timeout is nonzero, failed topology updates will be placed on a defer +queue until another event arrives that clears the error, or until the timeout +expires. Value is in milliseconds. + +6. /proc/sys/net/vsock - VSOCK sockets +-------------------------------------- + +VSOCK sockets (AF_VSOCK) provide communication between virtual machines and +their hosts. The behavior of VSOCK sockets in a network namespace is determined +by the namespace's mode (``global`` or ``local``), which controls how CIDs +(Context IDs) are allocated and how sockets interact across namespaces. + +ns_mode +------- + +Read-only. Reports the current namespace's mode, set at namespace creation +and immutable thereafter. + +Values: + + - ``global`` - the namespace shares system-wide CID allocation and + its sockets can reach any VM or socket in any global namespace. + Sockets in this namespace cannot reach sockets in local + namespaces. + - ``local`` - the namespace has private CID allocation and its + sockets can only connect to VMs or sockets within the same + namespace. + +The init_net mode is always ``global``. + +child_ns_mode +------------- + +Controls what mode newly created child namespaces will inherit. At namespace +creation, ``ns_mode`` is inherited from the parent's ``child_ns_mode``. The +initial value matches the namespace's own ``ns_mode``. + +Values: + + - ``global`` - child namespaces will share system-wide CID allocation + and their sockets will be able to reach any VM or socket in any + global namespace. + - ``local`` - child namespaces will have private CID allocation and + their sockets will only be able to connect within their own + namespace. + +The first write to ``child_ns_mode`` locks its value. Subsequent writes of the +same value succeed, but writing a different value returns ``-EBUSY``. + +Changing ``child_ns_mode`` only affects namespaces created after the change; +it does not modify the current namespace or any existing children. + +A namespace with ``ns_mode`` set to ``local`` cannot change +``child_ns_mode`` to ``global`` (returns ``-EPERM``). + +g2h_fallback +------------ + +Controls whether connections to CIDs not owned by the host-to-guest (H2G) +transport automatically fall back to the guest-to-host (G2H) transport. + +When enabled, if a connect targets a CID that the H2G transport (e.g. +vhost-vsock) does not serve, or if no H2G transport is loaded at all, the +connection is routed via the G2H transport (e.g. virtio-vsock) instead. This +allows a host running both nested VMs (via vhost-vsock) and sibling VMs +reachable through the hypervisor (e.g. Nitro Enclaves) to address both using +a single CID space, without requiring applications to set +``VMADDR_FLAG_TO_HOST``. + +When the fallback is taken, ``VMADDR_FLAG_TO_HOST`` is automatically set on +the remote address so that userspace can determine the path via +``getpeername()``. + +Note: With this sysctl enabled, user space that attempts to talk to a guest +CID which is not implemented by the H2G transport will create host vsock +traffic. Environments that rely on H2G-only isolation should set it to 0. + +Values: + + - 0 - Connections to CIDs <= 2 or with VMADDR_FLAG_TO_HOST use G2H; + all others use H2G (or fail with ENODEV if H2G is not loaded). + - 1 - Connections to CIDs not owned by H2G fall back to G2H. (default) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/sunrpc.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/sunrpc.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..09780a682 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/sunrpc.rst @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +=================================== +Documentation for /proc/sys/sunrpc/ +=================================== + +kernel version 2.2.10 + +Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains the documentation for the sysctl files in +/proc/sys/sunrpc and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2. + +The files in this directory can be used to (re)set the debug +flags of the SUN Remote Procedure Call (RPC) subsystem in +the Linux kernel. This stuff is used for NFS, KNFSD and +maybe a few other things as well. + +The files in there are used to control the debugging flags: +rpc_debug, nfs_debug, nfsd_debug and nlm_debug. + +These flags are for kernel hackers only. You should read the +source code in net/sunrpc/ for more information. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/user.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/user.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..c45824589 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/user.rst @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +================================= +Documentation for /proc/sys/user/ +================================= + +kernel version 4.9.0 + +Copyright (c) 2016 Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com> + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains the documentation for the sysctl files in +/proc/sys/user. + +The files in this directory can be used to override the default +limits on the number of namespaces and other objects that have +per user per user namespace limits. + +The primary purpose of these limits is to stop programs that +malfunction and attempt to create a ridiculous number of objects, +before the malfunction becomes a system wide problem. It is the +intention that the defaults of these limits are set high enough that +no program in normal operation should run into these limits. + +The creation of per user per user namespace objects are charged to +the user in the user namespace who created the object and +verified to be below the per user limit in that user namespace. + +The creation of objects is also charged to all of the users +who created user namespaces the creation of the object happens +in (user namespaces can be nested) and verified to be below the per user +limits in the user namespaces of those users. + +This recursive counting of created objects ensures that creating a +user namespace does not allow a user to escape their current limits. + +Currently, these files are in /proc/sys/user: + +max_cgroup_namespaces +===================== + + The maximum number of cgroup namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_ipc_namespaces +================== + + The maximum number of ipc namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_mnt_namespaces +================== + + The maximum number of mount namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_net_namespaces +================== + + The maximum number of network namespaces that any user in the + current user namespace may create. + +max_pid_namespaces +================== + + The maximum number of pid namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_time_namespaces +=================== + + The maximum number of time namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_user_namespaces +=================== + + The maximum number of user namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. + +max_uts_namespaces +================== + + The maximum number of user namespaces that any user in the current + user namespace may create. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..5b318d17a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst @@ -0,0 +1,1230 @@ +=============================== +Documentation for /proc/sys/vm/ +=============================== + +kernel version 2.6.29 + +Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> + +Copyright (c) 2008 Peter W. Morreale <pmorreale@novell.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This file contains the documentation for the sysctl files in +/proc/sys/vm and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.6.29. + +The files in this directory can be used to tune the operation +of the virtual memory (VM) subsystem of the Linux kernel and +the writeout of dirty data to disk. + +Currently, these files are in /proc/sys/vm: + +- admin_reserve_kbytes +- compact_memory +- compaction_proactiveness +- compact_unevictable_allowed +- defrag_mode +- dirty_background_bytes +- dirty_background_ratio +- dirty_bytes +- dirty_expire_centisecs +- dirty_ratio +- dirtytime_expire_seconds +- dirty_writeback_centisecs +- drop_caches +- enable_soft_offline +- extfrag_threshold +- highmem_is_dirtyable +- hugetlb_shm_group +- legacy_va_layout +- lowmem_reserve_ratio +- max_map_count +- mem_profiling (only if CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING=y) +- memory_failure_early_kill +- memory_failure_recovery +- min_free_kbytes +- min_slab_ratio +- min_unmapped_ratio +- mmap_min_addr +- mmap_rnd_bits +- mmap_rnd_compat_bits +- movable_gigantic_pages +- nr_hugepages +- nr_hugepages_mempolicy +- nr_overcommit_hugepages +- nr_trim_pages (only if CONFIG_MMU=n) +- numa_zonelist_order +- oom_dump_tasks +- oom_kill_allocating_task +- overcommit_kbytes +- overcommit_memory +- overcommit_ratio +- page-cluster +- page_lock_unfairness +- panic_on_oom +- panic_on_unrecoverable_memory_failure +- percpu_pagelist_high_fraction +- stat_interval +- stat_refresh +- numa_stat +- swappiness +- unprivileged_userfaultfd +- user_reserve_kbytes +- vfs_cache_pressure +- vfs_cache_pressure_denom +- watermark_boost_factor +- watermark_scale_factor +- zone_reclaim_mode + + +admin_reserve_kbytes +==================== + +The amount of free memory in the system that should be reserved for users +with the capability cap_sys_admin. + +admin_reserve_kbytes defaults to min(3% of free pages, 8MB) + +That should provide enough for the admin to log in and kill a process, +if necessary, under the default overcommit 'guess' mode. + +Systems running under overcommit 'never' should increase this to account +for the full Virtual Memory Size of programs used to recover. Otherwise, +root may not be able to log in to recover the system. + +How do you calculate a minimum useful reserve? + +sshd or login + bash (or some other shell) + top (or ps, kill, etc.) + +For overcommit 'guess', we can sum resident set sizes (RSS). +On x86_64 this is about 8MB. + +For overcommit 'never', we can take the max of their virtual sizes (VSZ) +and add the sum of their RSS. +On x86_64 this is about 128MB. + +Changing this takes effect whenever an application requests memory. + + +compact_memory +============== + +Available only when CONFIG_COMPACTION is set. When 1 is written to the file, +all zones are compacted such that free memory is available in contiguous +blocks where possible. This can be important for example in the allocation of +huge pages although processes will also directly compact memory as required. + +compaction_proactiveness +======================== + +This tunable takes a value in the range [0, 100] with a default value of +20. This tunable determines how aggressively compaction is done in the +background. Write of a non zero value to this tunable will immediately +trigger the proactive compaction. Setting it to 0 disables proactive compaction. + +Note that compaction has a non-trivial system-wide impact as pages +belonging to different processes are moved around, which could also lead +to latency spikes in unsuspecting applications. The kernel employs +various heuristics to avoid wasting CPU cycles if it detects that +proactive compaction is not being effective. + +Setting the value above 80 will, in addition to lowering the acceptable level +of fragmentation, make the compaction code more sensitive to increases in +fragmentation, i.e. compaction will trigger more often, but reduce +fragmentation by a smaller amount. +This makes the fragmentation level more stable over time. + +Be careful when setting it to extreme values like 100, as that may +cause excessive background compaction activity. + +compact_unevictable_allowed +=========================== + +Available only when CONFIG_COMPACTION is set. When set to 1, compaction is +allowed to examine the unevictable lru (mlocked pages) for pages to compact. +This should be used on systems where stalls for minor page faults are an +acceptable trade for large contiguous free memory. Set to 0 to prevent +compaction from moving pages that are unevictable. Default value is 1. +On CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT the default value is 0 in order to avoid a page fault, due +to compaction, which would block the task from becoming active until the fault +is resolved. + +defrag_mode +=========== + +When set to 1, the page allocator tries harder to avoid fragmentation +and maintain the ability to produce huge pages / higher-order pages. + +It is recommended to enable this right after boot, as fragmentation, +once it occurred, can be long-lasting or even permanent. + +dirty_background_bytes +====================== + +Contains the amount of dirty memory at which the background kernel +flusher threads will start writeback. + +Note: + dirty_background_bytes is the counterpart of dirty_background_ratio. Only + one of them may be specified at a time. When one sysctl is written it is + immediately taken into account to evaluate the dirty memory limits and the + other appears as 0 when read. + + +dirty_background_ratio +====================== + +Contains, as a percentage of total available memory that contains free pages +and reclaimable pages, the number of pages at which the background kernel +flusher threads will start writing out dirty data. + +The total available memory is not equal to total system memory. + + +dirty_bytes +=========== + +Contains the amount of dirty memory at which a process generating disk writes +will itself start writeback. + +Note: dirty_bytes is the counterpart of dirty_ratio. Only one of them may be +specified at a time. When one sysctl is written it is immediately taken into +account to evaluate the dirty memory limits and the other appears as 0 when +read. + +Note: the minimum value allowed for dirty_bytes is two pages (in bytes); any +value lower than this limit will be ignored and the old configuration will be +retained. + + +dirty_expire_centisecs +====================== + +This tunable is used to define when dirty data is old enough to be eligible +for writeout by the kernel flusher threads. It is expressed in 100'ths +of a second. Data which has been dirty in-memory for longer than this +interval will be written out next time a flusher thread wakes up. + + +dirty_ratio +=========== + +Contains, as a percentage of total available memory that contains free pages +and reclaimable pages, the number of pages at which a process which is +generating disk writes will itself start writing out dirty data. + +The total available memory is not equal to total system memory. + + +dirtytime_expire_seconds +======================== + +When a lazytime inode is constantly having its pages dirtied, the inode with +an updated timestamp will never get chance to be written out. And, if the +only thing that has happened on the file system is a dirtytime inode caused +by an atime update, a worker will be scheduled to make sure that inode +eventually gets pushed out to disk. This tunable is used to define when dirty +inode is old enough to be eligible for writeback by the kernel flusher threads. +And, it is also used as the interval to wakeup dirtytime_writeback thread. + +Setting this to zero disables periodic dirtytime writeback. + + +dirty_writeback_centisecs +========================= + +The kernel flusher threads will periodically wake up and write `old` data +out to disk. This tunable expresses the interval between those wakeups, in +100'ths of a second. + +Setting this to zero disables periodic writeback altogether. + + +drop_caches +=========== + +Writing to this will cause the kernel to drop clean caches, as well as +reclaimable slab objects like dentries and inodes. Once dropped, their +memory becomes free. + +To free pagecache:: + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches + +To free reclaimable slab objects (includes dentries and inodes):: + + echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches + +To free slab objects and pagecache:: + + echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches + +This is a non-destructive operation and will not free any dirty objects. +To increase the number of objects freed by this operation, the user may run +`sync` prior to writing to /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches. This will minimize the +number of dirty objects on the system and create more candidates to be +dropped. + +This file is not a means to control the growth of the various kernel caches +(inodes, dentries, pagecache, etc...) These objects are automatically +reclaimed by the kernel when memory is needed elsewhere on the system. + +Use of this file can cause performance problems. Since it discards cached +objects, it may cost a significant amount of I/O and CPU to recreate the +dropped objects, especially if they were under heavy use. Because of this, +use outside of a testing or debugging environment is not recommended. + +You may see informational messages in your kernel log when this file is +used:: + + cat (1234): drop_caches: 3 + +These are informational only. They do not mean that anything is wrong +with your system. To disable them, echo 4 (bit 2) into drop_caches. + +enable_soft_offline +=================== +Correctable memory errors are very common on servers. Soft-offline is kernel's +solution for memory pages having (excessive) corrected memory errors. + +For different types of page, soft-offline has different behaviors / costs. + +- For a raw error page, soft-offline migrates the in-use page's content to + a new raw page. + +- For a page that is part of a transparent hugepage, soft-offline splits the + transparent hugepage into raw pages, then migrates only the raw error page. + As a result, user is transparently backed by 1 less hugepage, impacting + memory access performance. + +- For a page that is part of a HugeTLB hugepage, soft-offline first migrates + the entire HugeTLB hugepage, during which a free hugepage will be consumed + as migration target. Then the original hugepage is dissolved into raw + pages without compensation, reducing the capacity of the HugeTLB pool by 1. + +It is user's call to choose between reliability (staying away from fragile +physical memory) vs performance / capacity implications in transparent and +HugeTLB cases. + +For all architectures, enable_soft_offline controls whether to soft offline +memory pages. When set to 1, kernel attempts to soft offline the pages +whenever it thinks needed. When set to 0, kernel returns EOPNOTSUPP to +the request to soft offline the pages. Its default value is 1. + +It is worth mentioning that after setting enable_soft_offline to 0, the +following requests to soft offline pages will not be performed: + +- Request to soft offline pages from RAS Correctable Errors Collector. + +- On ARM, the request to soft offline pages from GHES driver. + +- On PARISC, the request to soft offline pages from Page Deallocation Table. + +extfrag_threshold +================= + +This parameter affects whether the kernel will compact memory or direct +reclaim to satisfy a high-order allocation. The extfrag/extfrag_index file in +debugfs shows what the fragmentation index for each order is in each zone in +the system. Values tending towards 0 imply allocations would fail due to lack +of memory, values towards 1000 imply failures are due to fragmentation and -1 +implies that the allocation will succeed as long as watermarks are met. + +The kernel will not compact memory in a zone if the +fragmentation index is <= extfrag_threshold. The default value is 500. + + +highmem_is_dirtyable +==================== + +Available only for systems with CONFIG_HIGHMEM enabled (32b systems). + +This parameter controls whether the high memory is considered for dirty +writers throttling. This is not the case by default which means that +only the amount of memory directly visible/usable by the kernel can +be dirtied. As a result, on systems with a large amount of memory and +lowmem basically depleted writers might be throttled too early and +streaming writes can get very slow. + +Changing the value to non zero would allow more memory to be dirtied +and thus allow writers to write more data which can be flushed to the +storage more effectively. Note this also comes with a risk of pre-mature +OOM killer because some writers (e.g. direct block device writes) can +only use the low memory and they can fill it up with dirty data without +any throttling. + + +hugetlb_shm_group +================= + +hugetlb_shm_group contains group id that is allowed to create SysV +shared memory segment using hugetlb page. + + +legacy_va_layout +================ + +If non-zero, this sysctl disables the new 32-bit mmap layout - the kernel +will use the legacy (2.4) layout for all processes. + + +lowmem_reserve_ratio +==================== + +For some specialised workloads on highmem machines it is dangerous for +the kernel to allow process memory to be allocated from the "lowmem" +zone. This is because that memory could then be pinned via the mlock() +system call, or by unavailability of swapspace. + +And on large highmem machines this lack of reclaimable lowmem memory +can be fatal. + +So the Linux page allocator has a mechanism which prevents allocations +which *could* use highmem from using too much lowmem. This means that +a certain amount of lowmem is defended from the possibility of being +captured into pinned user memory. + +(The same argument applies to the old 16 megabyte ISA DMA region. This +mechanism will also defend that region from allocations which could use +highmem or lowmem). + +The `lowmem_reserve_ratio` tunable determines how aggressive the kernel is +in defending these lower zones. + +If you have a machine which uses highmem or ISA DMA and your +applications are using mlock(), or if you are running with no swap then +you probably should change the lowmem_reserve_ratio setting. + +The lowmem_reserve_ratio is an array. You can see them by reading this file:: + + % cat /proc/sys/vm/lowmem_reserve_ratio + 256 256 32 + +But, these values are not used directly. The kernel calculates # of protection +pages for each zones from them. These are shown as array of protection pages +in /proc/zoneinfo like the following. (This is an example of x86-64 box). +Each zone has an array of protection pages like this:: + + Node 0, zone DMA + pages free 1355 + min 3 + low 3 + high 4 + : + : + numa_other 0 + protection: (0, 2004, 2004, 2004) + ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + pagesets + cpu: 0 pcp: 0 + : + +These protections are added to score to judge whether this zone should be used +for page allocation or should be reclaimed. + +In this example, if normal pages (index=2) are required to this DMA zone and +watermark[WMARK_HIGH] is used for watermark, the kernel judges this zone should +not be used because pages_free(1355) is smaller than watermark + protection[2] +(4 + 2004 = 2008). If this protection value is 0, this zone would be used for +normal page requirement. If requirement is DMA zone(index=0), protection[0] +(=0) is used. + +zone[i]'s protection[j] is calculated by following expression:: + + (i < j): + zone[i]->protection[j] + = (total sums of managed_pages from zone[i+1] to zone[j] on the node) + / lowmem_reserve_ratio[i]; + (i = j): + (should not be protected. = 0; + (i > j): + (not necessary, but looks 0) + +The default values of lowmem_reserve_ratio[i] are + + === ==================================== + 256 (if zone[i] means DMA or DMA32 zone) + 32 (others) + === ==================================== + +As above expression, they are reciprocal number of ratio. +256 means 1/256. # of protection pages becomes about "0.39%" of total managed +pages of higher zones on the node. + +If you would like to protect more pages, smaller values are effective. +The minimum value is 1 (1/1 -> 100%). The value less than 1 completely +disables protection of the pages. + + +max_map_count +============= + +This file contains the maximum number of memory map areas a process +may have. Memory map areas are used as a side-effect of calling +malloc, directly by mmap, mprotect, and madvise, and also when loading +shared libraries. + +While most applications need less than a thousand maps, certain +programs, particularly malloc debuggers, may consume lots of them, +e.g., up to one or two maps per allocation. + +The default value is 65530. + + +mem_profiling +============== + +Enable memory profiling (when CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING=y) + +1: Enable memory profiling. + +0: Disable memory profiling. + +Enabling memory profiling introduces a small performance overhead for all +memory allocations. + +The default value depends on CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT. + +When CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG=y, this control is read-only to avoid +warnings produced by allocations made while profiling is disabled and freed +when it's enabled. + + +memory_failure_early_kill +========================= + +Control how to kill processes when uncorrected memory error (typically +a 2bit error in a memory module) is detected in the background by hardware +that cannot be handled by the kernel. In some cases (like the page +still having a valid copy on disk) the kernel will handle the failure +transparently without affecting any applications. But if there is +no other up-to-date copy of the data it will kill to prevent any data +corruptions from propagating. + +1: Kill all processes that have the corrupted and not reloadable page mapped +as soon as the corruption is detected. Note this is not supported +for a few types of pages, like kernel internally allocated data or +the swap cache, but works for the majority of user pages. + +0: Only unmap the corrupted page from all processes and only kill a process +who tries to access it. + +The kill is done using a catchable SIGBUS with BUS_MCEERR_AO, so processes can +handle this if they want to. + +This is only active on architectures/platforms with advanced machine +check handling and depends on the hardware capabilities. + +Applications can override this setting individually with the PR_MCE_KILL prctl + + +memory_failure_recovery +======================= + +Enable memory failure recovery (when supported by the platform) + +1: Attempt recovery. + +0: Always panic on a memory failure. + + +min_free_kbytes +=============== + +This is used to force the Linux VM to keep a minimum number +of kilobytes free. The VM uses this number to compute a +watermark[WMARK_MIN] value for each lowmem zone in the system. +Each lowmem zone gets a number of reserved free pages based +proportionally on its size. + +Some minimal amount of memory is needed to satisfy PF_MEMALLOC +allocations; if you set this to lower than 1024KB, your system will +become subtly broken, and prone to deadlock under high loads. + +Setting this too high will OOM your machine instantly. + + +min_slab_ratio +============== + +This is available only on NUMA kernels. + +A percentage of the total pages in each zone. On Zone reclaim +(fallback from the local zone occurs) slabs will be reclaimed if more +than this percentage of pages in a zone are reclaimable slab pages. +This insures that the slab growth stays under control even in NUMA +systems that rarely perform global reclaim. + +The default is 5 percent. + +Note that slab reclaim is triggered in a per zone / node fashion. +The process of reclaiming slab memory is currently not node specific +and may not be fast. + + +min_unmapped_ratio +================== + +This is available only on NUMA kernels. + +This is a percentage of the total pages in each zone. Zone reclaim will +only occur if more than this percentage of pages are in a state that +zone_reclaim_mode allows to be reclaimed. + +If zone_reclaim_mode has the value 4 OR'd, then the percentage is compared +against all file-backed unmapped pages including swapcache pages and tmpfs +files. Otherwise, only unmapped pages backed by normal files but not tmpfs +files and similar are considered. + +The default is 1 percent. + + +mmap_min_addr +============= + +This file indicates the amount of address space which a user process will +be restricted from mmapping. Since kernel null dereference bugs could +accidentally operate based on the information in the first couple of pages +of memory userspace processes should not be allowed to write to them. By +default this value is set to 0 and no protections will be enforced by the +security module. Setting this value to something like 64k will allow the +vast majority of applications to work correctly and provide defense in depth +against future potential kernel bugs. + + +mmap_rnd_bits +============= + +This value can be used to select the number of bits to use to +determine the random offset to the base address of vma regions +resulting from mmap allocations on architectures which support +tuning address space randomization. This value will be bounded +by the architecture's minimum and maximum supported values. + +This value can be changed after boot using the +/proc/sys/vm/mmap_rnd_bits tunable + + +mmap_rnd_compat_bits +==================== + +This value can be used to select the number of bits to use to +determine the random offset to the base address of vma regions +resulting from mmap allocations for applications run in +compatibility mode on architectures which support tuning address +space randomization. This value will be bounded by the +architecture's minimum and maximum supported values. + +This value can be changed after boot using the +/proc/sys/vm/mmap_rnd_compat_bits tunable + + +movable_gigantic_pages +====================== + +This parameter controls whether gigantic pages may be allocated from +ZONE_MOVABLE. If set to non-zero, gigantic pages can be allocated +from ZONE_MOVABLE. ZONE_MOVABLE memory may be created via the kernel +boot parameter `kernelcore` or via memory hotplug as discussed in +Documentation/admin-guide/mm/memory-hotplug.rst. + +Support may depend on specific architecture. + +Note that using ZONE_MOVABLE gigantic pages make memory hotremove unreliable. + +Memory hot-remove operations will block indefinitely until the admin reserves +sufficient gigantic pages to service migration requests associated with the +memory offlining process. As HugeTLB gigantic page reservation is a manual +process (via `nodeN/hugepages/.../nr_hugepages` interfaces) this may not be +obvious when just attempting to offline a block of memory. + +Additionally, as multiple gigantic pages may be reserved on a single block, +it may appear that gigantic pages are available for migration when in reality +they are in the process of being removed. For example if `memoryN` contains +two gigantic pages, one reserved and one allocated, and an admin attempts to +offline that block, this operations may hang indefinitely unless another +reserved gigantic page is available on another block `memoryM`. + + +nr_hugepages +============ + +Change the minimum size of the hugepage pool. + +See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst + + +hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap +======================== + +This knob is not available when the size of 'struct page' (a structure defined +in include/linux/mm_types.h) is not power of two (an unusual system config could +result in this). + +Enable (set to 1) or disable (set to 0) HugeTLB Vmemmap Optimization (HVO). + +Once enabled, the vmemmap pages of subsequent allocation of HugeTLB pages from +buddy allocator will be optimized (7 pages per 2MB HugeTLB page and 4095 pages +per 1GB HugeTLB page), whereas already allocated HugeTLB pages will not be +optimized. When those optimized HugeTLB pages are freed from the HugeTLB pool +to the buddy allocator, the vmemmap pages representing that range needs to be +remapped again and the vmemmap pages discarded earlier need to be rellocated +again. If your use case is that HugeTLB pages are allocated 'on the fly' (e.g. +never explicitly allocating HugeTLB pages with 'nr_hugepages' but only set +'nr_overcommit_hugepages', those overcommitted HugeTLB pages are allocated 'on +the fly') instead of being pulled from the HugeTLB pool, you should weigh the +benefits of memory savings against the more overhead (~2x slower than before) +of allocation or freeing HugeTLB pages between the HugeTLB pool and the buddy +allocator. Another behavior to note is that if the system is under heavy memory +pressure, it could prevent the user from freeing HugeTLB pages from the HugeTLB +pool to the buddy allocator since the allocation of vmemmap pages could be +failed, you have to retry later if your system encounter this situation. + +Once disabled, the vmemmap pages of subsequent allocation of HugeTLB pages from +buddy allocator will not be optimized meaning the extra overhead at allocation +time from buddy allocator disappears, whereas already optimized HugeTLB pages +will not be affected. If you want to make sure there are no optimized HugeTLB +pages, you can set "nr_hugepages" to 0 first and then disable this. Note that +writing 0 to nr_hugepages will make any "in use" HugeTLB pages become surplus +pages. So, those surplus pages are still optimized until they are no longer +in use. You would need to wait for those surplus pages to be released before +there are no optimized pages in the system. + + +nr_hugepages_mempolicy +====================== + +Change the size of the hugepage pool at run-time on a specific +set of NUMA nodes. + +See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst + + +nr_overcommit_hugepages +======================= + +Change the maximum size of the hugepage pool. The maximum is +nr_hugepages + nr_overcommit_hugepages. + +See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst + + +nr_trim_pages +============= + +This is available only on NOMMU kernels. + +This value adjusts the excess page trimming behaviour of power-of-2 aligned +NOMMU mmap allocations. + +A value of 0 disables trimming of allocations entirely, while a value of 1 +trims excess pages aggressively. Any value >= 1 acts as the watermark where +trimming of allocations is initiated. + +The default value is 1. + +See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/nommu-mmap.rst for more information. + + +numa_zonelist_order +=================== + +This sysctl is only for NUMA and it is deprecated. Anything but +Node order will fail! + +'where the memory is allocated from' is controlled by zonelists. + +(This documentation ignores ZONE_HIGHMEM/ZONE_DMA32 for simple explanation. +you may be able to read ZONE_DMA as ZONE_DMA32...) + +In non-NUMA case, a zonelist for GFP_KERNEL is ordered as following. +ZONE_NORMAL -> ZONE_DMA +This means that a memory allocation request for GFP_KERNEL will +get memory from ZONE_DMA only when ZONE_NORMAL is not available. + +In NUMA case, you can think of following 2 types of order. +Assume 2 node NUMA and below is zonelist of Node(0)'s GFP_KERNEL:: + + (A) Node(0) ZONE_NORMAL -> Node(0) ZONE_DMA -> Node(1) ZONE_NORMAL + (B) Node(0) ZONE_NORMAL -> Node(1) ZONE_NORMAL -> Node(0) ZONE_DMA. + +Type(A) offers the best locality for processes on Node(0), but ZONE_DMA +will be used before ZONE_NORMAL exhaustion. This increases possibility of +out-of-memory(OOM) of ZONE_DMA because ZONE_DMA is tend to be small. + +Type(B) cannot offer the best locality but is more robust against OOM of +the DMA zone. + +Type(A) is called as "Node" order. Type (B) is "Zone" order. + +"Node order" orders the zonelists by node, then by zone within each node. +Specify "[Nn]ode" for node order + +"Zone Order" orders the zonelists by zone type, then by node within each +zone. Specify "[Zz]one" for zone order. + +Specify "[Dd]efault" to request automatic configuration. + +On 32-bit, the Normal zone needs to be preserved for allocations accessible +by the kernel, so "zone" order will be selected. + +On 64-bit, devices that require DMA32/DMA are relatively rare, so "node" +order will be selected. + +Default order is recommended unless this is causing problems for your +system/application. + + +oom_dump_tasks +============== + +Enables a system-wide task dump (excluding kernel threads) to be produced +when the kernel performs an OOM-killing and includes such information as +pid, uid, tgid, vm size, rss, pgtables_bytes, swapents, oom_score_adj +score, and name. This is helpful to determine why the OOM killer was +invoked, to identify the rogue task that caused it, and to determine why +the OOM killer chose the task it did to kill. + +If this is set to zero, this information is suppressed. On very +large systems with thousands of tasks it may not be feasible to dump +the memory state information for each one. Such systems should not +be forced to incur a performance penalty in OOM conditions when the +information may not be desired. + +If this is set to non-zero, this information is shown whenever the +OOM killer actually kills a memory-hogging task. + +The default value is 1 (enabled). + + +oom_kill_allocating_task +======================== + +This enables or disables killing the OOM-triggering task in +out-of-memory situations. + +If this is set to zero, the OOM killer will scan through the entire +tasklist and select a task based on heuristics to kill. This normally +selects a rogue memory-hogging task that frees up a large amount of +memory when killed. + +If this is set to non-zero, the OOM killer simply kills the task that +triggered the out-of-memory condition. This avoids the expensive +tasklist scan. + +If panic_on_oom is selected, it takes precedence over whatever value +is used in oom_kill_allocating_task. + +The default value is 0. + + +overcommit_kbytes +================= + +When overcommit_memory is set to 2, the committed address space is not +permitted to exceed swap plus this amount of physical RAM. See below. + +Note: overcommit_kbytes is the counterpart of overcommit_ratio. Only one +of them may be specified at a time. Setting one disables the other (which +then appears as 0 when read). + + +overcommit_memory +================= + +This value contains a flag that enables memory overcommitment. + +When this flag is 0, the kernel compares the userspace memory request +size against total memory plus swap and rejects obvious overcommits. + +When this flag is 1, the kernel pretends there is always enough +memory until it actually runs out. + +When this flag is 2, the kernel uses a "never overcommit" +policy that attempts to prevent any overcommit of memory. +Note that user_reserve_kbytes affects this policy. + +This feature can be very useful because there are a lot of +programs that malloc() huge amounts of memory "just-in-case" +and don't use much of it. + +The default value is 0. + +See Documentation/mm/overcommit-accounting.rst and +mm/util.c::__vm_enough_memory() for more information. + + +overcommit_ratio +================ + +When overcommit_memory is set to 2, the committed address +space is not permitted to exceed swap plus this percentage +of physical RAM. See above. + + +page-cluster +============ + +page-cluster controls the number of pages up to which consecutive pages +are read in from swap in a single attempt. This is the swap counterpart +to page cache readahead. +The mentioned consecutivity is not in terms of virtual/physical addresses, +but consecutive on swap space - that means they were swapped out together. + +It is a logarithmic value - setting it to zero means "1 page", setting +it to 1 means "2 pages", setting it to 2 means "4 pages", etc. +Zero disables swap readahead completely. + +The default value is three (eight pages at a time). There may be some +small benefits in tuning this to a different value if your workload is +swap-intensive. + +Lower values mean lower latencies for initial faults, but at the same time +extra faults and I/O delays for following faults if they would have been part of +that consecutive pages readahead would have brought in. + + +page_lock_unfairness +==================== + +This value determines the number of times that the page lock can be +stolen from under a waiter. After the lock is stolen the number of times +specified in this file (default is 5), the "fair lock handoff" semantics +will apply, and the waiter will only be awakened if the lock can be taken. + +panic_on_oom +============ + +This enables or disables panic on out-of-memory feature. + +If this is set to 0, the kernel will kill some rogue process, +called oom_killer. Usually, oom_killer can kill rogue processes and +system will survive. + +If this is set to 1, the kernel panics when out-of-memory happens. +However, if a process limits using nodes by mempolicy/cpusets, +and those nodes become memory exhaustion status, one process +may be killed by oom-killer. No panic occurs in this case. +Because other nodes' memory may be free. This means system total status +may be not fatal yet. + +If this is set to 2, the kernel panics compulsorily even on the +above-mentioned. Even oom happens under memory cgroup, the whole +system panics. + +The default value is 0. + +1 and 2 are for failover of clustering. Please select either +according to your policy of failover. + +panic_on_oom=2+kdump gives you very strong tool to investigate +why oom happens. You can get snapshot. + + +panic_on_unrecoverable_memory_failure +====================================== + +When a hardware memory error (e.g. multi-bit ECC) hits a kernel page +that cannot be recovered by the memory failure handler, the default +behaviour is to ignore the error and continue operation. This is +dangerous because the corrupted data remains accessible to the kernel, +risking silent data corruption or a delayed crash when the poisoned +memory is next accessed. + +When enabled, this sysctl triggers a panic on memory failure events +hitting kernel-owned pages that the handler cannot recover: +``PageReserved`` (firmware reservations, kernel image, vDSO, zero +page, and similar memblock-reserved regions), ``PageSlab``, +``PageTable``, and ``PageLargeKmalloc``. These are owned by the +kernel and the memory failure handler cannot reliably evict their +contents. + +Other unrecoverable kernel-owned populations (vmalloc allocations, +kernel stack pages, ...) are not currently covered because the +handler has no page-type signal that distinguishes them from a +userspace folio temporarily off the LRU during migration or +compaction. Such pages still go through the standard +MF_MSG_GET_HWPOISON path: ``PG_hwpoison`` is set on them and a +delayed crash on the next access remains possible. Coverage may +grow as the handler gains stronger kernel-ownership signals. + +Recoverable failure paths are also intentionally left out: in-flight +buddy allocations and other transient races with the page allocator +can reach the same diagnostic, and panicking on them would risk +killing the box for a page destined for userspace where the standard +SIGBUS recovery path applies. Pages whose state could not be +classified at all are not covered either, since an unknown state is +not a sound basis for a panic decision. + +For many environments it is preferable to panic immediately with a clean +crash dump that captures the original error context, rather than to +continue and face a random crash later whose cause is difficult to +diagnose. + +Use cases +--------- + +This option is most useful in environments where unattributed crashes +are expensive to debug or where data integrity must take precedence +over availability: + +* Large fleets, where multi-bit ECC errors on kernel pages are observed + regularly and post-mortem analysis of an unrelated downstream crash + (often seconds to minutes after the original error) consumes + significant engineering effort. + +* Systems configured with kdump, where panicking at the moment of the + hardware error produces a vmcore that still contains the faulting + address, the affected page state, and the originating MCE/GHES + record — context that is typically lost by the time a delayed crash + occurs. + +* High-availability clusters that rely on fast, deterministic node + failure for failover, and prefer an immediate panic over silent data + corruption propagating to replicas or persistent storage. + +* Kernel and platform developers reproducing hwpoison issues with + tools such as ``mce-inject`` or error-injection debugfs interfaces, + where panicking on the unrecoverable path makes regressions + immediately visible instead of surfacing as later, unrelated + failures. + += ===================================================================== +0 Try to continue operation (default). +1 Panic immediately. If the ``panic`` sysctl is also non-zero then the + machine will be rebooted. += ===================================================================== + +Example:: + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/panic_on_unrecoverable_memory_failure + + +percpu_pagelist_high_fraction +============================= + +This is the fraction of pages in each zone that are can be stored to +per-cpu page lists. It is an upper boundary that is divided depending +on the number of online CPUs. The min value for this is 8 which means +that we do not allow more than 1/8th of pages in each zone to be stored +on per-cpu page lists. This entry only changes the value of hot per-cpu +page lists. A user can specify a number like 100 to allocate 1/100th of +each zone between per-cpu lists. + +The batch value of each per-cpu page list remains the same regardless of +the value of the high fraction so allocation latencies are unaffected. + +The initial value is zero. Kernel uses this value to set the high pcp->high +mark based on the low watermark for the zone and the number of local +online CPUs. If the user writes '0' to this sysctl, it will revert to +this default behavior. + + +stat_interval +============= + +The time interval between which vm statistics are updated. The default +is 1 second. + + +stat_refresh +============ + +Any read or write (by root only) flushes all the per-cpu vm statistics +into their global totals, for more accurate reports when testing +e.g. cat /proc/sys/vm/stat_refresh /proc/meminfo + +As a side-effect, it also checks for negative totals (elsewhere reported +as 0) and "fails" with EINVAL if any are found, with a warning in dmesg. +(At time of writing, a few stats are known sometimes to be found negative, +with no ill effects: errors and warnings on these stats are suppressed.) + + +numa_stat +========= + +This interface allows runtime configuration of numa statistics. + +When page allocation performance becomes a bottleneck and you can tolerate +some possible tool breakage and decreased numa counter precision, you can +do:: + + echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/numa_stat + +When page allocation performance is not a bottleneck and you want all +tooling to work, you can do:: + + echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/numa_stat + + +swappiness +========== + +This control is used to define the rough relative IO cost of swapping +and filesystem paging, as a value between 0 and 200. At 100, the VM +assumes equal IO cost and will thus apply memory pressure to the page +cache and swap-backed pages equally; lower values signify more +expensive swap IO, higher values indicates cheaper. + +Keep in mind that filesystem IO patterns under memory pressure tend to +be more efficient than swap's random IO. An optimal value will require +experimentation and will also be workload-dependent. + +The default value is 60. + +For in-memory swap, like zram or zswap, as well as hybrid setups that +have swap on faster devices than the filesystem, values beyond 100 can +be considered. For example, if the random IO against the swap device +is on average 2x faster than IO from the filesystem, swappiness should +be 133 (x + 2x = 200, 2x = 133.33). + +At 0, the kernel will not initiate swap until the amount of free and +file-backed pages is less than the high watermark in a zone. + + +unprivileged_userfaultfd +======================== + +This flag controls the mode in which unprivileged users can use the +userfaultfd system calls. Set this to 0 to restrict unprivileged users +to handle page faults in user mode only. In this case, users without +SYS_CAP_PTRACE must pass UFFD_USER_MODE_ONLY in order for userfaultfd to +succeed. Prohibiting use of userfaultfd for handling faults from kernel +mode may make certain vulnerabilities more difficult to exploit. + +Set this to 1 to allow unprivileged users to use the userfaultfd system +calls without any restrictions. + +The default value is 0. + +Another way to control permissions for userfaultfd is to use +/dev/userfaultfd instead of userfaultfd(2). See +Documentation/admin-guide/mm/userfaultfd.rst. + +user_reserve_kbytes +=================== + +When overcommit_memory is set to 2, "never overcommit" mode, reserve +min(3% of current process size, user_reserve_kbytes) of free memory. +This is intended to prevent a user from starting a single memory hogging +process, such that they cannot recover (kill the hog). + +This setting has no effect when overcommit_memory is set to 0 or 1. + +user_reserve_kbytes defaults to min(3% of the current process size, 128MB). + +If this is reduced to zero, then the user will be allowed to allocate +all free memory with a single process, minus admin_reserve_kbytes. +Any subsequent attempts to execute a command will result in +"fork: Cannot allocate memory". + +Changing this takes effect whenever an application requests memory. + + +vfs_cache_pressure +================== + +This percentage value controls the tendency of the kernel to reclaim +the memory which is used for caching of directory and inode objects. + +At the default value of vfs_cache_pressure=vfs_cache_pressure_denom the kernel +will attempt to reclaim dentries and inodes at a "fair" rate with respect to +pagecache and swapcache reclaim. Decreasing vfs_cache_pressure causes the +kernel to prefer to retain dentry and inode caches. When vfs_cache_pressure=0, +the kernel will never reclaim dentries and inodes due to memory pressure and +this can easily lead to out-of-memory conditions. Increasing vfs_cache_pressure +beyond vfs_cache_pressure_denom causes the kernel to prefer to reclaim dentries +and inodes. + +Increasing vfs_cache_pressure significantly beyond vfs_cache_pressure_denom may +have negative performance impact. Reclaim code needs to take various locks to +find freeable directory and inode objects. When vfs_cache_pressure equals +(10 * vfs_cache_pressure_denom), it will look for ten times more freeable +objects than there are. + +Note: This setting should always be used together with vfs_cache_pressure_denom. + +vfs_cache_pressure_denom +======================== + +Defaults to 100 (minimum allowed value). Requires corresponding +vfs_cache_pressure setting to take effect. + +watermark_boost_factor +====================== + +This factor controls the level of reclaim when memory is being fragmented. +It defines the percentage of the high watermark of a zone that will be +reclaimed if pages of different mobility are being mixed within pageblocks. +The intent is that compaction has less work to do in the future and to +increase the success rate of future high-order allocations such as SLUB +allocations, THP and hugetlbfs pages. + +To make it sensible with respect to the watermark_scale_factor +parameter, the unit is in fractions of 10,000. The default value of +15,000 means that up to 150% of the high watermark will be reclaimed in the +event of a pageblock being mixed due to fragmentation. The level of reclaim +is determined by the number of fragmentation events that occurred in the +recent past. If this value is smaller than a pageblock then a pageblocks +worth of pages will be reclaimed (e.g. 2MB on 64-bit x86). A boost factor +of 0 will disable the feature. + + +watermark_scale_factor +====================== + +This factor controls the aggressiveness of kswapd. It defines the +amount of memory left in a node/system before kswapd is woken up and +how much memory needs to be free before kswapd goes back to sleep. + +The unit is in fractions of 10,000. The default value of 10 means the +distances between watermarks are 0.1% of the available memory in the +node/system. The maximum value is 3000, or 30% of memory. + +A high rate of threads entering direct reclaim (allocstall) or kswapd +going to sleep prematurely (kswapd_low_wmark_hit_quickly) can indicate +that the number of free pages kswapd maintains for latency reasons is +too small for the allocation bursts occurring in the system. This knob +can then be used to tune kswapd aggressiveness accordingly. + + +zone_reclaim_mode +================= + +Zone_reclaim_mode allows someone to set more or less aggressive approaches to +reclaim memory when a zone runs out of memory. If it is set to zero then no +zone reclaim occurs. Allocations will be satisfied from other zones / nodes +in the system. + +This is value OR'ed together of + += =================================== +1 Zone reclaim on +2 Zone reclaim writes dirty pages out +4 Zone reclaim swaps pages += =================================== + +zone_reclaim_mode is disabled by default. For file servers or workloads +that benefit from having their data cached, zone_reclaim_mode should be +left disabled as the caching effect is likely to be more important than +data locality. + +Consider enabling one or more zone_reclaim mode bits if it's known that the +workload is partitioned such that each partition fits within a NUMA node +and that accessing remote memory would cause a measurable performance +reduction. The page allocator will take additional actions before +allocating off node pages. + +Allowing zone reclaim to write out pages stops processes that are +writing large amounts of data from dirtying pages on other nodes. Zone +reclaim will write out dirty pages if a zone fills up and so effectively +throttle the process. This may decrease the performance of a single process +since it cannot use all of system memory to buffer the outgoing writes +anymore but it preserve the memory on other nodes so that the performance +of other processes running on other nodes will not be affected. + +Allowing regular swap effectively restricts allocations to the local +node unless explicitly overridden by memory policies or cpuset +configurations. diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/xen.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/xen.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6c5edc3e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/xen.rst @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +=============== +/proc/sys/xen/ +=============== + +Copyright (c) 2026, Shubham Chakraborty <chakrabortyshubham66@gmail.com> + +For general info and legal blurb, please look in +Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +These files show up in ``/proc/sys/xen/``, depending on the +kernel configuration: + +.. contents:: :local: + +balloon/hotplug_unpopulated +=========================== + +This flag controls whether unpopulated memory ranges are automatically +hotplugged as system RAM. + +- ``0``: Unpopulated ranges are not hotplugged (default). +- ``1``: Unpopulated ranges are automatically hotplugged. + +When enabled, the Xen balloon driver will add memory regions that are +marked as unpopulated in the Xen memory map to the system as usable RAM. +This allows for dynamic memory expansion in Xen guest domains. + +This option is only available when the kernel is built with +``CONFIG_XEN_BALLOON_MEMORY_HOTPLUG`` enabled. |
