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1 | Documentation for /proc/sys/ kernel version 2.2.10 | ||
2 | (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org> | ||
3 | |||
4 | 'Why', I hear you ask, 'would anyone even _want_ documentation | ||
5 | for them sysctl files? If anybody really needs it, it's all in | ||
6 | the source...' | ||
7 | |||
8 | Well, this documentation is written because some people either | ||
9 | don't know they need to tweak something, or because they don't | ||
10 | have the time or knowledge to read the source code. | ||
11 | |||
12 | Furthermore, the programmers who built sysctl have built it to | ||
13 | be actually used, not just for the fun of programming it :-) | ||
14 | |||
15 | ============================================================== | ||
16 | |||
17 | Legal blurb: | ||
18 | |||
19 | As usual, there are two main things to consider: | ||
20 | 1. you get what you pay for | ||
21 | 2. it's free | ||
22 | |||
23 | The consequences are that I won't guarantee the correctness of | ||
24 | this document, and if you come to me complaining about how you | ||
25 | screwed up your system because of wrong documentation, I won't | ||
26 | feel sorry for you. I might even laugh at you... | ||
27 | |||
28 | But of course, if you _do_ manage to screw up your system using | ||
29 | only the sysctl options used in this file, I'd like to hear of | ||
30 | it. Not only to have a great laugh, but also to make sure that | ||
31 | you're the last RTFMing person to screw up. | ||
32 | |||
33 | In short, e-mail your suggestions, corrections and / or horror | ||
34 | stories to: <riel@nl.linux.org> | ||
35 | |||
36 | Rik van Riel. | ||
37 | |||
38 | ============================================================== | ||
39 | |||
40 | Introduction: | ||
41 | |||
42 | Sysctl is a means of configuring certain aspects of the kernel | ||
43 | at run-time, and the /proc/sys/ directory is there so that you | ||
44 | don't even need special tools to do it! | ||
45 | In fact, there are only four things needed to use these config | ||
46 | facilities: | ||
47 | - a running Linux system | ||
48 | - root access | ||
49 | - common sense (this is especially hard to come by these days) | ||
50 | - knowledge of what all those values mean | ||
51 | |||
52 | As a quick 'ls /proc/sys' will show, the directory consists of | ||
53 | several (arch-dependent?) subdirs. Each subdir is mainly about | ||
54 | one part of the kernel, so you can do configuration on a piece | ||
55 | by piece basis, or just some 'thematic frobbing'. | ||
56 | |||
57 | The subdirs are about: | ||
58 | abi/ execution domains & personalities | ||
59 | debug/ <empty> | ||
60 | dev/ device specific information (eg dev/cdrom/info) | ||
61 | fs/ specific filesystems | ||
62 | filehandle, inode, dentry and quota tuning | ||
63 | binfmt_misc <Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt> | ||
64 | kernel/ global kernel info / tuning | ||
65 | miscellaneous stuff | ||
66 | net/ networking stuff, for documentation look in: | ||
67 | <Documentation/networking/> | ||
68 | proc/ <empty> | ||
69 | sunrpc/ SUN Remote Procedure Call (NFS) | ||
70 | vm/ memory management tuning | ||
71 | buffer and cache management | ||
72 | |||
73 | These are the subdirs I have on my system. There might be more | ||
74 | or other subdirs in another setup. If you see another dir, I'd | ||
75 | really like to hear about it :-) | ||