linux/Documentation/sysctl
Linus Torvalds 80cc38b163 Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial
Pull trivial tree updates from Jiri Kosina:
 "The usual stuff from trivial tree"

* 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial: (34 commits)
  treewide: relase -> release
  Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt: fix stat file documentation
  sysctl/net.txt: delete reference to obsolete 2.4.x kernel
  spinlock_api_smp.h: fix preprocessor comments
  treewide: Fix typo in printk
  doc: device tree: clarify stuff in usage-model.txt.
  open firmware: "/aliasas" -> "/aliases"
  md: bcache: Fixed a typo with the word 'arithmetic'
  irq/generic-chip: fix a few kernel-doc entries
  frv: Convert use of typedef ctl_table to struct ctl_table
  sgi: xpc: Convert use of typedef ctl_table to struct ctl_table
  doc: clk: Fix incorrect wording
  Documentation/arm/IXP4xx fix a typo
  Documentation/networking/ieee802154 fix a typo
  Documentation/DocBook/media/v4l fix a typo
  Documentation/video4linux/si476x.txt fix a typo
  Documentation/virtual/kvm/api.txt fix a typo
  Documentation/early-userspace/README fix a typo
  Documentation/video4linux/soc-camera.txt fix a typo
  lguest: fix CONFIG_PAE -> CONFIG_x86_PAE in comment
  ...
2013-07-04 11:40:58 -07:00
..
00-INDEX sysctl: remove obsolete comments 2011-01-13 08:03:18 -08:00
abi.txt
fs.txt Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/vfs 2012-08-01 10:26:23 -07:00
kernel.txt perf: Drop sample rate when sampling is too slow 2013-06-23 11:52:57 +02:00
net.txt sysctl/net.txt: delete reference to obsolete 2.4.x kernel 2013-06-24 11:10:50 +02:00
README
sunrpc.txt
vm.txt mm: replace hardcoded 3% with admin_reserve_pages knob 2013-04-29 15:54:36 -07:00

Documentation for /proc/sys/		kernel version 2.2.10
	(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'.

The subdirs are about:
abi/		execution domains & personalities
debug/		<empty>
dev/		device specific information (eg dev/cdrom/info)
fs/		specific filesystems
		filehandle, inode, dentry and quota tuning
		binfmt_misc <Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt>
kernel/		global kernel info / tuning
		miscellaneous stuff
net/		networking stuff, for documentation look in:
		<Documentation/networking/>
proc/		<empty>
sunrpc/		SUN Remote Procedure Call (NFS)
vm/		memory management tuning
		buffer and cache management

These are the subdirs I have on my system. There might be more
or other subdirs in another setup. If you see another dir, I'd
really like to hear about it :-)