xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3 (revision 6b5c5d0d)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"	@(#)sysctl.3	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3,v 1.33.2.13 2002/04/07 04:57:14 dd Exp $
34.\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3,v 1.9 2007/10/26 08:22:00 swildner Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd January 23, 2001
37.Dt SYSCTL 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm sysctl ,
41.Nm sysctlbyname ,
42.Nm sysctlnametomib
43.Nd get or set system information
44.Sh LIBRARY
45.Lb libc
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.In sys/types.h
48.In sys/sysctl.h
49.Ft int
50.Fn sysctl "int *name" "u_int namelen" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "void *newp" "size_t newlen"
51.Ft int
52.Fn sysctlbyname "const char *name" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "void *newp" "size_t newlen"
53.Ft int
54.Fn sysctlnametomib "const char *name" "int *mibp" "size_t *sizep"
55.Sh DESCRIPTION
56The
57.Fn sysctl
58function retrieves system information and allows processes with
59appropriate privileges to set system information.
60The information available from
61.Fn sysctl
62consists of integers, strings, and tables.
63Information may be retrieved and set from the command interface
64using the
65.Xr sysctl 8
66utility.
67.Pp
68Unless explicitly noted below,
69.Fn sysctl
70returns a consistent snapshot of the data requested.
71Consistency is obtained by locking the destination
72buffer into memory so that the data may be copied out without blocking.
73Calls to
74.Fn sysctl
75are serialized to avoid deadlock.
76.Pp
77The state is described using a ``Management Information Base'' (MIB)
78style name, listed in
79.Fa name ,
80which is a
81.Fa namelen
82length array of integers.
83.Pp
84The
85.Fn sysctlbyname
86function accepts an ASCII representation of the name and internally
87looks up the integer name vector.  Apart from that, it behaves the same
88as the standard
89.Fn sysctl
90function.
91.Pp
92The information is copied into the buffer specified by
93.Fa oldp .
94The size of the buffer is given by the location specified by
95.Fa oldlenp
96before the call,
97and that location gives the amount of data copied after a successful call
98and after a call that returns with the error code
99.Er ENOMEM .
100If the amount of data available is greater
101than the size of the buffer supplied,
102the call supplies as much data as fits in the buffer provided
103and returns with the error code
104.Er ENOMEM .
105If the old value is not desired,
106.Fa oldp
107and
108.Fa oldlenp
109should be set to NULL.
110.Pp
111The size of the available data can be determined by calling
112.Fn sysctl
113with a NULL parameter for
114.Fa oldp .
115The size of the available data will be returned in the location pointed to by
116.Fa oldlenp .
117For some operations, the amount of space may change often.
118For these operations,
119the system attempts to round up so that the returned size is
120large enough for a call to return the data shortly thereafter.
121.Pp
122To set a new value,
123.Fa newp
124is set to point to a buffer of length
125.Fa newlen
126from which the requested value is to be taken.
127If a new value is not to be set,
128.Fa newp
129should be set to NULL and
130.Fa newlen
131set to 0.
132.Pp
133The
134.Fn sysctlnametomib
135function accepts an ASCII representation of the name,
136looks up the integer name vector,
137and returns the numeric representation in the mib array pointed to by
138.Fa mibp .
139The number of elements in the mib array is given by the location specified by
140.Fa sizep
141before the call,
142and that location gives the number of entries copied after a successful call.
143The resulting
144.Fa mib
145and
146.Fa size
147may be used in subsequent
148.Fn sysctl
149calls to get the data associated with the requested ASCII name.
150This interface is intended for use by applications that want to
151repeatedly request the same variable (the
152.Fn sysctl
153function runs in about a third the time as the same request made via the
154.Fn sysctlbyname
155function).
156The
157.Fn sysctlnametomib
158function is also useful for fetching mib prefixes and then adding
159a final component.
160For example, to fetch process information
161for processes with pid's less than 100:
162.Pp
163.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
164int i, mib[4];
165size_t len;
166struct kinfo_proc kp;
167
168/* Fill out the first three components of the mib */
169len = 4;
170sysctlnametomib("kern.proc.pid", mib, &len);
171
172/* Fetch and print entries for pid's < 100 */
173for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
174	mib[3] = i;
175	len = sizeof(kp);
176	if (sysctl(mib, 4, &kp, &len, NULL, 0) == -1)
177		perror("sysctl");
178	else if (len > 0)
179		printkproc(&kp);
180}
181.Ed
182.Pp
183The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in
184.In sys/sysctl.h ,
185and are as follows.
186The next and subsequent levels down are found in the include files
187listed here, and described in separate sections below.
188.Pp
189.Bl -column CTLXMACHDEPXXX "Next level namesXXXXXX" -offset indent
190.It Sy "Name	Next level names	Description"
191.It "CTL\_DEBUG	sys/sysctl.h	Debugging"
192.It "CTL\_VFS	sys/mount.h	Filesystem"
193.It "CTL\_HW	sys/sysctl.h	Generic CPU, I/O"
194.It "CTL\_KERN	sys/sysctl.h	High kernel limits"
195.It "CTL\_MACHDEP	sys/sysctl.h	Machine dependent"
196.It "CTL\_NET	sys/socket.h	Networking"
197.It "CTL\_USER	sys/sysctl.h	User-level"
198.It "CTL\_VM	vm/vm_param.h	Virtual memory"
199.El
200.Pp
201For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes allowed
202in the system:
203.Pp
204.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
205int mib[2], maxproc;
206size_t len;
207
208mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
209mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
210len = sizeof(maxproc);
211sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);
212.Ed
213.Pp
214To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities:
215.Pp
216.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
217int mib[2];
218size_t len;
219char *p;
220
221mib[0] = CTL_USER;
222mib[1] = USER_CS_PATH;
223sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, &len, NULL, 0);
224p = malloc(len);
225sysctl(mib, 2, p, &len, NULL, 0);
226.Ed
227.Ss CTL_DEBUG
228The debugging variables vary from system to system.
229A debugging variable may be added or deleted without need to recompile
230.Fn sysctl
231to know about it.
232Each time it runs,
233.Fn sysctl
234gets the list of debugging variables from the kernel and
235displays their current values.
236The system defines twenty
237.Ns ( Va struct ctldebug )
238variables named
239.Nm debug0
240through
241.Nm debug19 .
242They are declared as separate variables so that they can be
243individually initialized at the location of their associated variable.
244The loader prevents multiple use of the same variable by issuing errors
245if a variable is initialized in more than one place.
246For example, to export the variable
247.Nm dospecialcheck
248as a debugging variable, the following declaration would be used:
249.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
250int dospecialcheck = 1;
251struct ctldebug debug5 = { "dospecialcheck", &dospecialcheck };
252.Ed
253.Ss CTL_VFS
254A distinguished second level name, VFS_GENERIC,
255is used to get general information about all filesystems.
256One of its third level identifiers is VFS_MAXTYPENUM
257that gives the highest valid filesystem type number.
258Its other third level identifier is VFS_CONF that
259returns configuration information about the filesystem
260type given as a fourth level identifier (see
261.Xr getvfsbyname 3
262as an example of its use).
263The remaining second level identifiers are the
264filesystem type number returned by a
265.Xr statfs 2
266call or from VFS_CONF.
267The third level identifiers available for each filesystem
268are given in the header file that defines the mount
269argument structure for that filesystem.
270.Ss CTL_HW
271The string and integer information available for the CTL_HW level
272is detailed below.
273The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
274privilege may change the value.
275.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" integerXXX -offset indent
276.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
277.It "HW\_MACHINE	string	no"
278.It "HW\_MODEL	string	no"
279.It "HW\_NCPU	integer	no"
280.It "HW\_BYTEORDER	integer	no"
281.It "HW\_PHYSMEM	integer	no"
282.It "HW\_USERMEM	integer	no"
283.It "HW\_PAGESIZE	integer	no"
284.It "HW\_FLOATINGPOINT	integer	no"
285.It "HW\_MACHINE\_ARCH	string	no"
286.\".It "HW\_DISKNAMES	integer	no"
287.\".It "HW\_DISKSTATS	integer	no"
288.It "HW_SENSORS	node	not applicable"
289.El
290.Pp
291.Bl -tag -width 6n
292.It Li HW_MACHINE
293The machine class.
294.It Li HW_MODEL
295The machine model
296.It Li HW_NCPU
297The number of cpus.
298.It Li HW_BYTEORDER
299The byteorder (4,321, or 1,234).
300.It Li HW_PHYSMEM
301The bytes of physical memory.
302.It Li HW_USERMEM
303The bytes of non-kernel memory.
304.It Li HW_PAGESIZE
305The software page size.
306.It Li HW_FLOATINGPOINT
307Nonzero if the floating point support is in hardware.
308.It Li HW_MACHINE_ARCH
309The machine dependent architecture type.
310.\".It Fa HW_DISKNAMES
311.\".It Fa HW_DISKSTATS
312.It Li HW_SENSORS
313Third level comprises an array of
314.Vt "struct sensordev"
315structures containing information about devices
316that may attach hardware monitoring sensors.
317.Pp
318Third, fourth and fifth levels together comprise an array of
319.Vt "struct sensor"
320structures containing snapshot readings of hardware monitoring sensors.
321In such usage, third level indicates the numerical representation
322of the sensor device name to which the sensor is attached
323(device's
324.Va xname
325and number shall be matched with the help of
326.Vt "struct sensordev"
327structure above),
328fourth level indicates sensor type and
329fifth level is an ordinal sensor number (unique to
330the specified sensor type on the specified sensor device).
331.Pp
332The
333.Vt sensordev
334and
335.Vt sensor
336structures
337and
338.Vt sensor_type
339enumeration
340are defined in
341.In sys/sensors.h .
342.El
343.Ss CTL_KERN
344The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level
345is detailed below.
346The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
347privilege may change the value.
348The types of data currently available are process information,
349system vnodes, the open file entries, routing table entries,
350virtual memory statistics, load average history, and clock rate
351information.
352.Bl -column "KERNXMAXPOSIXLOCKSPERUIDXXX" "struct clockrateXXX" -offset indent
353.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
354.It "KERN\_ARGMAX	integer	no"
355.It "KERN\_BOOTFILE	string	yes"
356.It "KERN\_BOOTTIME	struct timeval	no"
357.It "KERN\_CLOCKRATE	struct clockinfo	no"
358.It "KERN\_FILE	struct file	no"
359.It "KERN\_HOSTID	integer	yes"
360.It "KERN\_HOSTNAME	string	yes"
361.It "KERN\_JOB\_CONTROL	integer	no"
362.It "KERN\_MAXFILES	integer	yes"
363.It "KERN\_MAXFILESPERPROC	integer	yes"
364.It "KERN\_MAXPOSIXLOCKSPERUID	integer	yes"
365.It "KERN\_MAXPROC	integer	no"
366.It "KERN\_MAXPROCPERUID	integer	yes"
367.It "KERN\_MAXVNODES	integer	yes"
368.It "KERN\_NGROUPS	integer	no"
369.It "KERN\_NISDOMAINNAME	string	yes"
370.It "KERN\_OSRELDATE	integer	no"
371.It "KERN\_OSRELEASE	string	no"
372.It "KERN\_OSREV	integer	no"
373.It "KERN\_OSTYPE	string	no"
374.It "KERN\_POSIX1	integer	no"
375.It "KERN\_PROC	struct proc	no"
376.It "KERN\_PROF	node	not applicable"
377.It "KERN\_QUANTUM	integer	yes"
378.It "KERN\_SAVED\_IDS	integer	no"
379.It "KERN\_SECURELVL	integer	raise only"
380.It "KERN\_UPDATEINTERVAL	integer	no"
381.It "KERN\_VERSION	string	no"
382.It "KERN\_VNODE	struct vnode	no"
383.El
384.Pp
385.Bl -tag -width 6n
386.It Li KERN_ARGMAX
387The maximum bytes of argument to
388.Xr execve 2 .
389.It Li KERN_BOOTFILE
390The full pathname of the file from which the kernel was loaded.
391.It Li KERN_BOOTTIME
392A
393.Va struct timeval
394structure is returned.
395This structure contains the time that the system was booted.
396.It Li KERN_CLOCKRATE
397A
398.Va struct clockinfo
399structure is returned.
400This structure contains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock
401frequencies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick and the skew rate.
402.It Li KERN_FILE
403Return the entire file table.
404The returned data consists of a single
405.Va struct filehead
406followed by an array of
407.Va struct file ,
408whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
409.It Li KERN_HOSTID
410Get or set the host id.
411.It Li KERN_HOSTNAME
412Get or set the hostname.
413.It Li KERN_JOB_CONTROL
414Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.
415.It Li KERN_MAXFILES
416The maximum number of files that may be open in the system.
417.It Li KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC
418The maximum number of files that may be open for a single process.
419This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
420at the time of the open request.
421Files that have already been opened are not affected if the limit
422or the effective uid is changed.
423.It Li KERN_MAXPROC
424The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow.
425.It Li KERN_MAXPROCPERUID
426The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow
427for a single effective uid.
428This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
429at the time of a fork request.
430Processes that have already been started are not affected if the limit
431is changed.
432.It Li KERN_MAXVNODES
433The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.
434.It Li KERN_NGROUPS
435The maximum number of supplemental groups.
436.It Li KERN_NISDOMAINNAME
437The name of the current YP/NIS domain.
438.It Li KERN_OSRELDATE
439The system release date in YYYYMM format
440(January 1996 is encoded as 199601).
441.It Li KERN_OSRELEASE
442The system release string.
443.It Li KERN_OSREV
444The system revision string.
445.It Li KERN_OSTYPE
446The system type string.
447.It Li KERN_POSIX1
448The version of
449.St -p1003.1
450with which the system
451attempts to comply.
452.It Li KERN_PROC
453Return the entire process table, or a subset of it.
454An array of
455.Va struct kinfo_proc
456structures is returned,
457whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
458The third and fourth level names are as follows:
459.Bl -column "Third level nameXXXXXX" "Fourth level is:XXXXXX" -offset indent
460.It "Third level name	Fourth level is:"
461.It "KERN\_PROC\_ALL	None"
462.It "KERN\_PROC\_PID	A process ID"
463.It "KERN\_PROC\_PGRP	A process group"
464.It "KERN\_PROC\_TTY	A tty device"
465.It "KERN\_PROC\_UID	A user ID"
466.It "KERN\_PROC\_RUID	A real user ID"
467.El
468.Pp
469Adding the flag
470.Li KERN_PROC_FLAG_LWP
471to the third level name signals that information about all
472light weight processes of the selected processes should be returned.
473.It Li KERN_PROF
474Return profiling information about the kernel.
475If the kernel is not compiled for profiling,
476attempts to retrieve any of the KERN_PROF values will
477fail with
478.Er ENOENT .
479The third level names for the string and integer profiling information
480is detailed below.
481The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
482privilege may change the value.
483.Bl -column "GPROFXGMONPARAMXXX" "struct gmonparamXXX" -offset indent
484.It Sy "Third level name	Type	Changeable"
485.It "GPROF\_STATE	integer	yes"
486.It "GPROF\_COUNT	u_short[\|]	yes"
487.It "GPROF\_FROMS	u_short[\|]	yes"
488.It "GPROF\_TOS	struct tostruct	yes"
489.It "GPROF\_GMONPARAM	struct gmonparam	no"
490.El
491.Pp
492The variables are as follows:
493.Bl -tag -width 6n
494.It Li GPROF_STATE
495Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that profiling
496is running or stopped.
497.It Li GPROF_COUNT
498Array of statistical program counter counts.
499.It Li GPROF_FROMS
500Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.
501.It Li GPROF_TOS
502Array of
503.Va struct tostruct
504describing destination of calls and their counts.
505.It Li GPROF_GMONPARAM
506Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.
507.El
508.It Li KERN_QUANTUM
509The maximum period of time, in microseconds, for which a process is allowed
510to run without being preempted if other processes are in the run queue.
511.It Li KERN_SAVED_IDS
512Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available.
513.It Li KERN_SECURELVL
514The system security level.
515This level may be raised by processes with appropriate privilege.
516It may not be lowered.
517.It Li KERN_VERSION
518The system version string.
519.It Li KERN_VNODE
520Return the entire vnode table.
521Note, the vnode table is not necessarily a consistent snapshot of
522the system.
523The returned data consists of an array whose size depends on the
524current number of such objects in the system.
525Each element of the array contains the kernel address of a vnode
526.Va struct vnode *
527followed by the vnode itself
528.Va struct vnode .
529.El
530.Ss CTL_MACHDEP
531The set of variables defined is architecture dependent.
532The following variables are defined for the i386 architecture.
533.Bl -column "CONSOLE_DEVICEXXX" "struct bootinfoXXX" -offset indent
534.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
535.It Li "CPU_CONSDEV	dev_t	no"
536.It Li "CPU_ADJKERNTZ	int	yes"
537.It Li "CPU_DISRTCSET	int	yes"
538.It Li "CPU_BOOTINFO	struct bootinfo	no"
539.It Li "CPU_WALLCLOCK	int	yes"
540.El
541.Ss CTL_NET
542The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level
543is detailed below.
544The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
545privilege may change the value.
546.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "routing messagesXXX" -offset indent
547.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
548.It "PF\_ROUTE	routing messages	no"
549.It "PF\_INET	IPv4 values	yes"
550.It "PF\_INET6	IPv6 values	yes"
551.El
552.Pp
553.Bl -tag -width 6n
554.It Li PF_ROUTE
555Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.
556The data is returned as a sequence of routing messages (see
557.Xr route 4
558for the header file, format and meaning).
559The length of each message is contained in the message header.
560.Pp
561The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently always 0.
562The fourth level name is an address family, which may be set to 0 to
563select all address families.
564The fifth and sixth level names are as follows:
565.Bl -column "Fifth level nameXXXXXX" "Sixth level is:XXX" -offset indent
566.It Sy "Fifth level name	Sixth level is:"
567.It "NET\_RT\_FLAGS	rtflags"
568.It "NET\_RT\_DUMP	None"
569.It "NET\_RT\_IFLIST	None"
570.El
571.It Li PF_INET
572Get or set various global information about the IPv4
573(Internet Protocol version 4).
574The third level name is the protocol.
575The fourth level name is the variable name.
576The currently defined protocols and names are:
577.Bl -column ProtocolXX VariableXX TypeXX ChangeableXX
578.It Sy "Protocol	Variable	Type	Changeable"
579.It "icmp	bmcastecho	integer	yes"
580.It "icmp	maskrepl	integer	yes"
581.It "ip	forwarding	integer	yes"
582.It "ip	redirect	integer	yes"
583.It "ip	ttl	integer	yes"
584.It "udp	checksum	integer	yes"
585.El
586.Pp
587The variables are as follows:
588.Bl -tag -width 6n
589.It Li icmp.bmcastecho
590Returns 1 if an ICMP echo request to a broadcast or multicast address is
591to be answered.
592.It Li icmp.maskrepl
593Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be answered.
594.It Li ip.forwarding
595Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host,
596meaning that the host is acting as a router.
597.It Li ip.redirect
598Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
599This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP packets,
600and should normally be enabled on all systems.
601.It Li ip.ttl
602The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP packet sourced by
603the system.
604This value applies to normal transport protocols, not to ICMP.
605.It Li udp.checksum
606Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and checked.
607Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discouraged.
608.Pp
609For variables net.inet.*.ipsec, please refer to
610.Xr ipsec 4 .
611.El
612.It Li PF_INET6
613Get or set various global information about the IPv6
614(Internet Protocol version 6).
615The third level name is the protocol.
616The fourth level name is the variable name.
617.Pp
618For variables net.inet6.* please refer to
619.Xr inet6 4 .
620For variables net.inet6.*.ipsec6, please refer to
621.Xr ipsec 4 .
622.El
623.Ss CTL_USER
624The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level
625is detailed below.
626The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
627privilege may change the value.
628.Bl -column "USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAXXXX" "integerXXX" -offset indent
629.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
630.It "USER\_BC\_BASE\_MAX	integer	no"
631.It "USER\_BC\_DIM\_MAX	integer	no"
632.It "USER\_BC\_SCALE\_MAX	integer	no"
633.It "USER\_BC\_STRING\_MAX	integer	no"
634.It "USER\_COLL\_WEIGHTS\_MAX	integer	no"
635.It "USER\_CS\_PATH	string	no"
636.It "USER\_EXPR\_NEST\_MAX	integer	no"
637.It "USER\_LINE\_MAX	integer	no"
638.It "USER\_POSIX2\_CHAR\_TERM	integer	no"
639.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_BIND	integer	no"
640.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_DEV	integer	no"
641.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_DEV	integer	no"
642.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_RUN	integer	no"
643.It "USER\_POSIX2\_LOCALEDEF	integer	no"
644.It "USER\_POSIX2\_SW\_DEV	integer	no"
645.It "USER\_POSIX2\_UPE	integer	no"
646.It "USER\_POSIX2\_VERSION	integer	no"
647.It "USER\_RE\_DUP\_MAX	integer	no"
648.It "USER\_STREAM\_MAX	integer	no"
649.It "USER\_TZNAME\_MAX	integer	no"
650.El
651.Bl -tag -width 6n
652.Pp
653.It Li USER_BC_BASE_MAX
654The maximum ibase/obase values in the
655.Xr bc 1
656utility.
657.It Li USER_BC_DIM_MAX
658The maximum array size in the
659.Xr bc 1
660utility.
661.It Li USER_BC_SCALE_MAX
662The maximum scale value in the
663.Xr bc 1
664utility.
665.It Li USER_BC_STRING_MAX
666The maximum string length in the
667.Xr bc 1
668utility.
669.It Li USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
670The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry of
671the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
672.It Li USER_CS_PATH
673Return a value for the
674.Ev PATH
675environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
676.It Li USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
677The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
678parenthesis by the
679.Xr expr 1
680utility.
681.It Li USER_LINE_MAX
682The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
683line.
684.It Li USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
685Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capable of
686all operations described in
687.St -p1003.2 ,
688otherwise 0.
689.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
690Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities support the
691C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.
692.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
693Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utilities Option,
694otherwise 0.
695.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
696Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities Option,
697otherwise 0.
698.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
699Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Option,
700otherwise 0.
701.It Li USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
702Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, otherwise 0.
703.It Li USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
704Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utilities Option,
705otherwise 0.
706.It Li USER_POSIX2_UPE
707Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities Option,
708otherwise 0.
709.It Li USER_POSIX2_VERSION
710The version of
711.St -p1003.2
712with which the system attempts to comply.
713.It Li USER_RE_DUP_MAX
714The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression
715permitted when using interval notation.
716.It Li USER_STREAM_MAX
717The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have open
718at any one time.
719.It Li USER_TZNAME_MAX
720The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
721timezone.
722.El
723.Ss CTL_VM
724The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level
725is detailed below.
726The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
727privilege may change the value.
728.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "struct loadavgXXX" -offset indent
729.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
730.It "VM\_LOADAVG	struct loadavg	no"
731.It "VM\_METER	struct vmtotal	no"
732.It "VM\_PAGEOUT\_ALGORITHM	integer	yes"
733.It "VM\_SWAPPING\_ENABLED	integer	maybe"
734.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MAX	integer	yes"
735.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MIN	integer	yes"
736.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
737.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_RESERVED	integer	yes"
738.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
739.It "VM\_V\_INACTIVE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
740.It "VM\_V\_PAGEOUT\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
741.El
742.Pp
743.Bl -tag -width 6n
744.It Li VM_LOADAVG
745Return the load average history.
746The returned data consists of a
747.Va struct loadavg .
748.It Li VM_METER
749Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.
750The returned data consists of a
751.Va struct vmtotal .
752.It Li VM_PAGEOUT_ALGORITHM
7530 if the statistics-based page management algorithm is in use
754or 1 if the near-LRU algorithm is in use.
755.It Li VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED
7561 if process swapping is enabled or 0 if disabled.  This variable is
757permanently set to 0 if the kernel was built with swapping disabled.
758.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MAX
759Maximum desired size of the cache queue.
760.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MIN
761Minimum desired size of the cache queue.  If the cache queue size
762falls very far below this value, the pageout daemon is awakened.
763.It Li VM_V_FREE_MIN
764Minimum amount of memory (cache memory plus free memory)
765required to be available before a process waiting on memory will be
766awakened.
767.It Li VM_V_FREE_RESERVED
768Processes will awaken the pageout daemon and wait for memory if the
769number of free and cached pages drops below this value.
770.It Li VM_V_FREE_TARGET
771The total amount of free memory (including cache memory) that the
772pageout daemon tries to maintain.
773.It Li VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET
774The desired number of inactive pages that the pageout daemon should
775achieve when it runs.  Inactive pages can be quickly inserted into
776process address space when needed.
777.It Li VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN
778If the amount of free and cache memory falls below this value, the
779pageout daemon will enter "memory conserving mode" to avoid deadlock.
780.El
781.Sh RETURN VALUES
782.Rv -std
783.Sh FILES
784.Bl -tag -width ".In netinet/icmp_var.h" -compact
785.It In sys/sysctl.h
786definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
787identifiers, and user level identifiers
788.It In sys/socket.h
789definitions for second level network identifiers
790.It In sys/gmon.h
791definitions for third level profiling identifiers
792.It In vm/vm_param.h
793definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
794.It In netinet/in.h
795definitions for third level IPv4/IPv6 identifiers and
796fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
797.It In netinet/icmp_var.h
798definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
799.It In netinet/icmp6.h
800definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
801.It In netinet/udp_var.h
802definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
803.El
804.Sh ERRORS
805The following errors may be reported:
806.Bl -tag -width Er
807.It Bq Er EFAULT
808The buffer
809.Fa name ,
810.Fa oldp ,
811.Fa newp ,
812or length pointer
813.Fa oldlenp
814contains an invalid address.
815.It Bq Er EINVAL
816The
817.Fa name
818array is less than two or greater than CTL_MAXNAME.
819.It Bq Er EINVAL
820A non-null
821.Fa newp
822is given and its specified length in
823.Fa newlen
824is too large or too small.
825.It Bq Er ENOMEM
826The length pointed to by
827.Fa oldlenp
828is too short to hold the requested value.
829.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
830The
831.Fa name
832array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
833.It Bq Er EISDIR
834The
835.Fa name
836array specifies a terminal name, but the actual name is not terminal.
837.It Bq Er ENOENT
838The
839.Fa name
840array specifies a value that is unknown.
841.It Bq Er EPERM
842An attempt is made to set a read-only value.
843.It Bq Er EPERM
844A process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value.
845.El
846.Sh SEE ALSO
847.Xr sysconf 3 ,
848.Xr sysctl 8
849.Sh HISTORY
850The
851.Fn sysctl
852function first appeared in
853.Bx 4.4 .
854