xref: /dragonfly/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3 (revision d5f516c3)
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 1.3 2004/04/22 16:52:55 dillon 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.Aq Pa 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.El
289.Pp
290.Bl -tag -width 6n
291.It Li HW_MACHINE
292The machine class.
293.It Li HW_MODEL
294The machine model
295.It Li HW_NCPU
296The number of cpus.
297.It Li HW_BYTEORDER
298The byteorder (4,321, or 1,234).
299.It Li HW_PHYSMEM
300The bytes of physical memory.
301.It Li HW_USERMEM
302The bytes of non-kernel memory.
303.It Li HW_PAGESIZE
304The software page size.
305.It Li HW_FLOATINGPOINT
306Nonzero if the floating point support is in hardware.
307.It Li HW_MACHINE_ARCH
308The machine dependent architecture type.
309.\".It Fa HW_DISKNAMES
310.\".It Fa HW_DISKSTATS
311.El
312.Ss CTL_KERN
313The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level
314is detailed below.
315The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
316privilege may change the value.
317The types of data currently available are process information,
318system vnodes, the open file entries, routing table entries,
319virtual memory statistics, load average history, and clock rate
320information.
321.Bl -column "KERNXMAXPOSIXLOCKSPERUIDXXX" "struct clockrateXXX" -offset indent
322.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
323.It "KERN\_ARGMAX	integer	no"
324.It "KERN\_BOOTFILE	string	yes"
325.It "KERN\_BOOTTIME	struct timeval	no"
326.It "KERN\_CLOCKRATE	struct clockinfo	no"
327.It "KERN\_FILE	struct file	no"
328.It "KERN\_HOSTID	integer	yes"
329.It "KERN\_HOSTNAME	string	yes"
330.It "KERN\_JOB\_CONTROL	integer	no"
331.It "KERN\_MAXFILES	integer	yes"
332.It "KERN\_MAXFILESPERPROC	integer	yes"
333.It "KERN\_MAXPOSIXLOCKSPERUID	integer	yes"
334.It "KERN\_MAXPROC	integer	no"
335.It "KERN\_MAXPROCPERUID	integer	yes"
336.It "KERN\_MAXVNODES	integer	yes"
337.It "KERN\_NGROUPS	integer	no"
338.It "KERN\_NISDOMAINNAME	string	yes"
339.It "KERN\_OSRELDATE	integer	no"
340.It "KERN\_OSRELEASE	string	no"
341.It "KERN\_OSREV	integer	no"
342.It "KERN\_OSTYPE	string	no"
343.It "KERN\_POSIX1	integer	no"
344.It "KERN\_PROC	struct proc	no"
345.It "KERN\_PROF	node	not applicable"
346.It "KERN\_QUANTUM	integer	yes"
347.It "KERN\_SAVED\_IDS	integer	no"
348.It "KERN\_SECURELVL	integer	raise only"
349.It "KERN\_UPDATEINTERVAL	integer	no"
350.It "KERN\_VERSION	string	no"
351.It "KERN\_VNODE	struct vnode	no"
352.El
353.Pp
354.Bl -tag -width 6n
355.It Li KERN_ARGMAX
356The maximum bytes of argument to
357.Xr execve 2 .
358.It Li KERN_BOOTFILE
359The full pathname of the file from which the kernel was loaded.
360.It Li KERN_BOOTTIME
361A
362.Va struct timeval
363structure is returned.
364This structure contains the time that the system was booted.
365.It Li KERN_CLOCKRATE
366A
367.Va struct clockinfo
368structure is returned.
369This structure contains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock
370frequencies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick and the skew rate.
371.It Li KERN_FILE
372Return the entire file table.
373The returned data consists of a single
374.Va struct filehead
375followed by an array of
376.Va struct file ,
377whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
378.It Li KERN_HOSTID
379Get or set the host id.
380.It Li KERN_HOSTNAME
381Get or set the hostname.
382.It Li KERN_JOB_CONTROL
383Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.
384.It Li KERN_MAXFILES
385The maximum number of files that may be open in the system.
386.It Li KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC
387The maximum number of files that may be open for a single process.
388This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
389at the time of the open request.
390Files that have already been opened are not affected if the limit
391or the effective uid is changed.
392.It Li KERN_MAXPROC
393The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow.
394.It Li KERN_MAXPROCPERUID
395The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow
396for a single effective uid.
397This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
398at the time of a fork request.
399Processes that have already been started are not affected if the limit
400is changed.
401.It Li KERN_MAXVNODES
402The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.
403.It Li KERN_NGROUPS
404The maximum number of supplemental groups.
405.It Li KERN_NISDOMAINNAME
406The name of the current YP/NIS domain.
407.It Li KERN_OSRELDATE
408The system release date in YYYYMM format
409(January 1996 is encoded as 199601).
410.It Li KERN_OSRELEASE
411The system release string.
412.It Li KERN_OSREV
413The system revision string.
414.It Li KERN_OSTYPE
415The system type string.
416.It Li KERN_POSIX1
417The version of
418.St -p1003.1
419with which the system
420attempts to comply.
421.It Li KERN_PROC
422Return the entire process table, or a subset of it.
423An array of
424.Va struct kinfo_proc
425structures is returned,
426whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
427The third and fourth level names are as follows:
428.Bl -column "Third level nameXXXXXX" "Fourth level is:XXXXXX" -offset indent
429.It "Third level name	Fourth level is:"
430.It "KERN\_PROC\_ALL	None"
431.It "KERN\_PROC\_PID	A process ID"
432.It "KERN\_PROC\_PGRP	A process group"
433.It "KERN\_PROC\_TTY	A tty device"
434.It "KERN\_PROC\_UID	A user ID"
435.It "KERN\_PROC\_RUID	A real user ID"
436.El
437.It Li KERN_PROF
438Return profiling information about the kernel.
439If the kernel is not compiled for profiling,
440attempts to retrieve any of the KERN_PROF values will
441fail with
442.Er ENOENT .
443The third level names for the string and integer profiling information
444is detailed below.
445The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
446privilege may change the value.
447.Bl -column "GPROFXGMONPARAMXXX" "struct gmonparamXXX" -offset indent
448.It Sy "Third level name	Type	Changeable"
449.It "GPROF\_STATE	integer	yes"
450.It "GPROF\_COUNT	u_short[\|]	yes"
451.It "GPROF\_FROMS	u_short[\|]	yes"
452.It "GPROF\_TOS	struct tostruct	yes"
453.It "GPROF\_GMONPARAM	struct gmonparam	no"
454.El
455.Pp
456The variables are as follows:
457.Bl -tag -width 6n
458.It Li GPROF_STATE
459Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that profiling
460is running or stopped.
461.It Li GPROF_COUNT
462Array of statistical program counter counts.
463.It Li GPROF_FROMS
464Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.
465.It Li GPROF_TOS
466Array of
467.Va struct tostruct
468describing destination of calls and their counts.
469.It Li GPROF_GMONPARAM
470Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.
471.El
472.It Li KERN_QUANTUM
473The maximum period of time, in microseconds, for which a process is allowed
474to run without being preempted if other processes are in the run queue.
475.It Li KERN_SAVED_IDS
476Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available.
477.It Li KERN_SECURELVL
478The system security level.
479This level may be raised by processes with appropriate privilege.
480It may not be lowered.
481.It Li KERN_VERSION
482The system version string.
483.It Li KERN_VNODE
484Return the entire vnode table.
485Note, the vnode table is not necessarily a consistent snapshot of
486the system.
487The returned data consists of an array whose size depends on the
488current number of such objects in the system.
489Each element of the array contains the kernel address of a vnode
490.Va struct vnode *
491followed by the vnode itself
492.Va struct vnode .
493.El
494.Ss CTL_MACHDEP
495The set of variables defined is architecture dependent.
496The following variables are defined for the i386 architecture.
497.Bl -column "CONSOLE_DEVICEXXX" "struct bootinfoXXX" -offset indent
498.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
499.It Li "CPU_CONSDEV	dev_t	no"
500.It Li "CPU_ADJKERNTZ	int	yes"
501.It Li "CPU_DISRTCSET	int	yes"
502.It Li "CPU_BOOTINFO	struct bootinfo	no"
503.It Li "CPU_WALLCLOCK	int	yes"
504.El
505.Ss CTL_NET
506The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level
507is detailed below.
508The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
509privilege may change the value.
510.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "routing messagesXXX" -offset indent
511.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
512.It "PF\_ROUTE	routing messages	no"
513.It "PF\_INET	IPv4 values	yes"
514.It "PF\_INET6	IPv6 values	yes"
515.El
516.Pp
517.Bl -tag -width 6n
518.It Li PF_ROUTE
519Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.
520The data is returned as a sequence of routing messages (see
521.Xr route 4
522for the header file, format and meaning).
523The length of each message is contained in the message header.
524.Pp
525The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently always 0.
526The fourth level name is an address family, which may be set to 0 to
527select all address families.
528The fifth and sixth level names are as follows:
529.Bl -column "Fifth level nameXXXXXX" "Sixth level is:XXX" -offset indent
530.It Sy "Fifth level name	Sixth level is:"
531.It "NET\_RT\_FLAGS	rtflags"
532.It "NET\_RT\_DUMP	None"
533.It "NET\_RT\_IFLIST	None"
534.El
535.It Li PF_INET
536Get or set various global information about the IPv4
537(Internet Protocol version 4).
538The third level name is the protocol.
539The fourth level name is the variable name.
540The currently defined protocols and names are:
541.Bl -column ProtocolXX VariableXX TypeXX ChangeableXX
542.It Sy "Protocol	Variable	Type	Changeable"
543.It "icmp	bmcastecho	integer	yes"
544.It "icmp	maskrepl	integer	yes"
545.It "ip	forwarding	integer	yes"
546.It "ip	redirect	integer	yes"
547.It "ip	ttl	integer	yes"
548.It "udp	checksum	integer	yes"
549.El
550.Pp
551The variables are as follows:
552.Bl -tag -width 6n
553.It Li icmp.bmcastecho
554Returns 1 if an ICMP echo request to a broadcast or multicast address is
555to be answered.
556.It Li icmp.maskrepl
557Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be answered.
558.It Li ip.forwarding
559Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host,
560meaning that the host is acting as a router.
561.It Li ip.redirect
562Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
563This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP packets,
564and should normally be enabled on all systems.
565.It Li ip.ttl
566The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP packet sourced by
567the system.
568This value applies to normal transport protocols, not to ICMP.
569.It Li udp.checksum
570Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and checked.
571Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discouraged.
572.Pp
573For variables net.inet.*.ipsec, please refer to
574.Xr ipsec 4 .
575.El
576.It Li PF_INET6
577Get or set various global information about the IPv6
578(Internet Protocol version 6).
579The third level name is the protocol.
580The fourth level name is the variable name.
581.Pp
582For variables net.inet6.* please refer to
583.Xr inet6 4 .
584For variables net.inet6.*.ipsec6, please refer to
585.Xr ipsec 4 .
586.El
587.Ss CTL_USER
588The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level
589is detailed below.
590The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
591privilege may change the value.
592.Bl -column "USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAXXXX" "integerXXX" -offset indent
593.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
594.It "USER\_BC\_BASE\_MAX	integer	no"
595.It "USER\_BC\_DIM\_MAX	integer	no"
596.It "USER\_BC\_SCALE\_MAX	integer	no"
597.It "USER\_BC\_STRING\_MAX	integer	no"
598.It "USER\_COLL\_WEIGHTS\_MAX	integer	no"
599.It "USER\_CS\_PATH	string	no"
600.It "USER\_EXPR\_NEST\_MAX	integer	no"
601.It "USER\_LINE\_MAX	integer	no"
602.It "USER\_POSIX2\_CHAR\_TERM	integer	no"
603.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_BIND	integer	no"
604.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_DEV	integer	no"
605.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_DEV	integer	no"
606.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_RUN	integer	no"
607.It "USER\_POSIX2\_LOCALEDEF	integer	no"
608.It "USER\_POSIX2\_SW\_DEV	integer	no"
609.It "USER\_POSIX2\_UPE	integer	no"
610.It "USER\_POSIX2\_VERSION	integer	no"
611.It "USER\_RE\_DUP\_MAX	integer	no"
612.It "USER\_STREAM\_MAX	integer	no"
613.It "USER\_TZNAME\_MAX	integer	no"
614.El
615.Bl -tag -width 6n
616.Pp
617.It Li USER_BC_BASE_MAX
618The maximum ibase/obase values in the
619.Xr bc 1
620utility.
621.It Li USER_BC_DIM_MAX
622The maximum array size in the
623.Xr bc 1
624utility.
625.It Li USER_BC_SCALE_MAX
626The maximum scale value in the
627.Xr bc 1
628utility.
629.It Li USER_BC_STRING_MAX
630The maximum string length in the
631.Xr bc 1
632utility.
633.It Li USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
634The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry of
635the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
636.It Li USER_CS_PATH
637Return a value for the
638.Ev PATH
639environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
640.It Li USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
641The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
642parenthesis by the
643.Xr expr 1
644utility.
645.It Li USER_LINE_MAX
646The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
647line.
648.It Li USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
649Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capable of
650all operations described in
651.St -p1003.2 ,
652otherwise 0.
653.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
654Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities support the
655C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.
656.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
657Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utilities Option,
658otherwise 0.
659.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
660Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities Option,
661otherwise 0.
662.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
663Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Option,
664otherwise 0.
665.It Li USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
666Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, otherwise 0.
667.It Li USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
668Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utilities Option,
669otherwise 0.
670.It Li USER_POSIX2_UPE
671Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities Option,
672otherwise 0.
673.It Li USER_POSIX2_VERSION
674The version of
675.St -p1003.2
676with which the system attempts to comply.
677.It Li USER_RE_DUP_MAX
678The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression
679permitted when using interval notation.
680.It Li USER_STREAM_MAX
681The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have open
682at any one time.
683.It Li USER_TZNAME_MAX
684The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
685timezone.
686.El
687.Ss CTL_VM
688The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level
689is detailed below.
690The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
691privilege may change the value.
692.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "struct loadavgXXX" -offset indent
693.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
694.It "VM\_LOADAVG	struct loadavg	no"
695.It "VM\_METER	struct vmtotal	no"
696.It "VM\_PAGEOUT\_ALGORITHM	integer	yes"
697.It "VM\_SWAPPING\_ENABLED	integer	maybe"
698.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MAX	integer	yes"
699.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MIN	integer	yes"
700.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
701.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_RESERVED	integer	yes"
702.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
703.It "VM\_V\_INACTIVE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
704.It "VM\_V\_PAGEOUT\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
705.El
706.Pp
707.Bl -tag -width 6n
708.It Li VM_LOADAVG
709Return the load average history.
710The returned data consists of a
711.Va struct loadavg .
712.It Li VM_METER
713Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.
714The returned data consists of a
715.Va struct vmtotal .
716.It Li VM_PAGEOUT_ALGORITHM
7170 if the statistics-based page management algorithm is in use
718or 1 if the near-LRU algorithm is in use.
719.It Li VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED
7201 if process swapping is enabled or 0 if disabled.  This variable is
721permanently set to 0 if the kernel was built with swapping disabled.
722.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MAX
723Maximum desired size of the cache queue.
724.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MIN
725Minimum desired size of the cache queue.  If the cache queue size
726falls very far below this value, the pageout daemon is awakened.
727.It Li VM_V_FREE_MIN
728Minimum amount of memory (cache memory plus free memory)
729required to be available before a process waiting on memory will be
730awakened.
731.It Li VM_V_FREE_RESERVED
732Processes will awaken the pageout daemon and wait for memory if the
733number of free and cached pages drops below this value.
734.It Li VM_V_FREE_TARGET
735The total amount of free memory (including cache memory) that the
736pageout daemon tries to maintain.
737.It Li VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET
738The desired number of inactive pages that the pageout daemon should
739achieve when it runs.  Inactive pages can be quickly inserted into
740process address space when needed.
741.It Li VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN
742If the amount of free and cache memory falls below this value, the
743pageout daemon will enter "memory conserving mode" to avoid deadlock.
744.El
745.Sh RETURN VALUES
746.Rv -std
747.Sh ERRORS
748The following errors may be reported:
749.Bl -tag -width Er
750.It Bq Er EFAULT
751The buffer
752.Fa name ,
753.Fa oldp ,
754.Fa newp ,
755or length pointer
756.Fa oldlenp
757contains an invalid address.
758.It Bq Er EINVAL
759The
760.Fa name
761array is less than two or greater than CTL_MAXNAME.
762.It Bq Er EINVAL
763A non-null
764.Fa newp
765is given and its specified length in
766.Fa newlen
767is too large or too small.
768.It Bq Er ENOMEM
769The length pointed to by
770.Fa oldlenp
771is too short to hold the requested value.
772.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
773The
774.Fa name
775array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
776.It Bq Er EISDIR
777The
778.Fa name
779array specifies a terminal name, but the actual name is not terminal.
780.It Bq Er ENOENT
781The
782.Fa name
783array specifies a value that is unknown.
784.It Bq Er EPERM
785An attempt is made to set a read-only value.
786.It Bq Er EPERM
787A process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value.
788.El
789.Sh FILES
790.Bl -tag -width <netinet/icmpXvar.h> -compact
791.It Aq Pa sys/sysctl.h
792definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
793identifiers, and user level identifiers
794.It Aq Pa sys/socket.h
795definitions for second level network identifiers
796.It Aq Pa sys/gmon.h
797definitions for third level profiling identifiers
798.It Aq Pa vm/vm_param.h
799definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
800.It Aq Pa netinet/in.h
801definitions for third level IPv4/IPv6 identifiers and
802fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
803.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp_var.h
804definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
805.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp6.h
806definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
807.It Aq Pa netinet/udp_var.h
808definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
809.El
810.Sh SEE ALSO
811.Xr sysconf 3 ,
812.Xr sysctl 8
813.Sh HISTORY
814The
815.Fn sysctl
816function first appeared in
817.Bx 4.4 .
818