xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3 (revision 6419bb52)
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28.\"	@(#)sysctl.3	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd March 22, 2019
32.Dt SYSCTL 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm sysctl ,
36.Nm sysctlbyname ,
37.Nm sysctlnametomib
38.Nd get or set system information
39.Sh LIBRARY
40.Lb libc
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.In sys/types.h
43.In sys/sysctl.h
44.Ft int
45.Fn sysctl "const int *name" "u_int namelen" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "const void *newp" "size_t newlen"
46.Ft int
47.Fn sysctlbyname "const char *name" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "const void *newp" "size_t newlen"
48.Ft int
49.Fn sysctlnametomib "const char *name" "int *mibp" "size_t *sizep"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Fn sysctl
53function retrieves system information and allows processes with
54appropriate privileges to set system information.
55The information available from
56.Fn sysctl
57consists of integers, strings, and tables.
58Information may be retrieved and set from the command interface
59using the
60.Xr sysctl 8
61utility.
62.Pp
63Unless explicitly noted below,
64.Fn sysctl
65returns a consistent snapshot of the data requested.
66Consistency is obtained by locking the destination
67buffer into memory so that the data may be copied out without blocking.
68Calls to
69.Fn sysctl
70are serialized to avoid deadlock.
71.Pp
72The state is described using a ``Management Information Base'' (MIB)
73style name, listed in
74.Fa name ,
75which is a
76.Fa namelen
77length array of integers.
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn sysctlbyname
81function accepts an ASCII representation of the name and internally
82looks up the integer name vector.
83Apart from that, it behaves the same
84as the standard
85.Fn sysctl
86function.
87.Pp
88The information is copied into the buffer specified by
89.Fa oldp .
90The size of the buffer is given by the location specified by
91.Fa oldlenp
92before the call,
93and that location gives the amount of data copied after a successful call
94and after a call that returns with the error code
95.Er ENOMEM .
96If the amount of data available is greater
97than the size of the buffer supplied,
98the call supplies as much data as fits in the buffer provided
99and returns with the error code
100.Er ENOMEM .
101If the old value is not desired,
102.Fa oldp
103and
104.Fa oldlenp
105should be set to NULL.
106.Pp
107The size of the available data can be determined by calling
108.Fn sysctl
109with the
110.Dv NULL
111argument for
112.Fa oldp .
113The size of the available data will be returned in the location pointed to by
114.Fa oldlenp .
115For some operations, the amount of space may change often.
116For these operations,
117the system attempts to round up so that the returned size is
118large enough for a call to return the data shortly thereafter.
119.Pp
120To set a new value,
121.Fa newp
122is set to point to a buffer of length
123.Fa newlen
124from which the requested value is to be taken.
125If a new value is not to be set,
126.Fa newp
127should be set to NULL and
128.Fa newlen
129set to 0.
130.Pp
131The
132.Fn sysctlnametomib
133function accepts an ASCII representation of the name,
134looks up the integer name vector,
135and returns the numeric representation in the mib array pointed to by
136.Fa mibp .
137The number of elements in the mib array is given by the location specified by
138.Fa sizep
139before the call,
140and that location gives the number of entries copied after a successful call.
141The resulting
142.Fa mib
143and
144.Fa size
145may be used in subsequent
146.Fn sysctl
147calls to get the data associated with the requested ASCII name.
148This interface is intended for use by applications that want to
149repeatedly request the same variable (the
150.Fn sysctl
151function runs in about a third the time as the same request made via the
152.Fn sysctlbyname
153function).
154The
155.Fn sysctlnametomib
156function is also useful for fetching mib prefixes and then adding
157a final component.
158For example, to fetch process information
159for processes with pid's less than 100:
160.Pp
161.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
162int i, mib[4];
163size_t len;
164struct kinfo_proc kp;
165
166/* Fill out the first three components of the mib */
167len = 4;
168sysctlnametomib("kern.proc.pid", mib, &len);
169
170/* Fetch and print entries for pid's < 100 */
171for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
172	mib[3] = i;
173	len = sizeof(kp);
174	if (sysctl(mib, 4, &kp, &len, NULL, 0) == -1)
175		perror("sysctl");
176	else if (len > 0)
177		printkproc(&kp);
178}
179.Ed
180.Pp
181The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in
182.In sys/sysctl.h ,
183and are as follows.
184The next and subsequent levels down are found in the include files
185listed here, and described in separate sections below.
186.Bl -column CTLXMACHDEPXXX "Next Level NamesXXXXXX" -offset indent
187.It Sy Name Ta Sy Next Level Names Ta Sy Description
188.It Dv CTL_DEBUG Ta In sys/sysctl.h Ta Debugging
189.It Dv CTL_VFS Ta In sys/mount.h Ta File system
190.It Dv CTL_HW Ta In sys/sysctl.h Ta Generic CPU, I/O
191.It Dv CTL_KERN Ta In sys/sysctl.h Ta High kernel limits
192.It Dv CTL_MACHDEP Ta In sys/sysctl.h Ta Machine dependent
193.It Dv CTL_NET Ta In sys/socket.h Ta Networking
194.It Dv CTL_USER Ta In sys/sysctl.h Ta User-level
195.It Dv CTL_VM Ta In vm/vm_param.h Ta Virtual memory
196.El
197.Pp
198For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes allowed
199in the system:
200.Pp
201.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
202int mib[2], maxproc;
203size_t len;
204
205mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
206mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
207len = sizeof(maxproc);
208sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);
209.Ed
210.Pp
211To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities:
212.Pp
213.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
214int mib[2];
215size_t len;
216char *p;
217
218mib[0] = CTL_USER;
219mib[1] = USER_CS_PATH;
220sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, &len, NULL, 0);
221p = malloc(len);
222sysctl(mib, 2, p, &len, NULL, 0);
223.Ed
224.Ss CTL_DEBUG
225The debugging variables vary from system to system.
226A debugging variable may be added or deleted without need to recompile
227.Fn sysctl
228to know about it.
229Each time it runs,
230.Fn sysctl
231gets the list of debugging variables from the kernel and
232displays their current values.
233The system defines twenty
234.Pq Vt "struct ctldebug"
235variables named
236.Va debug0
237through
238.Va debug19 .
239They are declared as separate variables so that they can be
240individually initialized at the location of their associated variable.
241The loader prevents multiple use of the same variable by issuing errors
242if a variable is initialized in more than one place.
243For example, to export the variable
244.Va dospecialcheck
245as a debugging variable, the following declaration would be used:
246.Pp
247.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
248int dospecialcheck = 1;
249struct ctldebug debug5 = { "dospecialcheck", &dospecialcheck };
250.Ed
251.Ss CTL_VFS
252A distinguished second level name, VFS_GENERIC,
253is used to get general information about all file systems.
254One of its third level identifiers is VFS_MAXTYPENUM
255that gives the highest valid file system type number.
256Its other third level identifier is VFS_CONF that
257returns configuration information about the file system
258type given as a fourth level identifier (see
259.Xr getvfsbyname 3
260as an example of its use).
261The remaining second level identifiers are the
262file system type number returned by a
263.Xr statfs 2
264call or from VFS_CONF.
265The third level identifiers available for each file system
266are given in the header file that defines the mount
267argument structure for that file system.
268.Ss CTL_HW
269The string and integer information available for the CTL_HW level
270is detailed below.
271The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
272privilege may change the value.
273.Bl -column "Second Level Name" integerXXX Changeable -offset indent
274.It Sy Second Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
275.It Dv HW_MACHINE Ta string Ta no
276.It Dv HW_MODEL Ta string Ta no
277.It Dv HW_NCPU Ta integer Ta no
278.It Dv HW_BYTEORDER Ta integer Ta no
279.It Dv HW_PHYSMEM Ta integer Ta no
280.It Dv HW_USERMEM Ta integer Ta no
281.It Dv HW_PAGESIZE Ta integer Ta no
282.\".It Dv HW_DISKNAMES Ta integer Ta no
283.\".It Dv HW_DISKSTATS Ta integer Ta no
284.It Dv HW_FLOATINGPT Ta integer Ta no
285.It Dv HW_MACHINE_ARCH Ta string Ta no
286.It Dv HW_REALMEM Ta integer Ta no
287.It Dv HW_AVAILPAGES Ta integer Ta no
288.El
289.Bl -tag -width 6n
290.It Li HW_MACHINE
291The machine class.
292.It Li HW_MODEL
293The machine model
294.It Li HW_NCPU
295The number of cpus.
296.It Li HW_BYTEORDER
297The byteorder (4321 or 1234).
298.It Li HW_PHYSMEM
299Amount of physical memory (in bytes), minus the amount used by the kernel,
300pre-loaded modules, and (on x86) the dcons buffer.
301.It Li HW_USERMEM
302Amount of memory (in bytes) which is not wired.
303.It Li HW_PAGESIZE
304The software page size.
305.\".It Fa HW_DISKNAMES
306.\".It Fa HW_DISKSTATS
307.It Li HW_FLOATINGPT
308Nonzero if the floating point support is in hardware.
309.It Li HW_MACHINE_ARCH
310The machine dependent architecture type.
311.It Li HW_REALMEM
312Amount of memory (in bytes) reported by the firmware.
313That value is sometimes not sane; in that case, the kernel reports the max
314memory address instead.
315.It Li HW_AVAILPAGES
316The same value as
317.Li HW_PHYSMEM ,
318measured in pages rather than bytes.
319.El
320.Ss CTL_KERN
321The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level
322is detailed below.
323The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
324privilege may change the value.
325The types of data currently available are process information,
326system vnodes, the open file entries, routing table entries,
327virtual memory statistics, load average history, and clock rate
328information.
329.Bl -column "KERNXMAXFILESPERPROCXXX" "struct clockrateXXX" -offset indent
330.It Sy Second Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
331.It Dv KERN_ARGMAX Ta integer Ta no
332.It Dv KERN_BOOTFILE Ta string Ta yes
333.It Dv KERN_BOOTTIME Ta struct timeval Ta no
334.It Dv KERN_CLOCKRATE Ta struct clockinfo Ta no
335.It Dv KERN_FILE Ta struct xfile Ta no
336.It Dv KERN_HOSTID Ta integer Ta yes
337.It Dv KERN_HOSTUUID Ta string Ta yes
338.It Dv KERN_HOSTNAME Ta string Ta yes
339.It Dv KERN_JOB_CONTROL Ta integer Ta no
340.It Dv KERN_MAXFILES Ta integer Ta yes
341.It Dv KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC Ta integer Ta yes
342.It Dv KERN_MAXPROC Ta integer Ta no
343.It Dv KERN_MAXPROCPERUID Ta integer Ta yes
344.It Dv KERN_MAXVNODES Ta integer Ta yes
345.It Dv KERN_NGROUPS Ta integer Ta no
346.It Dv KERN_NISDOMAINNAME Ta string Ta yes
347.It Dv KERN_OSRELDATE Ta integer Ta no
348.It Dv KERN_OSRELEASE Ta string Ta no
349.It Dv KERN_OSREV Ta integer Ta no
350.It Dv KERN_OSTYPE Ta string Ta no
351.It Dv KERN_POSIX1 Ta integer Ta no
352.It Dv KERN_PROC Ta node Ta not applicable
353.It Dv KERN_PROF Ta node Ta not applicable
354.It Dv KERN_QUANTUM Ta integer Ta yes
355.It Dv KERN_SAVED_IDS Ta integer Ta no
356.It Dv KERN_SECURELVL Ta integer Ta raise only
357.It Dv KERN_UPDATEINTERVAL Ta integer Ta no
358.It Dv KERN_VERSION Ta string Ta no
359.It Dv KERN_VNODE Ta struct xvnode Ta no
360.El
361.Bl -tag -width 6n
362.It Li KERN_ARGMAX
363The maximum bytes of argument to
364.Xr execve 2 .
365.It Li KERN_BOOTFILE
366The full pathname of the file from which the kernel was loaded.
367.It Li KERN_BOOTTIME
368A
369.Va struct timeval
370structure is returned.
371This structure contains the time that the system was booted.
372.It Li KERN_CLOCKRATE
373A
374.Va struct clockinfo
375structure is returned.
376This structure contains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock
377frequencies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick and the skew rate.
378.It Li KERN_FILE
379Return the entire file table.
380The returned data consists of an array of
381.Va struct xfile ,
382whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
383.It Li KERN_HOSTID
384Get or set the host ID.
385.It Li KERN_HOSTUUID
386Get or set the host's universally unique identifier (UUID).
387.It Li KERN_HOSTNAME
388Get or set the hostname.
389.It Li KERN_JOB_CONTROL
390Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.
391.It Li KERN_MAXFILES
392The maximum number of files that may be open in the system.
393.It Li KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC
394The maximum number of files that may be open for a single process.
395This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
396at the time of the open request.
397Files that have already been opened are not affected if the limit
398or the effective uid is changed.
399.It Li KERN_MAXPROC
400The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow.
401.It Li KERN_MAXPROCPERUID
402The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow
403for a single effective uid.
404This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
405at the time of a fork request.
406Processes that have already been started are not affected if the limit
407is changed.
408.It Li KERN_MAXVNODES
409The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.
410.It Li KERN_NGROUPS
411The maximum number of supplemental groups.
412.It Li KERN_NISDOMAINNAME
413The name of the current YP/NIS domain.
414.It Li KERN_OSRELDATE
415The kernel release version in the format
416.Ar M Ns Ar mm Ns Ar R Ns Ar xx ,
417where
418.Ar M
419is the major version,
420.Ar mm
421is the two digit minor version,
422.Ar R
423is 0 if release branch, otherwise 1,
424and
425.Ar xx
426is updated when the available APIs change.
427.Pp
428The userland release version is available from
429.In osreldate.h ;
430parse this file if you need to get the release version of
431the currently installed userland.
432.It Li KERN_OSRELEASE
433The system release string.
434.It Li KERN_OSREV
435The system revision string.
436.It Li KERN_OSTYPE
437The system type string.
438.It Li KERN_POSIX1
439The version of
440.St -p1003.1
441with which the system
442attempts to comply.
443.It Li KERN_PROC
444Return selected information about specific running processes.
445.Pp
446For the following names, an array of
447.Va struct kinfo_proc
448structures is returned,
449whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
450.Bl -column "Third Level NameXXXXXX" "Fourth LevelXXXXXX" -offset indent
451.It Sy Third Level Name Ta Sy Fourth Level
452.It Dv KERN_PROC_ALL Ta None
453.It Dv KERN_PROC_PID Ta A process ID
454.It Dv KERN_PROC_PGRP Ta A process group
455.It Dv KERN_PROC_TTY Ta A tty device
456.It Dv KERN_PROC_UID Ta A user ID
457.It Dv KERN_PROC_RUID Ta A real user ID
458.El
459.Pp
460If the third level name is
461.Dv KERN_PROC_ARGS
462then the command line argument
463array is returned in a flattened form, i.e., zero-terminated arguments
464follow each other.
465The total size of array is returned.
466It is also possible for a process to set its own process title this way.
467If the third level name is
468.Dv KERN_PROC_PATHNAME ,
469the path of the
470process' text file is stored.
471For
472.Dv KERN_PROC_PATHNAME ,
473a process ID of
474.Li \-1
475implies the current process.
476.Bl -column "Third Level NameXXXXXX" "Fourth LevelXXXXXX" -offset indent
477.It Sy Third Level Name Ta Sy Fourth Level
478.It Dv KERN_PROC_ARGS Ta "A process ID"
479.It Dv KERN_PROC_PATHNAME Ta "A process ID"
480.El
481.It Li KERN_PROF
482Return profiling information about the kernel.
483If the kernel is not compiled for profiling,
484attempts to retrieve any of the KERN_PROF values will
485fail with
486.Er ENOENT .
487The third level names for the string and integer profiling information
488is detailed below.
489The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
490privilege may change the value.
491.Bl -column "GPROFXGMONPARAMXXX" "struct gmonparamXXX" -offset indent
492.It Sy Third Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
493.It Dv GPROF_STATE Ta integer Ta yes
494.It Dv GPROF_COUNT Ta u_short[\|] Ta yes
495.It Dv GPROF_FROMS Ta u_short[\|] Ta yes
496.It Dv GPROF_TOS Ta struct tostruct Ta yes
497.It Dv GPROF_GMONPARAM Ta struct gmonparam Ta no
498.El
499.Pp
500The variables are as follows:
501.Bl -tag -width 6n
502.It Li GPROF_STATE
503Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that profiling
504is running or stopped.
505.It Li GPROF_COUNT
506Array of statistical program counter counts.
507.It Li GPROF_FROMS
508Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.
509.It Li GPROF_TOS
510Array of
511.Va struct tostruct
512describing destination of calls and their counts.
513.It Li GPROF_GMONPARAM
514Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.
515.El
516.It Li KERN_QUANTUM
517The maximum period of time, in microseconds, for which a process is allowed
518to run without being preempted if other processes are in the run queue.
519.It Li KERN_SAVED_IDS
520Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available.
521.It Li KERN_SECURELVL
522The system security level.
523This level may be raised by processes with appropriate privilege.
524It may not be lowered.
525.It Li KERN_VERSION
526The system version string.
527.It Li KERN_VNODE
528Return the entire vnode table.
529Note, the vnode table is not necessarily a consistent snapshot of
530the system.
531The returned data consists of an array whose size depends on the
532current number of such objects in the system.
533Each element of the array consists of a
534.Va struct xvnode .
535.El
536.Ss CTL_NET
537The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level
538is detailed below.
539The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
540privilege may change the value.
541.Bl -column "Second Level NameXXXXXX" "routing messagesXXX" -offset indent
542.It Sy Second Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
543.It Dv PF_ROUTE Ta routing messages Ta no
544.It Dv PF_INET Ta IPv4 values Ta yes
545.It Dv PF_INET6 Ta IPv6 values Ta yes
546.El
547.Bl -tag -width 6n
548.It Li PF_ROUTE
549Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.
550The data is returned as a sequence of routing messages (see
551.Xr route 4
552for the header file, format and meaning).
553The length of each message is contained in the message header.
554.Pp
555The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently always 0.
556The fourth level name is an address family, which may be set to 0 to
557select all address families.
558The fifth, sixth, and seventh level names are as follows:
559.Bl -column -offset indent "Fifth Level" "Sixth Level" "Seventh Level"
560.It Sy Fifth level Ta Sy Sixth Level Ta Sy Seventh Level
561.It Dv NET_RT_FLAGS Ta rtflags Ta None
562.It Dv NET_RT_DUMP Ta None Ta None or fib number
563.It Dv NET_RT_IFLIST Ta 0 or if_index Ta None
564.It Dv NET_RT_IFMALIST Ta 0 or if_index Ta None
565.It Dv NET_RT_IFLISTL Ta 0 or if_index Ta None
566.It Dv NET_RT_NHOPS Ta None Ta fib number
567.El
568.Pp
569The
570.Dv NET_RT_IFMALIST
571name returns information about multicast group memberships on all interfaces
572if 0 is specified, or for the interface specified by
573.Va if_index .
574.Pp
575The
576.Dv NET_RT_IFLISTL
577is like
578.Dv NET_RT_IFLIST ,
579just returning message header structs with additional fields allowing the
580interface to be extended without breaking binary compatibility.
581The
582.Dv NET_RT_IFLISTL
583uses 'l' versions of the message header structures:
584.Va struct if_msghdrl
585and
586.Va struct ifa_msghdrl .
587.Pp
588.Dv NET_RT_NHOPS
589returns all nexthops for specified address family in given fib.
590.It Li PF_INET
591Get or set various global information about the IPv4
592(Internet Protocol version 4).
593The third level name is the protocol.
594The fourth level name is the variable name.
595The currently defined protocols and names are:
596.Bl -column ProtocolXX VariableXX TypeXX ChangeableXX
597.It Sy Protocol Ta Sy Variable Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
598.It icmp Ta bmcastecho Ta integer Ta yes
599.It icmp Ta maskrepl Ta integer Ta yes
600.It ip Ta forwarding Ta integer Ta yes
601.It ip Ta redirect Ta integer Ta yes
602.It ip Ta ttl Ta integer Ta yes
603.It udp Ta checksum Ta integer Ta yes
604.El
605.Pp
606The variables are as follows:
607.Bl -tag -width 6n
608.It Li icmp.bmcastecho
609Returns 1 if an ICMP echo request to a broadcast or multicast address is
610to be answered.
611.It Li icmp.maskrepl
612Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be answered.
613.It Li ip.forwarding
614Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host,
615meaning that the host is acting as a router.
616.It Li ip.redirect
617Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
618This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP packets,
619and should normally be enabled on all systems.
620.It Li ip.ttl
621The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP packet sourced by
622the system.
623This value applies to normal transport protocols, not to ICMP.
624.It Li udp.checksum
625Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and checked.
626Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discouraged.
627.Pp
628For variables net.inet.*.ipsec, please refer to
629.Xr ipsec 4 .
630.El
631.It Li PF_INET6
632Get or set various global information about the IPv6
633(Internet Protocol version 6).
634The third level name is the protocol.
635The fourth level name is the variable name.
636.Pp
637For variables net.inet6.* please refer to
638.Xr inet6 4 .
639For variables net.inet6.*.ipsec6, please refer to
640.Xr ipsec 4 .
641.El
642.Ss CTL_USER
643The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level
644is detailed below.
645The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
646privilege may change the value.
647.Bl -column "USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAXXXX" "integerXXX" -offset indent
648.It Sy Second Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
649.It Dv USER_BC_BASE_MAX Ta integer Ta no
650.It Dv USER_BC_DIM_MAX Ta integer Ta no
651.It Dv USER_BC_SCALE_MAX Ta integer Ta no
652.It Dv USER_BC_STRING_MAX Ta integer Ta no
653.It Dv USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX Ta integer Ta no
654.It Dv USER_CS_PATH Ta string Ta no
655.It Dv USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX Ta integer Ta no
656.It Dv USER_LINE_MAX Ta integer Ta no
657.It Dv USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM Ta integer Ta no
658.It Dv USER_POSIX2_C_BIND Ta integer Ta no
659.It Dv USER_POSIX2_C_DEV Ta integer Ta no
660.It Dv USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV Ta integer Ta no
661.It Dv USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN Ta integer Ta no
662.It Dv USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF Ta integer Ta no
663.It Dv USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV Ta integer Ta no
664.It Dv USER_POSIX2_UPE Ta integer Ta no
665.It Dv USER_POSIX2_VERSION Ta integer Ta no
666.It Dv USER_RE_DUP_MAX Ta integer Ta no
667.It Dv USER_STREAM_MAX Ta integer Ta no
668.It Dv USER_TZNAME_MAX Ta integer Ta no
669.El
670.Bl -tag -width 6n
671.It Li USER_BC_BASE_MAX
672The maximum ibase/obase values in the
673.Xr bc 1
674utility.
675.It Li USER_BC_DIM_MAX
676The maximum array size in the
677.Xr bc 1
678utility.
679.It Li USER_BC_SCALE_MAX
680The maximum scale value in the
681.Xr bc 1
682utility.
683.It Li USER_BC_STRING_MAX
684The maximum string length in the
685.Xr bc 1
686utility.
687.It Li USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
688The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry of
689the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
690.It Li USER_CS_PATH
691Return a value for the
692.Ev PATH
693environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
694.It Li USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
695The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
696parenthesis by the
697.Xr expr 1
698utility.
699.It Li USER_LINE_MAX
700The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
701line.
702.It Li USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
703Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capable of
704all operations described in
705.St -p1003.2 ,
706otherwise 0.
707.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
708Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities support the
709C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.
710.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
711Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utilities Option,
712otherwise 0.
713.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
714Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities Option,
715otherwise 0.
716.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
717Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Option,
718otherwise 0.
719.It Li USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
720Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, otherwise 0.
721.It Li USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
722Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utilities Option,
723otherwise 0.
724.It Li USER_POSIX2_UPE
725Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities Option,
726otherwise 0.
727.It Li USER_POSIX2_VERSION
728The version of
729.St -p1003.2
730with which the system attempts to comply.
731.It Li USER_RE_DUP_MAX
732The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression
733permitted when using interval notation.
734.It Li USER_STREAM_MAX
735The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have open
736at any one time.
737.It Li USER_TZNAME_MAX
738The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
739timezone.
740.El
741.Ss CTL_VM
742The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level
743is detailed below.
744The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
745privilege may change the value.
746.Bl -column "Second Level NameXXXXXX" "struct loadavgXXX" -offset indent
747.It Sy Second Level Name Ta Sy Type Ta Sy Changeable
748.It Dv VM_LOADAVG Ta struct loadavg Ta no
749.It Dv VM_TOTAL Ta struct vmtotal Ta no
750.It Dv VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED Ta integer Ta maybe
751.It Dv VM_V_FREE_MIN Ta integer Ta yes
752.It Dv VM_V_FREE_RESERVED Ta integer Ta yes
753.It Dv VM_V_FREE_TARGET Ta integer Ta yes
754.It Dv VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET Ta integer Ta yes
755.It Dv VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN Ta integer Ta yes
756.It Dv VM_OVERCOMMIT Ta integer Ta yes
757.El
758.Bl -tag -width 6n
759.It Li VM_LOADAVG
760Return the load average history.
761The returned data consists of a
762.Va struct loadavg .
763.It Li VM_TOTAL
764Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.
765The returned data consists of a
766.Va struct vmtotal .
767.It Li VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED
7681 if process swapping is enabled or 0 if disabled.
769This variable is
770permanently set to 0 if the kernel was built with swapping disabled.
771.It Li VM_V_FREE_MIN
772Minimum amount of memory (cache memory plus free memory)
773required to be available before a process waiting on memory will be
774awakened.
775.It Li VM_V_FREE_RESERVED
776Processes will awaken the pageout daemon and wait for memory if the
777number of free and cached pages drops below this value.
778.It Li VM_V_FREE_TARGET
779The total amount of free memory (including cache memory) that the
780pageout daemon tries to maintain.
781.It Li VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET
782The desired number of inactive pages that the pageout daemon should
783achieve when it runs.
784Inactive pages can be quickly inserted into
785process address space when needed.
786.It Li VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN
787If the amount of free and cache memory falls below this value, the
788pageout daemon will enter "memory conserving mode" to avoid deadlock.
789.It Li VM_OVERCOMMIT
790Overcommit behaviour, as described in
791.Xr tuning 7 .
792.El
793.Sh RETURN VALUES
794.Rv -std
795.Sh FILES
796.Bl -tag -width <netinet/icmpXvar.h> -compact
797.It In sys/sysctl.h
798definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
799identifiers, and user level identifiers
800.It In sys/socket.h
801definitions for second level network identifiers
802.It In sys/gmon.h
803definitions for third level profiling identifiers
804.It In vm/vm_param.h
805definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
806.It In netinet/in.h
807definitions for third level IPv4/IPv6 identifiers and
808fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
809.It In netinet/icmp_var.h
810definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
811.It In netinet/icmp6.h
812definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
813.It In netinet/udp_var.h
814definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
815.El
816.Sh ERRORS
817The following errors may be reported:
818.Bl -tag -width Er
819.It Bq Er EFAULT
820The buffer
821.Fa name ,
822.Fa oldp ,
823.Fa newp ,
824or length pointer
825.Fa oldlenp
826contains an invalid address.
827.It Bq Er EINVAL
828The
829.Fa name
830array is less than two or greater than CTL_MAXNAME.
831.It Bq Er EINVAL
832A non-null
833.Fa newp
834is given and its specified length in
835.Fa newlen
836is too large or too small.
837.It Bq Er ENOMEM
838The length pointed to by
839.Fa oldlenp
840is too short to hold the requested value.
841.It Bq Er ENOMEM
842The smaller of either the length pointed to by
843.Fa oldlenp
844or the estimated size of the returned data exceeds the
845system limit on locked memory.
846.It Bq Er ENOMEM
847Locking the buffer
848.Fa oldp ,
849or a portion of the buffer if the estimated size of the data
850to be returned is smaller,
851would cause the process to exceed its per-process locked memory limit.
852.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
853The
854.Fa name
855array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
856.It Bq Er EISDIR
857The
858.Fa name
859array specifies a terminal name, but the actual name is not terminal.
860.It Bq Er ENOENT
861The
862.Fa name
863array specifies a value that is unknown.
864.It Bq Er EPERM
865An attempt is made to set a read-only value.
866.It Bq Er EPERM
867A process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value.
868.El
869.Sh SEE ALSO
870.Xr confstr 3 ,
871.Xr kvm 3 ,
872.Xr sysconf 3 ,
873.Xr sysctl 8
874.Sh HISTORY
875The
876.Fn sysctl
877function first appeared in
878.Bx 4.4 .
879