xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/sysctl.3 (revision 2eb8169a1ad3bd8c7960767a5bc471c8d8bc677e)
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32.\"	@(#)sysctl.3	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd January 23, 2001
36.Dt SYSCTL 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm sysctl ,
40.Nm sysctlbyname ,
41.Nm sysctlnametomib
42.Nd get or set system information
43.Sh LIBRARY
44.Lb libc
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
47.Fd #include <sys/sysctl.h>
48.Ft int
49.Fn sysctl "int *name" "u_int namelen" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "void *newp" "size_t newlen"
50.Ft int
51.Fn sysctlbyname "const char *name" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" "void *newp" "size_t newlen"
52.Ft int
53.Fn sysctlnametomib "const char *name" "int *mibp" "size_t *sizep"
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The
56.Fn sysctl
57function retrieves system information and allows processes with
58appropriate privileges to set system information.
59The information available from
60.Fn sysctl
61consists of integers, strings, and tables.
62Information may be retrieved and set from the command interface
63using the
64.Xr sysctl 8
65utility.
66.Pp
67Unless explicitly noted below,
68.Fn sysctl
69returns a consistent snapshot of the data requested.
70Consistency is obtained by locking the destination
71buffer into memory so that the data may be copied out without blocking.
72Calls to
73.Fn sysctl
74are serialized to avoid deadlock.
75.Pp
76The state is described using a ``Management Information Base'' (MIB)
77style name, listed in
78.Fa name ,
79which is a
80.Fa namelen
81length array of integers.
82.Pp
83The
84.Fn sysctlbyname
85function accepts an ASCII representation of the name and internally
86looks up the integer name vector.  Apart from that, it behaves the same
87as the standard
88.Fn sysctl
89function.
90.Pp
91The information is copied into the buffer specified by
92.Fa oldp .
93The size of the buffer is given by the location specified by
94.Fa oldlenp
95before the call,
96and that location gives the amount of data copied after a successful call
97and after a call that returns with the error code
98.Er ENOMEM .
99If the amount of data available is greater
100than the size of the buffer supplied,
101the call supplies as much data as fits in the buffer provided
102and returns with the error code
103.Er ENOMEM .
104If the old value is not desired,
105.Fa oldp
106and
107.Fa oldlenp
108should be set to NULL.
109.Pp
110The size of the available data can be determined by calling
111.Fn sysctl
112with a NULL parameter for
113.Fa oldp .
114The size of the available data will be returned in the location pointed to by
115.Fa oldlenp .
116For some operations, the amount of space may change often.
117For these operations,
118the system attempts to round up so that the returned size is
119large enough for a call to return the data shortly thereafter.
120.Pp
121To set a new value,
122.Fa newp
123is set to point to a buffer of length
124.Fa newlen
125from which the requested value is to be taken.
126If a new value is not to be set,
127.Fa newp
128should be set to NULL and
129.Fa newlen
130set to 0.
131.Pp
132The
133.Fn sysctlnametomib
134function accepts an ASCII representation of the name,
135looks up the integer name vector,
136and returns the numeric representation in the mib array pointed to by
137.Fa mibp .
138The number of elements in the mib array is given by the location specified by
139.Fa sizep
140before the call,
141and that location gives the number of entries copied after a successful call.
142The resulting
143.Fa mib
144and
145.Fa size
146may be used in subsequent
147.Fn sysctl
148calls to get the data associated with the requested ASCII name.
149This interface is intended for use by applications that want to
150repeatedly request the same variable (the
151.Fn sysctl
152function runs in about a third the time as the same request made via the
153.Fn sysctlbyname
154function).
155The
156.Fn sysctlbyname
157function is also useful for fetching mib prefixes and then adding
158a final component.
159For example, to fetch process information
160for processes with pid's less than 100:
161.Pp
162.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
163int i, mib[4];
164size_t len;
165struct kinfo_proc kp;
166
167/* Fill out the first three components of the mib */
168len = 4;
169sysctlnametomib("kern.proc.pid", mib, &len);
170
171/* Fetch and print entries for pid's < 100 */
172for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
173	mib[3] = i;
174	len = sizeof(kp);
175	if (sysctl(mib, 4, &kp, &len, NULL, 0) == -1)
176		perror("sysctl");
177	else if (len > 0)
178		printkproc(&kp);
179}
180.Ed
181.Pp
182The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in
183.Aq Pa sys/sysctl.h ,
184and are as follows.
185The next and subsequent levels down are found in the include files
186listed here, and described in separate sections below.
187.Pp
188.Bl -column CTLXMACHDEPXXX "Next level namesXXXXXX" -offset indent
189.It Sy "Name	Next level names	Description"
190.It "CTL\_DEBUG	sys/sysctl.h	Debugging"
191.It "CTL\_VFS	sys/mount.h	Filesystem"
192.It "CTL\_HW	sys/sysctl.h	Generic CPU, I/O"
193.It "CTL\_KERN	sys/sysctl.h	High kernel limits"
194.It "CTL\_MACHDEP	sys/sysctl.h	Machine dependent"
195.It "CTL\_NET	sys/socket.h	Networking"
196.It "CTL\_USER	sys/sysctl.h	User-level"
197.It "CTL\_VM	vm/vm_param.h	Virtual memory"
198.El
199.Pp
200For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes allowed
201in the system:
202.Pp
203.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
204int mib[2], maxproc;
205size_t len;
206
207mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
208mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
209len = sizeof(maxproc);
210sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);
211.Ed
212.Pp
213To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities:
214.Pp
215.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
216int mib[2];
217size_t len;
218char *p;
219
220mib[0] = CTL_USER;
221mib[1] = USER_CS_PATH;
222sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, &len, NULL, 0);
223p = malloc(len);
224sysctl(mib, 2, p, &len, NULL, 0);
225.Ed
226.Ss CTL_DEBUG
227The debugging variables vary from system to system.
228A debugging variable may be added or deleted without need to recompile
229.Fn sysctl
230to know about it.
231Each time it runs,
232.Fn sysctl
233gets the list of debugging variables from the kernel and
234displays their current values.
235The system defines twenty
236.Ns ( Va struct ctldebug )
237variables named
238.Nm debug0
239through
240.Nm debug19 .
241They are declared as separate variables so that they can be
242individually initialized at the location of their associated variable.
243The loader prevents multiple use of the same variable by issuing errors
244if a variable is initialized in more than one place.
245For example, to export the variable
246.Nm dospecialcheck
247as a debugging variable, the following declaration would be used:
248.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
249int dospecialcheck = 1;
250struct ctldebug debug5 = { "dospecialcheck", &dospecialcheck };
251.Ed
252.Ss CTL_VFS
253A distinguished second level name, VFS_GENERIC,
254is used to get general information about all filesystems.
255One of its third level identifiers is VFS_MAXTYPENUM
256that gives the highest valid filesystem type number.
257Its other third level identifier is VFS_CONF that
258returns configuration information about the filesystem
259type given as a fourth level identifier (see
260.Xr getvfsbyname 3
261as an example of its use).
262The remaining second level identifiers are the
263filesystem type number returned by a
264.Xr statfs 2
265call or from VFS_CONF.
266The third level identifiers available for each filesystem
267are given in the header file that defines the mount
268argument structure for that filesystem.
269.Ss CTL_HW
270The string and integer information available for the CTL_HW level
271is detailed below.
272The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
273privilege may change the value.
274.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" integerXXX -offset indent
275.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
276.It "HW\_MACHINE	string	no"
277.It "HW\_MODEL	string	no"
278.It "HW\_NCPU	integer	no"
279.It "HW\_BYTEORDER	integer	no"
280.It "HW\_PHYSMEM	integer	no"
281.It "HW\_USERMEM	integer	no"
282.It "HW\_PAGESIZE	integer	no"
283.It "HW\_FLOATINGPOINT	integer	no"
284.It "HW\_MACHINE\_ARCH	string	no"
285.\".It "HW\_DISKNAMES	integer	no"
286.\".It "HW\_DISKSTATS	integer	no"
287.El
288.Pp
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 (4,321, or 1,234).
298.It Li HW_PHYSMEM
299The bytes of physical memory.
300.It Li HW_USERMEM
301The bytes of non-kernel memory.
302.It Li HW_PAGESIZE
303The software page size.
304.It Li HW_FLOATINGPOINT
305Nonzero if the floating point support is in hardware.
306.It Li HW_MACHINE_ARCH
307The machine dependent architecture type.
308.\".It Fa HW_DISKNAMES
309.\".It Fa HW_DISKSTATS
310.El
311.Ss CTL_KERN
312The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level
313is detailed below.
314The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
315privilege may change the value.
316The types of data currently available are process information,
317system vnodes, the open file entries, routing table entries,
318virtual memory statistics, load average history, and clock rate
319information.
320.Bl -column "KERNXMAXFILESPERPROCXXX" "struct clockrateXXX" -offset indent
321.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
322.It "KERN\_ARGMAX	integer	no"
323.It "KERN\_BOOTFILE	string	yes"
324.It "KERN\_BOOTTIME	struct timeval	no"
325.It "KERN\_CLOCKRATE	struct clockinfo	no"
326.It "KERN\_FILE	struct file	no"
327.It "KERN\_HOSTID	integer	yes"
328.It "KERN\_HOSTNAME	string	yes"
329.It "KERN\_JOB\_CONTROL	integer	no"
330.It "KERN\_MAXFILES	integer	yes"
331.It "KERN\_MAXFILESPERPROC	integer	yes"
332.It "KERN\_MAXPROC	integer	no"
333.It "KERN\_MAXPROCPERUID	integer	yes"
334.It "KERN\_MAXVNODES	integer	yes"
335.It "KERN\_NGROUPS	integer	no"
336.It "KERN\_NISDOMAINNAME	string	yes"
337.It "KERN\_OSRELDATE	integer	no"
338.It "KERN\_OSRELEASE	string	no"
339.It "KERN\_OSREV	integer	no"
340.It "KERN\_OSTYPE	string	no"
341.It "KERN\_POSIX1	integer	no"
342.It "KERN\_PROC	struct proc	no"
343.It "KERN\_PROF	node	not applicable"
344.It "KERN\_QUANTUM	integer	yes"
345.It "KERN\_SAVED\_IDS	integer	no"
346.It "KERN\_SECURELVL	integer	raise only"
347.It "KERN\_UPDATEINTERVAL	integer	no"
348.It "KERN\_VERSION	string	no"
349.It "KERN\_VNODE	struct vnode	no"
350.El
351.Pp
352.Bl -tag -width 6n
353.It Li KERN_ARGMAX
354The maximum bytes of argument to
355.Xr execve 2 .
356.It Li KERN_BOOTFILE
357The full pathname of the file from which the kernel was loaded.
358.It Li KERN_BOOTTIME
359A
360.Va struct timeval
361structure is returned.
362This structure contains the time that the system was booted.
363.It Li KERN_CLOCKRATE
364A
365.Va struct clockinfo
366structure is returned.
367This structure contains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock
368frequencies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick and the skew rate.
369.It Li KERN_FILE
370Return the entire file table.
371The returned data consists of a single
372.Va struct filehead
373followed by an array of
374.Va struct file ,
375whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
376.It Li KERN_HOSTID
377Get or set the host id.
378.It Li KERN_HOSTNAME
379Get or set the hostname.
380.It Li KERN_JOB_CONTROL
381Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.
382.It Li KERN_MAXFILES
383The maximum number of files that may be open in the system.
384.It Li KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC
385The maximum number of files that may be open for a single process.
386This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
387at the time of the open request.
388Files that have already been opened are not affected if the limit
389or the effective uid is changed.
390.It Li KERN_MAXPROC
391The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow.
392.It Li KERN_MAXPROCPERUID
393The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow
394for a single effective uid.
395This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
396at the time of a fork request.
397Processes that have already been started are not affected if the limit
398is changed.
399.It Li KERN_MAXVNODES
400The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.
401.It Li KERN_NGROUPS
402The maximum number of supplemental groups.
403.It Li KERN_NISDOMAINNAME
404The name of the current YP/NIS domain.
405.It Li KERN_OSRELDATE
406The system release date in YYYYMM format
407(January 1996 is encoded as 199601).
408.It Li KERN_OSRELEASE
409The system release string.
410.It Li KERN_OSREV
411The system revision string.
412.It Li KERN_OSTYPE
413The system type string.
414.It Li KERN_POSIX1
415The version of ISO/IEC 9945 (POSIX 1003.1) with which the system
416attempts to comply.
417.It Li KERN_PROC
418Return the entire process table, or a subset of it.
419An array of pairs of
420.Va struct proc
421followed by corresponding
422.Va struct eproc
423structures is returned,
424whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
425The third and fourth level names are as follows:
426.Bl -column "Third level nameXXXXXX" "Fourth level is:XXXXXX" -offset indent
427.It "Third level name	Fourth level is:"
428.It "KERN\_PROC\_ALL	None"
429.It "KERN\_PROC\_PID	A process ID"
430.It "KERN\_PROC\_PGRP	A process group"
431.It "KERN\_PROC\_TTY	A tty device"
432.It "KERN\_PROC\_UID	A user ID"
433.It "KERN\_PROC\_RUID	A real user ID"
434.El
435.Pp
436If the third level name is KERN_PROC_ARGS then the command line argument
437array is returned in a flattened form, i.e. zero-terminated arguments
438follow each other.
439The total size of array is returned.
440It is also possible for a process to set its own process title this way.
441.Bl -column "Third level nameXXXXXX" "Fourth level is:XXXXXX" -offset indent
442.It Sy "Third level name	Fourth level is:"
443.It "KERN\_PROC\_ARGS	A process ID"
444.El
445.It Li KERN_PROF
446Return profiling information about the kernel.
447If the kernel is not compiled for profiling,
448attempts to retrieve any of the KERN_PROF values will
449fail with
450.Er EOPNOTSUPP .
451The third level names for the string and integer profiling information
452is detailed below.
453The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
454privilege may change the value.
455.Bl -column "GPROFXGMONPARAMXXX" "struct gmonparamXXX" -offset indent
456.It Sy "Third level name	Type	Changeable"
457.It "GPROF\_STATE	integer	yes"
458.It "GPROF\_COUNT	u_short[\|]	yes"
459.It "GPROF\_FROMS	u_short[\|]	yes"
460.It "GPROF\_TOS	struct tostruct	yes"
461.It "GPROF\_GMONPARAM	struct gmonparam	no"
462.El
463.Pp
464The variables are as follows:
465.Bl -tag -width 6n
466.It Li GPROF_STATE
467Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that profiling
468is running or stopped.
469.It Li GPROF_COUNT
470Array of statistical program counter counts.
471.It Li GPROF_FROMS
472Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.
473.It Li GPROF_TOS
474Array of
475.Va struct tostruct
476describing destination of calls and their counts.
477.It Li GPROF_GMONPARAM
478Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.
479.El
480.It Li KERN_QUANTUM
481The maximum period of time, in microseconds, for which a process is allowed
482to run without being preempted if other processes are in the run queue.
483.It Li KERN_SAVED_IDS
484Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available.
485.It Li KERN_SECURELVL
486The system security level.
487This level may be raised by processes with appropriate privilege.
488It may not be lowered.
489.It Li KERN_VERSION
490The system version string.
491.It Li KERN_VNODE
492Return the entire vnode table.
493Note, the vnode table is not necessarily a consistent snapshot of
494the system.
495The returned data consists of an array whose size depends on the
496current number of such objects in the system.
497Each element of the array contains the kernel address of a vnode
498.Va struct vnode *
499followed by the vnode itself
500.Va struct vnode .
501.El
502.Ss CTL_MACHDEP
503The set of variables defined is architecture dependent.
504The following variables are defined for the i386 architecture.
505.Bl -column "CONSOLE_DEVICEXXX" "struct bootinfoXXX" -offset indent
506.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
507.It Li "CPU_CONSDEV	dev_t	no"
508.It Li "CPU_ADJKERNTZ	int	yes"
509.It Li "CPU_DISRTCSET	int	yes"
510.It Li "CPU_BOOTINFO	struct bootinfo	no"
511.It Li "CPU_WALLCLOCK	int	yes"
512.El
513.Ss CTL_NET
514The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level
515is detailed below.
516The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
517privilege may change the value.
518.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "routing messagesXXX" -offset indent
519.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
520.It "PF\_ROUTE	routing messages	no"
521.It "PF\_INET	IPv4 values	yes"
522.It "PF\_INET6	IPv6 values	yes"
523.El
524.Pp
525.Bl -tag -width 6n
526.It Li PF_ROUTE
527Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.
528The data is returned as a sequence of routing messages (see
529.Xr route 4
530for the header file, format and meaning).
531The length of each message is contained in the message header.
532.Pp
533The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently always 0.
534The fourth level name is an address family, which may be set to 0 to
535select all address families.
536The fifth and sixth level names are as follows:
537.Bl -column "Fifth level nameXXXXXX" "Sixth level is:XXX" -offset indent
538.It Sy "Fifth level name	Sixth level is:"
539.It "NET\_RT\_FLAGS	rtflags"
540.It "NET\_RT\_DUMP	None"
541.It "NET\_RT\_IFLIST	None"
542.El
543.It Li PF_INET
544Get or set various global information about the IPv4
545.Pq Internet Protocol version 4 .
546The third level name is the protocol.
547The fourth level name is the variable name.
548The currently defined protocols and names are:
549.Bl -column ProtocolXX VariableXX TypeXX ChangeableXX
550.It Sy "Protocol	Variable	Type	Changeable"
551.It "icmp	bmcastecho	integer	yes"
552.It "icmp	maskrepl	integer	yes"
553.It "ip	forwarding	integer	yes"
554.It "ip	redirect	integer	yes"
555.It "ip	ttl	integer	yes"
556.It "udp	checksum	integer	yes"
557.El
558.Pp
559The variables are as follows:
560.Bl -tag -width 6n
561.It Li icmp.bmcastecho
562Returns 1 if an ICMP echo request to a broadcast or multicast address is
563to be answered.
564.It Li icmp.maskrepl
565Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be answered.
566.It Li ip.forwarding
567Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host,
568meaning that the host is acting as a router.
569.It Li ip.redirect
570Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
571This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP packets,
572and should normally be enabled on all systems.
573.It Li ip.ttl
574The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP packet sourced by
575the system.
576This value applies to normal transport protocols, not to ICMP.
577.It Li udp.checksum
578Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and checked.
579Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discouraged.
580.Pp
581For variables net.inet.*.ipsec, please refer to
582.Xr ipsec 4 .
583.El
584.It Li PF_INET6
585Get or set various global information about the IPv6
586.Pq Internet Protocol version 6 .
587The third level name is the protocol.
588The fourth level name is the variable name.
589.Pp
590For variables net.inet6.* please refer to
591.Xr inet6 4 .
592For variables net.inet6.*.ipsec6, please refer to
593.Xr ipsec 4 .
594.El
595.Ss CTL_USER
596The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level
597is detailed below.
598The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
599privilege may change the value.
600.Bl -column "USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAXXXX" "integerXXX" -offset indent
601.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
602.It "USER\_BC\_BASE\_MAX	integer	no"
603.It "USER\_BC\_DIM\_MAX	integer	no"
604.It "USER\_BC\_SCALE\_MAX	integer	no"
605.It "USER\_BC\_STRING\_MAX	integer	no"
606.It "USER\_COLL\_WEIGHTS\_MAX	integer	no"
607.It "USER\_CS\_PATH	string	no"
608.It "USER\_EXPR\_NEST\_MAX	integer	no"
609.It "USER\_LINE\_MAX	integer	no"
610.It "USER\_POSIX2\_CHAR\_TERM	integer	no"
611.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_BIND	integer	no"
612.It "USER\_POSIX2\_C\_DEV	integer	no"
613.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_DEV	integer	no"
614.It "USER\_POSIX2\_FORT\_RUN	integer	no"
615.It "USER\_POSIX2\_LOCALEDEF	integer	no"
616.It "USER\_POSIX2\_SW\_DEV	integer	no"
617.It "USER\_POSIX2\_UPE	integer	no"
618.It "USER\_POSIX2\_VERSION	integer	no"
619.It "USER\_RE\_DUP\_MAX	integer	no"
620.It "USER\_STREAM\_MAX	integer	no"
621.It "USER\_TZNAME\_MAX	integer	no"
622.El
623.Bl -tag -width 6n
624.Pp
625.It Li USER_BC_BASE_MAX
626The maximum ibase/obase values in the
627.Xr bc 1
628utility.
629.It Li USER_BC_DIM_MAX
630The maximum array size in the
631.Xr bc 1
632utility.
633.It Li USER_BC_SCALE_MAX
634The maximum scale value in the
635.Xr bc 1
636utility.
637.It Li USER_BC_STRING_MAX
638The maximum string length in the
639.Xr bc 1
640utility.
641.It Li USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
642The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry of
643the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
644.It Li USER_CS_PATH
645Return a value for the
646.Ev PATH
647environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
648.It Li USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
649The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
650parenthesis by the
651.Xr expr 1
652utility.
653.It Li USER_LINE_MAX
654The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
655line.
656.It Li USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
657Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capable of
658all operations described in POSIX 1003.2, otherwise 0.
659.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
660Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities support the
661C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.
662.It Li USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
663Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utilities Option,
664otherwise 0.
665.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
666Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities Option,
667otherwise 0.
668.It Li USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
669Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Option,
670otherwise 0.
671.It Li USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
672Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, otherwise 0.
673.It Li USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
674Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utilities Option,
675otherwise 0.
676.It Li USER_POSIX2_UPE
677Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities Option,
678otherwise 0.
679.It Li USER_POSIX2_VERSION
680The version of POSIX 1003.2 with which the system attempts to comply.
681.It Li USER_RE_DUP_MAX
682The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression
683permitted when using interval notation.
684.It Li USER_STREAM_MAX
685The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have open
686at any one time.
687.It Li USER_TZNAME_MAX
688The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
689timezone.
690.El
691.Ss CTL_VM
692The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level
693is detailed below.
694The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
695privilege may change the value.
696.Bl -column "Second level nameXXXXXX" "struct loadavgXXX" -offset indent
697.It Sy "Second level name	Type	Changeable"
698.It "VM\_LOADAVG	struct loadavg	no"
699.It "VM\_METER	struct vmtotal	no"
700.It "VM\_PAGEOUT\_ALGORITHM	integer	yes"
701.It "VM\_SWAPPING\_ENABLED	integer	maybe"
702.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MAX	integer	yes"
703.It "VM\_V\_CACHE\_MIN	integer	yes"
704.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
705.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_RESERVED	integer	yes"
706.It "VM\_V\_FREE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
707.It "VM\_V\_INACTIVE\_TARGET	integer	yes"
708.It "VM\_V\_PAGEOUT\_FREE\_MIN	integer	yes"
709.El
710.Pp
711.Bl -tag -width 6n
712.It Li VM_LOADAVG
713Return the load average history.
714The returned data consists of a
715.Va struct loadavg .
716.It Li VM_METER
717Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.
718The returned data consists of a
719.Va struct vmtotal .
720.It Li VM_PAGEOUT_ALGORITHM
7210 if the statistics-based page management algorithm is in use
722or 1 if the near-LRU algorithm is in use.
723.It Li VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED
7241 if process swapping is enabled or 0 if disabled.  This variable is
725permanently set to 0 if the kernel was built with swapping disabled.
726.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MAX
727Maximum desired size of the cache queue.
728.It Li VM_V_CACHE_MIN
729Minimum desired size of the cache queue.  If the cache queue size
730falls very far below this value, the pageout daemon is awakened.
731.It Li VM_V_FREE_MIN
732Minimum amount of memory (cache memory plus free memory)
733required to be available before a process waiting on memory will be
734awakened.
735.It Li VM_V_FREE_RESERVED
736Processes will awaken the pageout daemon and wait for memory if the
737number of free and cached pages drops below this value.
738.It Li VM_V_FREE_TARGET
739The total amount of free memory (including cache memory) that the
740pageout daemon tries to maintain.
741.It Li VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET
742The desired number of inactive pages that the pageout daemon should
743achieve when it runs.  Inactive pages can be quickly inserted into
744process address space when needed.
745.It Li VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN
746If the amount of free and cache memory falls below this value, the
747pageout daemon will enter "memory conserving mode" to avoid deadlock.
748.El
749.Sh RETURN VALUES
750.Fn sysctl
751and
752.Fn sysctlbyname
753return 0 when successful.
754Otherwise \-1 is returned and
755.Va errno
756is set appropriately.
757.Sh ERRORS
758The following errors may be reported:
759.Bl -tag -width Er
760.It Bq Er EFAULT
761The buffer
762.Fa name ,
763.Fa oldp ,
764.Fa newp ,
765or length pointer
766.Fa oldlenp
767contains an invalid address.
768.It Bq Er EINVAL
769The
770.Fa name
771array is less than two or greater than CTL_MAXNAME.
772.It Bq Er EINVAL
773A non-null
774.Fa newp
775is given and its specified length in
776.Fa newlen
777is too large or too small.
778.It Bq Er ENOMEM
779The length pointed to by
780.Fa oldlenp
781is too short to hold the requested value.
782.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
783The
784.Fa name
785array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
786.It Bq Er EISDIR
787The
788.Fa name
789array specifies a terminal name, but the actual name is not terminal.
790.It Bq Er EOPNOTSUPP
791The
792.Fa name
793array specifies a value that is unknown.
794.It Bq Er EPERM
795An attempt is made to set a read-only value.
796.It Bq Er EPERM
797A process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value.
798.El
799.Sh FILES
800.Bl -tag -width <netinet/icmpXvar.h> -compact
801.It Aq Pa sys/sysctl.h
802definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
803identifiers, and user level identifiers
804.It Aq Pa sys/socket.h
805definitions for second level network identifiers
806.It Aq Pa sys/gmon.h
807definitions for third level profiling identifiers
808.It Aq Pa vm/vm_param.h
809definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
810.It Aq Pa netinet/in.h
811definitions for third level IPv4/IPv6 identifiers and
812fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
813.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp_var.h
814definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
815.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp6.h
816definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
817.It Aq Pa netinet/udp_var.h
818definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
819.El
820.Sh SEE ALSO
821.Xr sysconf 3 ,
822.Xr sysctl 8
823.Sh HISTORY
824The
825.Fn sysctl
826function first appeared in
827.Bx 4.4 .
828