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.\" $FreeBSD$ 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