xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/config/config.5 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2003 Joseph Koshy
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24.\" $FreeBSD$
25.\"
26.Dd December 3, 2005
27.Dt CONFIG 5
28.Os
29.Sh NAME
30.Nm config
31.Nd kernel configuration file format
32.Sh DESCRIPTION
33A kernel configuration file specifies the configuration of a
34.Fx
35kernel.
36It is processed by
37.Xr config 8
38to create a build environment where a kernel may be built using
39.Xr make 1 .
40.Ss Lexical Structure
41A kernel configuration file comprises a sequence of specification
42directives.
43.Pp
44A specification directive starts with a keyword at the beginning
45of the line and is followed by additional parameters.
46.Pp
47A specification directive may be terminated by a semicolon
48.Ql \&;
49or by a newline.
50Long input lines may be broken into shorter lines by starting the
51second and subsequent lines with a white space character.
52.Pp
53Case is significant,
54.Dq Li machine
55and
56.Dq Li MACHINE
57are different tokens.
58.Pp
59A double quote character
60.Ql \[dq]
61starts a quoted string.
62All characters up to the next quote character form the value
63of the quoted string.
64A
65.Ql \[dq]
66character may be inserted into a quoted string by
67using the sequence
68.Ql \e\[dq] .
69.Pp
70Numbers are specified using
71.Tn C Ns -style
72syntax.
73.Pp
74A
75.Ql #
76character starts a comment; all characters from the
77.Ql #
78character till the end of the current line are ignored.
79.Pp
80Whitespace between tokens is ignored, except inside quoted strings.
81Whitespace following a comment line is ignored.
82.Ss Configuration Directives
83Kernel configuration directives may appear in any order
84in a kernel configuration file.
85Directives are processed in order of appearance with subsequent
86directive lines overriding the effect of prior ones.
87.Pp
88The list of keywords and their meanings are as follows:
89.Bl -tag -width indent -compact
90.\" -------- CPU --------
91.Pp
92.It Ic cpu Ar cputype
93Specify the CPU this kernel will run on.
94There can be more than one
95.Ic cpu
96directive in a configuration file.
97The allowed list of CPU names is architecture specific and is
98defined in the file
99.Pa sys/conf/options. Ns Aq Ar arch .
100.\" -------- DEVICE --------
101.Pp
102.It Ic device Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
103.It Ic devices Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
104Configures the specified devices
105for inclusion into the kernel image.
106Devices that are common to all architectures are
107defined in the file
108.Pa sys/conf/files .
109Devices that are specific to architecture
110.Ar arch
111are defined in the file
112.Pa sys/conf/files. Ns Aq Ar arch .
113.\" -------- ENV --------
114.Pp
115.It Ic env Ar filename
116Specifies a filename containing a kernel environment definition.
117The kernel normally uses an environment prepared for it at boot time
118by
119.Xr loader 8 .
120This directive makes the kernel ignore the boot environment and use
121the compiled-in environment instead.
122.Pp
123This directive is useful for setting kernel tunables in
124embedded environments that do not start from
125.Xr loader 8 .
126.\" -------- FILES --------
127.Pp
128.It Ic files Ar filename
129Specifies a file containing a list of files specific to that kernel
130configuration file (a la
131.Pa files. Ns Aq Ar arch ) .
132.\" -------- HINTS --------
133.Pp
134.It Ic hints Ar filename
135Specifies a file to load a static device configuration specification
136from.
137From
138.Fx 5.0
139onwards, the kernel reads the system's device configuration at boot
140time (see
141.Xr device.hints 5 ) .
142This directive configures the kernel to use the static device configuration
143listed in
144.Ar filename .
145The file
146.Ar filename
147must conform to the syntax specified by
148.Xr device.hints 5 .
149Multiple hints lines are allowed.
150The resulting hints will be the files concatenated in the order of appearance.
151.\" -------- IDENT --------
152.Pp
153.It Ic ident Ar name
154Set the kernel name to
155.Ar name .
156At least one
157.Ic ident
158directive is required.
159.\" -------- INCLUDE --------
160.Pp
161.It Ic include Ar filename
162Read subsequent text from file
163.Ar filename
164and return to the current file after
165.Ar filename
166is successfully processed.
167.\" -------- MACHINE --------
168.Pp
169.It Ic machine Ar arch Op Ar cpuarch
170Specifies the architecture of the machine the kernel is being
171compiled for.
172Legal values for
173.Ar arch
174include:
175.Pp
176.Bl -tag -width ".Cm powerpc" -compact
177.It Cm alpha
178The DEC Alpha architecture.
179.It Cm arm
180The ARM architecture.
181.It Cm amd64
182The AMD x86-64 architecture.
183.It Cm i386
184The Intel x86 based PC architecture.
185.It Cm ia64
186The Intel IA64 architecture.
187.It Cm mips
188The MIPS architecture.
189.It Cm pc98
190The PC98 architecture.
191.It Cm powerpc
192The IBM PowerPC architecture.
193.It Cm sparc64
194The Sun Sparc64 architecture.
195.El
196.Pp
197If argument
198.Ar cpuarch
199is specified, it points
200.Xr config 8
201to the cpu architecture of the machine.
202Currently the
203.Cm pc98
204architecture requires its cpu architecture
205to be set to
206.Cm i386 .
207When
208.Ar cpuarch
209is not specified, it is assumed to be the same as
210.Ar arch .
211.Ar arch
212corresponds to MACHINE.
213.Ar cpuarch
214corresponds to MACHINE_ARCH.
215.Pp
216A kernel configuration file may have only one
217.Ic machine
218directive.
219.\" -------- MAKEOPTION --------
220.Pp
221.It Ic makeoption Ar options
222.It Ic makeoptions Ar options
223Add
224.Ar options
225to the generated makefile.
226.Pp
227The
228.Ar options
229argument is a comma separated list of one or more option
230specifications.
231Each option specification has the form
232.Pp
233.D1 Ar MakeVariableName Ns Op = Ns Ar Value
234.Pp
235and results in the appropriate
236.Xr make 1
237variable definition being inserted into the generated makefile.
238If only the name of the
239.Xr make 1
240variable is specified,
241.Ar value
242is assumed to be the empty string.
243.Pp
244Example:
245.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
246makeoptions MYMAKEOPTION="foobar"
247makeoptions MYNULLMAKEOPTION
248.Ed
249.\" -------- MAXUSERS --------
250.Pp
251.It Ic maxusers Ar number
252This optional directive is used to configure the size
253of some kernel data structures.
254The parameter
255.Ar number
256can be 0 (the default) or an integer greater than or equal to 2.
257A value of 0 indicates that the kernel should configure
258its data structures according to the size of available
259physical memory.
260If auto configuration is requested, the kernel will set
261this tunable to a value between 32 and 384.
262.Pp
263As explained in
264.Xr tuning 7 ,
265this tunable can also be set at boot time using
266.Xr loader 8 .
267.\" -------- NOCPU --------
268.Pp
269.It Ic nocpu Ar cputype
270Remove the specified CPU
271from the list of previously selected CPUs.
272This directive can be used to cancel the effect of
273.Ic cpu
274directives in files included using
275.Ic include .
276.\" -------- NODEVICE --------
277.Pp
278.It Ic nodevice Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
279.It Ic nodevices Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
280Remove the specified devices
281from the list of previously selected devices.
282This directive can be used to cancel the effects of
283.Ic device
284or
285.Ic devices
286directives in files included using
287.Ic include .
288.\" -------- NOMAKEOPTION --------
289.Pp
290.It Ic nomakeoption Ar name
291.It Ic nomakeoptions Ar name
292Removes previously defined
293.Xr make 1
294option
295.Ar name
296from the kernel build.
297This directive can be used to cancel the effects of
298.Ic makeoption
299directives in files included using
300.Ic include .
301.\" -------- NOOPTION --------
302.Pp
303.It Ic nooption Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
304.It Ic nooptions Ar name Op , Ar name Op ...
305Remove the specified kernel options
306from the list of previously defined options.
307This directive can be used to cancel the effects of
308.Ic option
309or
310.Ic options
311directives in files included using
312.Ic include .
313.\" -------- OPTIONS --------
314.Pp
315.It Ic option Ar optionspec Op , Ar optionspec Op ...
316.It Ic options Ar optionspec Op , Ar optionspec Op ...
317Add compile time kernel options to the kernel build.
318Each option specification has the form
319.Pp
320.D1 Ar name Ns Op = Ns Ar value
321.Pp
322If
323.Ar value
324is not specified, it is assumed to be
325.Dv NULL .
326Options common to all architectures are specified in
327the file
328.Pa sys/conf/options .
329Options specific to architecture
330.Ar arch
331are specified in the file
332.Pa sys/conf/options. Ns Aq Ar arch .
333.\" -------- PROFILE --------
334.Pp
335.It Ic profile Ar number
336Enables kernel profiling if
337.Ar number
338is non-zero.
339If
340.Ar number
341is 2 or greater, the kernel is configured for
342high-resolution profiling.
343Kernels can also be built for profiling using the
344.Fl p
345option to
346.Xr config 8 .
347.El
348.Ss Obsolete Directives
349The following kernel configuration directives are obsolete.
350.Bl -tag -width indent
351.\" -------- CONFIG --------
352.Pp
353.It Ic config
354This directive was used to specify the device to be used for the root
355file system.
356From
357.Fx 4.0
358onwards, this information is passed to a booting kernel by
359.Xr loader 8 .
360.El
361.Sh FILES
362.Bl -tag -width ".Pa sys/conf/Makefile. Ns Ar arch" -compact
363.It Pa sys/compile/ Ns Ar NAME
364Compile directory created from a kernel configuration.
365.It Pa sys/conf/Makefile. Ns Ar arch
366.Pa Makefile
367fragments for architecture
368.Ar arch .
369.It Pa sys/conf/files
370Devices common to all architectures.
371.It Pa sys/conf/files. Ns Ar arch
372Devices for architecture
373.Ar arch .
374.It Pa sys/conf/options
375Options common to all architectures.
376.It Pa sys/conf/options. Ns Ar arch
377Options for architecture
378.Ar arch .
379.El
380.Sh SEE ALSO
381.Xr kenv 1 ,
382.Xr make 1 ,
383.Xr device.hints 5 ,
384.Xr loader.conf 5 ,
385.Xr config 8 ,
386.Xr kldload 8 ,
387.Xr loader 8
388.Rs
389.%T "Building 4.4BSD Kernels with Config"
390.%A "Samuel J. Leffler"
391.%A "Michael J. Karels"
392.Re
393.Sh HISTORY
394The
395.Xr config 8
396utility first appeared in
397.Bx 4.1 ,
398and was subsequently revised in
399.Bx 4.4 .
400.Pp
401The kernel configuration mechanism changed further in
402.Fx 4.0
403and
404.Fx 5.0 ,
405moving toward an architecture supporting dynamic kernel
406configuration.
407