sysctlsysctlbynamesysctlnametomib
- get or set system information
LIBRARY
Lb libc
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h> int
sysctl (int *name u_int namelen void *oldp size_t *oldlenp void *newp size_t newlen); int
sysctlbyname (const char *name void *oldp size_t *oldlenp void *newp size_t newlen); int
sysctlnametomib (const char *name int *mibp size_t *sizep);
DESCRIPTION
The
sysctl ();
function retrieves system information and allows processes with
appropriate privileges to set system information.
The information available from
sysctl ();
consists of integers, strings, and tables.
Information may be retrieved and set from the command interface
using the
sysctl(8)
utility.
Unless explicitly noted below,
sysctl ();
returns a consistent snapshot of the data requested.
Consistency is obtained by locking the destination
buffer into memory so that the data may be copied out without blocking.
Calls to
sysctl ();
are serialized to avoid deadlock.
The state is described using a ``Management Information Base'' (MIB)
style name, listed in
Fa name ,
which is a
Fa namelen
length array of integers.
The
sysctlbyname ();
function accepts an ASCII representation of the name and internally
looks up the integer name vector.
Apart from that, it behaves the same
as the standard
sysctl ();
function.
The information is copied into the buffer specified by
Fa oldp .
The size of the buffer is given by the location specified by
Fa oldlenp
before the call,
and that location gives the amount of data copied after a successful call
and after a call that returns with the error code
Er ENOMEM .
If the amount of data available is greater
than the size of the buffer supplied,
the call supplies as much data as fits in the buffer provided
and returns with the error code
Er ENOMEM .
If the old value is not desired,
Fa oldp
and
Fa oldlenp
should be set to NULL.
The size of the available data can be determined by calling
sysctl ();
with the
NULL
argument for
Fa oldp .
The size of the available data will be returned in the location pointed to by
Fa oldlenp .
For some operations, the amount of space may change often.
For these operations,
the system attempts to round up so that the returned size is
large enough for a call to return the data shortly thereafter.
To set a new value,
Fa newp
is set to point to a buffer of length
Fa newlen
from which the requested value is to be taken.
If a new value is not to be set,
Fa newp
should be set to NULL and
Fa newlen
set to 0.
The
sysctlnametomib ();
function accepts an ASCII representation of the name,
looks up the integer name vector,
and returns the numeric representation in the mib array pointed to by
Fa mibp .
The number of elements in the mib array is given by the location specified by
Fa sizep
before the call,
and that location gives the number of entries copied after a successful call.
The resulting
Fa mib
and
Fa size
may be used in subsequent
sysctl ();
calls to get the data associated with the requested ASCII name.
This interface is intended for use by applications that want to
repeatedly request the same variable (the
sysctl ();
function runs in about a third the time as the same request made via the
sysctlbyname ();
function).
The
sysctlnametomib ();
function is also useful for fetching mib prefixes and then adding
a final component.
For example, to fetch process information
for processes with pid's less than 100:
int i, mib[4];
size_t len;
struct kinfo_proc kp;
/* Fill out the first three components of the mib */
len = 4;
sysctlnametomib("kern.proc.pid", mib, &len);
/* Fetch and print entries for pid's < 100 */
for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
mib[3] = i;
len = sizeof(kp);
if (sysctl(mib, 4, &kp, &len, NULL, 0) == -1)
perror("sysctl");
else if (len > 0)
printkproc(&kp);
}
The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in
In sys/sysctl.h ,
and are as follows.
The next and subsequent levels down are found in the include files
listed here, and described in separate sections below.
NameNext level namesDescription
"CTL_DEBUGsys/sysctl.hDebugging"
"CTL_VFSsys/mount.hFile system"
"CTL_HWsys/sysctl.hGeneric CPU, I/O"
"CTL_KERNsys/sysctl.hHigh kernel limits"
"CTL_MACHDEPsys/sysctl.hMachine dependent"
"CTL_NETsys/socket.hNetworking"
"CTL_USERsys/sysctl.hUser-level"
"CTL_VMvm/vm_param.hVirtual memory"
For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes allowed
in the system:
int mib[2], maxproc;
size_t len;
mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
len = sizeof(maxproc);
sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);
To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities:
The debugging variables vary from system to system.
A debugging variable may be added or deleted without need to recompile
sysctl ();
to know about it.
Each time it runs,
sysctl ();
gets the list of debugging variables from the kernel and
displays their current values.
The system defines twenty
(Vt struct ctldebug
)
variables named
debug0
through
debug19
They are declared as separate variables so that they can be
individually initialized at the location of their associated variable.
The loader prevents multiple use of the same variable by issuing errors
if a variable is initialized in more than one place.
For example, to export the variable
dospecialcheck
as a debugging variable, the following declaration would be used:
A distinguished second level name, VFS_GENERIC,
is used to get general information about all file systems.
One of its third level identifiers is VFS_MAXTYPENUM
that gives the highest valid file system type number.
Its other third level identifier is VFS_CONF that
returns configuration information about the file system
type given as a fourth level identifier (see
getvfsbyname(3)
as an example of its use).
The remaining second level identifiers are the
file system type number returned by a
statfs(2)
call or from VFS_CONF.
The third level identifiers available for each file system
are given in the header file that defines the mount
argument structure for that file system.
CTL_HW
The string and integer information available for the CTL_HW level
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
Second level nameTypeChangeable
"HW_MACHINEstringno"
"HW_MODELstringno"
"HW_NCPUintegerno"
"HW_BYTEORDERintegerno"
"HW_PHYSMEMintegerno"
"HW_USERMEMintegerno"
"HW_PAGESIZEintegerno"
"HW_FLOATINGPOINTintegerno"
"HW_MACHINE_ARCHstringno"
HW_MACHINE
The machine class.
HW_MODEL
The machine model
HW_NCPU
The number of cpus.
HW_BYTEORDER
The byteorder (4,321, or 1,234).
HW_PHYSMEM
The bytes of physical memory.
HW_USERMEM
The bytes of non-kernel memory.
HW_PAGESIZE
The software page size.
HW_FLOATINGPOINT
Nonzero if the floating point support is in hardware.
HW_MACHINE_ARCH
The machine dependent architecture type.
CTL_KERN
The string and integer information available for the CTL_KERN level
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
The types of data currently available are process information,
system vnodes, the open file entries, routing table entries,
virtual memory statistics, load average history, and clock rate
information.
The full pathname of the file from which the kernel was loaded.
KERN_BOOTTIME
A
struct timeval
structure is returned.
This structure contains the time that the system was booted.
KERN_CLOCKRATE
A
struct clockinfo
structure is returned.
This structure contains the clock, statistics clock and profiling clock
frequencies, the number of micro-seconds per hz tick and the skew rate.
KERN_FILE
Return the entire file table.
The returned data consists of a single
struct filehead
followed by an array of
struct file
whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
KERN_HOSTID
Get or set the host ID.
KERN_HOSTUUID
Get or set the host's universally unique identifier (UUID).
KERN_HOSTNAME
Get or set the hostname.
KERN_JOB_CONTROL
Return 1 if job control is available on this system, otherwise 0.
KERN_MAXFILES
The maximum number of files that may be open in the system.
KERN_MAXFILESPERPROC
The maximum number of files that may be open for a single process.
This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
at the time of the open request.
Files that have already been opened are not affected if the limit
or the effective uid is changed.
KERN_MAXPROC
The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow.
KERN_MAXPROCPERUID
The maximum number of concurrent processes the system will allow
for a single effective uid.
This limit only applies to processes with an effective uid of nonzero
at the time of a fork request.
Processes that have already been started are not affected if the limit
is changed.
KERN_MAXVNODES
The maximum number of vnodes available on the system.
KERN_NGROUPS
The maximum number of supplemental groups.
KERN_NISDOMAINNAME
The name of the current YP/NIS domain.
KERN_OSRELDATE
The kernel release version in the format
M mm R xx
where
M
is the major version,
mm
is the two digit minor version,
R
is 0 if release branch, otherwise 1,
and
xx
is updated when the available APIs change.
The userland release version is available from
In osreldate.h ;
parse this file if you need to get the release version of
the currently installed userland.
KERN_OSRELEASE
The system release string.
KERN_OSREV
The system revision string.
KERN_OSTYPE
The system type string.
KERN_POSIX1
The version of
St -p1003.1
with which the system
attempts to comply.
KERN_PROC
Return selected information about specific running processes.
For the following names, an array of pairs of
struct proc
followed by corresponding
struct eproc
structures is returned,
whose size depends on the current number of such objects in the system.
"Third level nameFourth level is:"
"KERN_PROC_ALLNone"
"KERN_PROC_PIDA process ID"
"KERN_PROC_PGRPA process group"
"KERN_PROC_TTYA tty device"
"KERN_PROC_UIDA user ID"
"KERN_PROC_RUIDA real user ID"
If the third level name is KERN_PROC_ARGS
then the command line argument
array is returned in a flattened form, i.e., zero-terminated arguments
follow each other.
The total size of array is returned.
It is also possible for a process to set its own process title this way.
If the third level name is
KERN_PROC_PATHNAME
the path of the
process' text file is stored.
For
KERN_PROC_PATHNAME
a process ID of
-1
implies the current process.
Third level nameFourth level is:
KERN_PROC_ARGS Ta A process ID
KERN_PROC_PATHNAME Ta A process ID
KERN_PROF
Return profiling information about the kernel.
If the kernel is not compiled for profiling,
attempts to retrieve any of the KERN_PROF values will
fail with
Er ENOENT .
The third level names for the string and integer profiling information
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
Third level nameTypeChangeable
"GPROF_STATEintegeryes"
"GPROF_COUNTu_short[]yes"
"GPROF_FROMSu_short[]yes"
"GPROF_TOSstruct tostructyes"
"GPROF_GMONPARAMstruct gmonparamno"
The variables are as follows:
GPROF_STATE
Returns GMON_PROF_ON or GMON_PROF_OFF to show that profiling
is running or stopped.
GPROF_COUNT
Array of statistical program counter counts.
GPROF_FROMS
Array indexed by program counter of call-from points.
GPROF_TOS
Array of
struct tostruct
describing destination of calls and their counts.
GPROF_GMONPARAM
Structure giving the sizes of the above arrays.
KERN_QUANTUM
The maximum period of time, in microseconds, for which a process is allowed
to run without being preempted if other processes are in the run queue.
KERN_SAVED_IDS
Returns 1 if saved set-group and saved set-user ID is available.
KERN_SECURELVL
The system security level.
This level may be raised by processes with appropriate privilege.
It may not be lowered.
KERN_VERSION
The system version string.
KERN_VNODE
Return the entire vnode table.
Note, the vnode table is not necessarily a consistent snapshot of
the system.
The returned data consists of an array whose size depends on the
current number of such objects in the system.
Each element of the array contains the kernel address of a vnode
struct vnode
followed by the vnode itself
struct vnode
CTL_MACHDEP
The set of variables defined is architecture dependent.
The following variables are defined for the i386 architecture.
Second level nameTypeChangeable
CPU_CONSDEVdev_tno
CPU_ADJKERNTZintyes
CPU_DISRTCSETintyes
CPU_BOOTINFOstruct bootinfono
CPU_WALLCLOCKintyes
CTL_NET
The string and integer information available for the CTL_NET level
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
Second level nameTypeChangeable
"PF_ROUTErouting messagesno"
"PF_INETIPv4 valuesyes"
"PF_INET6IPv6 valuesyes"
PF_ROUTE
Return the entire routing table or a subset of it.
The data is returned as a sequence of routing messages (see
route(4)
for the header file, format and meaning).
The length of each message is contained in the message header.
The third level name is a protocol number, which is currently always 0.
The fourth level name is an address family, which may be set to 0 to
select all address families.
The fifth and sixth level names are as follows:
Fifth level nameSixth level is:
"NET_RT_FLAGSrtflags"
"NET_RT_DUMPNone"
"NET_RT_IFLIST0 or if_index"
"NET_RT_IFMALIST0 or if_index"
The NET_RT_IFMALIST
name returns information about multicast group memberships on all interfaces
if 0 is specified, or for the interface specified by
if_index
PF_INET
Get or set various global information about the IPv4
(Internet Protocol version 4).
The third level name is the protocol.
The fourth level name is the variable name.
The currently defined protocols and names are:
ProtocolVariableTypeChangeable
"icmpbmcastechointegeryes"
"icmpmaskreplintegeryes"
"ipforwardingintegeryes"
"ipredirectintegeryes"
"ipttlintegeryes"
"udpchecksumintegeryes"
The variables are as follows:
icmp.bmcastecho
Returns 1 if an ICMP echo request to a broadcast or multicast address is
to be answered.
icmp.maskrepl
Returns 1 if ICMP network mask requests are to be answered.
ip.forwarding
Returns 1 when IP forwarding is enabled for the host,
meaning that the host is acting as a router.
ip.redirect
Returns 1 when ICMP redirects may be sent by the host.
This option is ignored unless the host is routing IP packets,
and should normally be enabled on all systems.
ip.ttl
The maximum time-to-live (hop count) value for an IP packet sourced by
the system.
This value applies to normal transport protocols, not to ICMP.
udp.checksum
Returns 1 when UDP checksums are being computed and checked.
Disabling UDP checksums is strongly discouraged.
For variables net.inet.*.ipsec, please refer to
ipsec(4).
PF_INET6
Get or set various global information about the IPv6
(Internet Protocol version 6).
The third level name is the protocol.
The fourth level name is the variable name.
For variables net.inet6.* please refer to
inet6(4).
For variables net.inet6.*.ipsec6, please refer to
ipsec(4).
CTL_USER
The string and integer information available for the CTL_USER level
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
Second level nameTypeChangeable
"USER_BC_BASE_MAXintegerno"
"USER_BC_DIM_MAXintegerno"
"USER_BC_SCALE_MAXintegerno"
"USER_BC_STRING_MAXintegerno"
"USER_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAXintegerno"
"USER_CS_PATHstringno"
"USER_EXPR_NEST_MAXintegerno"
"USER_LINE_MAXintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERMintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_C_BINDintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_C_DEVintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEVintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUNintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEFintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_SW_DEVintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_UPEintegerno"
"USER_POSIX2_VERSIONintegerno"
"USER_RE_DUP_MAXintegerno"
"USER_STREAM_MAXintegerno"
"USER_TZNAME_MAXintegerno"
USER_BC_BASE_MAX
The maximum ibase/obase values in the bc(1)
utility.
The maximum number of weights that can be assigned to any entry of
the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the locale definition file.
USER_CS_PATH
Return a value for the
PATH
environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
USER_EXPR_NEST_MAX
The maximum number of expressions that can be nested within
parenthesis by the
expr(1)
utility.
USER_LINE_MAX
The maximum length in bytes of a text-processing utility's input
line.
USER_POSIX2_CHAR_TERM
Return 1 if the system supports at least one terminal type capable of
all operations described in
St -p1003.2 ,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_C_BIND
Return 1 if the system's C-language development facilities support the
C-Language Bindings Option, otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_C_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the C-Language Development Utilities Option,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_FORT_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Development Utilities Option,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_FORT_RUN
Return 1 if the system supports the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities Option,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_LOCALEDEF
Return 1 if the system supports the creation of locales, otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_SW_DEV
Return 1 if the system supports the Software Development Utilities Option,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_UPE
Return 1 if the system supports the User Portability Utilities Option,
otherwise 0.
USER_POSIX2_VERSION
The version of
St -p1003.2
with which the system attempts to comply.
USER_RE_DUP_MAX
The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression
permitted when using interval notation.
USER_STREAM_MAX
The minimum maximum number of streams that a process may have open
at any one time.
USER_TZNAME_MAX
The minimum maximum number of types supported for the name of a
timezone.
CTL_VM
The string and integer information available for the CTL_VM level
is detailed below.
The changeable column shows whether a process with appropriate
privilege may change the value.
Second level nameTypeChangeable
"VM_LOADAVGstruct loadavgno"
"VM_METERstruct vmtotalno"
"VM_PAGEOUT_ALGORITHMintegeryes"
"VM_SWAPPING_ENABLEDintegermaybe"
"VM_V_CACHE_MAXintegeryes"
"VM_V_CACHE_MINintegeryes"
"VM_V_FREE_MINintegeryes"
"VM_V_FREE_RESERVEDintegeryes"
"VM_V_FREE_TARGETintegeryes"
"VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGETintegeryes"
"VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MINintegeryes"
VM_LOADAVG
Return the load average history.
The returned data consists of a
struct loadavg
VM_METER
Return the system wide virtual memory statistics.
The returned data consists of a
struct vmtotal
VM_PAGEOUT_ALGORITHM
0 if the statistics-based page management algorithm is in use
or 1 if the near-LRU algorithm is in use.
VM_SWAPPING_ENABLED
1 if process swapping is enabled or 0 if disabled.
This variable is
permanently set to 0 if the kernel was built with swapping disabled.
VM_V_CACHE_MAX
Maximum desired size of the cache queue.
VM_V_CACHE_MIN
Minimum desired size of the cache queue.
If the cache queue size
falls very far below this value, the pageout daemon is awakened.
VM_V_FREE_MIN
Minimum amount of memory (cache memory plus free memory)
required to be available before a process waiting on memory will be
awakened.
VM_V_FREE_RESERVED
Processes will awaken the pageout daemon and wait for memory if the
number of free and cached pages drops below this value.
VM_V_FREE_TARGET
The total amount of free memory (including cache memory) that the
pageout daemon tries to maintain.
VM_V_INACTIVE_TARGET
The desired number of inactive pages that the pageout daemon should
achieve when it runs.
Inactive pages can be quickly inserted into
process address space when needed.
VM_V_PAGEOUT_FREE_MIN
If the amount of free and cache memory falls below this value, the
pageout daemon will enter "memory conserving mode" to avoid deadlock.
RETURN VALUES
Rv -std
FILES
In sys/sysctl.h
definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
identifiers, and user level identifiers
In sys/socket.h
definitions for second level network identifiers
In sys/gmon.h
definitions for third level profiling identifiers
In vm/vm_param.h
definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
In netinet/in.h
definitions for third level IPv4/IPv6 identifiers and
fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
In netinet/icmp_var.h
definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
In netinet/icmp6.h
definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
In netinet/udp_var.h
definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
ERRORS
The following errors may be reported:
Bq Er EFAULT
The buffer
Fa name ,
Fa oldp ,
Fa newp ,
or length pointer
Fa oldlenp
contains an invalid address.
Bq Er EINVAL
The
Fa name
array is less than two or greater than CTL_MAXNAME.
Bq Er EINVAL
A non-null
Fa newp
is given and its specified length in
Fa newlen
is too large or too small.
Bq Er ENOMEM
The length pointed to by
Fa oldlenp
is too short to hold the requested value.
Bq Er ENOMEM
The smaller of either the length pointed to by
Fa oldlenp
or the estimated size of the returned data exceeds the
system limit on locked memory.
Bq Er ENOMEM
Locking the buffer
Fa oldp ,
or a portion of the buffer if the estimated size of the data
to be returned is smaller,
would cause the process to exceed its per-process locked memory limit.
Bq Er ENOTDIR
The
Fa name
array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
Bq Er EISDIR
The
Fa name
array specifies a terminal name, but the actual name is not terminal.
Bq Er ENOENT
The
Fa name
array specifies a value that is unknown.
Bq Er EPERM
An attempt is made to set a read-only value.
Bq Er EPERM
A process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value.