summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt300
1 files changed, 300 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88152f214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,300 @@
+Documentation for /proc/sys/fs/* kernel version 2.2.10
+ (c) 1998, 1999, Rik van Riel <riel@nl.linux.org>
+ (c) 2009, Shen Feng<shen@cn.fujitsu.com>
+
+For general info and legal blurb, please look in README.
+
+==============================================================
+
+This file contains documentation for the sysctl files in
+/proc/sys/fs/ and is valid for Linux kernel version 2.2.
+
+The files in this directory can be used to tune and monitor
+miscellaneous and general things in the operation of the Linux
+kernel. Since some of the files _can_ be used to screw up your
+system, it is advisable to read both documentation and source
+before actually making adjustments.
+
+1. /proc/sys/fs
+----------------------------------------------------------
+
+Currently, these files are in /proc/sys/fs:
+- aio-max-nr
+- aio-nr
+- dentry-state
+- dquot-max
+- dquot-nr
+- file-max
+- file-nr
+- inode-max
+- inode-nr
+- inode-state
+- nr_open
+- overflowuid
+- overflowgid
+- protected_hardlinks
+- protected_symlinks
+- suid_dumpable
+- super-max
+- super-nr
+
+==============================================================
+
+aio-nr & aio-max-nr:
+
+aio-nr is the running total of the number of events specified on the
+io_setup system call for all currently active aio contexts. If aio-nr
+reaches aio-max-nr then io_setup will fail with EAGAIN. Note that
+raising aio-max-nr does not result in the pre-allocation or re-sizing
+of any kernel data structures.
+
+==============================================================
+
+dentry-state:
+
+From linux/fs/dentry.c:
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+struct {
+ int nr_dentry;
+ int nr_unused;
+ int age_limit; /* age in seconds */
+ int want_pages; /* pages requested by system */
+ int dummy[2];
+} dentry_stat = {0, 0, 45, 0,};
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Dentries are dynamically allocated and deallocated, and
+nr_dentry seems to be 0 all the time. Hence it's safe to
+assume that only nr_unused, age_limit and want_pages are
+used. Nr_unused seems to be exactly what its name says.
+Age_limit is the age in seconds after which dcache entries
+can be reclaimed when memory is short and want_pages is
+nonzero when shrink_dcache_pages() has been called and the
+dcache isn't pruned yet.
+
+==============================================================
+
+dquot-max & dquot-nr:
+
+The file dquot-max shows the maximum number of cached disk
+quota entries.
+
+The file dquot-nr shows the number of allocated disk quota
+entries and the number of free disk quota entries.
+
+If the number of free cached disk quotas is very low and
+you have some awesome number of simultaneous system users,
+you might want to raise the limit.
+
+==============================================================
+
+file-max & file-nr:
+
+The value in file-max denotes the maximum number of file-
+handles that the Linux kernel will allocate. When you get lots
+of error messages about running out of file handles, you might
+want to increase this limit.
+
+Historically,the kernel was able to allocate file handles
+dynamically, but not to free them again. The three values in
+file-nr denote the number of allocated file handles, the number
+of allocated but unused file handles, and the maximum number of
+file handles. Linux 2.6 always reports 0 as the number of free
+file handles -- this is not an error, it just means that the
+number of allocated file handles exactly matches the number of
+used file handles.
+
+Attempts to allocate more file descriptors than file-max are
+reported with printk, look for "VFS: file-max limit <number>
+reached".
+==============================================================
+
+nr_open:
+
+This denotes the maximum number of file-handles a process can
+allocate. Default value is 1024*1024 (1048576) which should be
+enough for most machines. Actual limit depends on RLIMIT_NOFILE
+resource limit.
+
+==============================================================
+
+inode-max, inode-nr & inode-state:
+
+As with file handles, the kernel allocates the inode structures
+dynamically, but can't free them yet.
+
+The value in inode-max denotes the maximum number of inode
+handlers. This value should be 3-4 times larger than the value
+in file-max, since stdin, stdout and network sockets also
+need an inode struct to handle them. When you regularly run
+out of inodes, you need to increase this value.
+
+The file inode-nr contains the first two items from
+inode-state, so we'll skip to that file...
+
+Inode-state contains three actual numbers and four dummies.
+The actual numbers are, in order of appearance, nr_inodes,
+nr_free_inodes and preshrink.
+
+Nr_inodes stands for the number of inodes the system has
+allocated, this can be slightly more than inode-max because
+Linux allocates them one pageful at a time.
+
+Nr_free_inodes represents the number of free inodes (?) and
+preshrink is nonzero when the nr_inodes > inode-max and the
+system needs to prune the inode list instead of allocating
+more.
+
+==============================================================
+
+overflowgid & overflowuid:
+
+Some filesystems only support 16-bit UIDs and GIDs, although in Linux
+UIDs and GIDs are 32 bits. When one of these filesystems is mounted
+with writes enabled, any UID or GID that would exceed 65535 is translated
+to a fixed value before being written to disk.
+
+These sysctls allow you to change the value of the fixed UID and GID.
+The default is 65534.
+
+==============================================================
+
+protected_hardlinks:
+
+A long-standing class of security issues is the hardlink-based
+time-of-check-time-of-use race, most commonly seen in world-writable
+directories like /tmp. The common method of exploitation of this flaw
+is to cross privilege boundaries when following a given hardlink (i.e. a
+root process follows a hardlink created by another user). Additionally,
+on systems without separated partitions, this stops unauthorized users
+from "pinning" vulnerable setuid/setgid files against being upgraded by
+the administrator, or linking to special files.
+
+When set to "0", hardlink creation behavior is unrestricted.
+
+When set to "1" hardlinks cannot be created by users if they do not
+already own the source file, or do not have read/write access to it.
+
+This protection is based on the restrictions in Openwall and grsecurity.
+
+==============================================================
+
+protected_symlinks:
+
+A long-standing class of security issues is the symlink-based
+time-of-check-time-of-use race, most commonly seen in world-writable
+directories like /tmp. The common method of exploitation of this flaw
+is to cross privilege boundaries when following a given symlink (i.e. a
+root process follows a symlink belonging to another user). For a likely
+incomplete list of hundreds of examples across the years, please see:
+http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=/tmp
+
+When set to "0", symlink following behavior is unrestricted.
+
+When set to "1" symlinks are permitted to be followed only when outside
+a sticky world-writable directory, or when the uid of the symlink and
+follower match, or when the directory owner matches the symlink's owner.
+
+This protection is based on the restrictions in Openwall and grsecurity.
+
+==============================================================
+
+suid_dumpable:
+
+This value can be used to query and set the core dump mode for setuid
+or otherwise protected/tainted binaries. The modes are
+
+0 - (default) - traditional behaviour. Any process which has changed
+ privilege levels or is execute only will not be dumped.
+1 - (debug) - all processes dump core when possible. The core dump is
+ owned by the current user and no security is applied. This is
+ intended for system debugging situations only. Ptrace is unchecked.
+ This is insecure as it allows regular users to examine the memory
+ contents of privileged processes.
+2 - (suidsafe) - any binary which normally would not be dumped is dumped
+ anyway, but only if the "core_pattern" kernel sysctl is set to
+ either a pipe handler or a fully qualified path. (For more details
+ on this limitation, see CVE-2006-2451.) This mode is appropriate
+ when administrators are attempting to debug problems in a normal
+ environment, and either have a core dump pipe handler that knows
+ to treat privileged core dumps with care, or specific directory
+ defined for catching core dumps. If a core dump happens without
+ a pipe handler or fully qualifid path, a message will be emitted
+ to syslog warning about the lack of a correct setting.
+
+==============================================================
+
+super-max & super-nr:
+
+These numbers control the maximum number of superblocks, and
+thus the maximum number of mounted filesystems the kernel
+can have. You only need to increase super-max if you need to
+mount more filesystems than the current value in super-max
+allows you to.
+
+==============================================================
+
+aio-nr & aio-max-nr:
+
+aio-nr shows the current system-wide number of asynchronous io
+requests. aio-max-nr allows you to change the maximum value
+aio-nr can grow to.
+
+==============================================================
+
+
+2. /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
+----------------------------------------------------------
+
+Documentation for the files in /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc is
+in Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt.
+
+
+3. /proc/sys/fs/mqueue - POSIX message queues filesystem
+----------------------------------------------------------
+
+The "mqueue" filesystem provides the necessary kernel features to enable the
+creation of a user space library that implements the POSIX message queues
+API (as noted by the MSG tag in the POSIX 1003.1-2001 version of the System
+Interfaces specification.)
+
+The "mqueue" filesystem contains values for determining/setting the amount of
+resources used by the file system.
+
+/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/queues_max is a read/write file for setting/getting the
+maximum number of message queues allowed on the system.
+
+/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msg_max is a read/write file for setting/getting the
+maximum number of messages in a queue value. In fact it is the limiting value
+for another (user) limit which is set in mq_open invocation. This attribute of
+a queue must be less or equal then msg_max.
+
+/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msgsize_max is a read/write file for setting/getting the
+maximum message size value (it is every message queue's attribute set during
+its creation).
+
+/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msg_default is a read/write file for setting/getting the
+default number of messages in a queue value if attr parameter of mq_open(2) is
+NULL. If it exceed msg_max, the default value is initialized msg_max.
+
+/proc/sys/fs/mqueue/msgsize_default is a read/write file for setting/getting
+the default message size value if attr parameter of mq_open(2) is NULL. If it
+exceed msgsize_max, the default value is initialized msgsize_max.
+
+4. /proc/sys/fs/epoll - Configuration options for the epoll interface
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+This directory contains configuration options for the epoll(7) interface.
+
+max_user_watches
+----------------
+
+Every epoll file descriptor can store a number of files to be monitored
+for event readiness. Each one of these monitored files constitutes a "watch".
+This configuration option sets the maximum number of "watches" that are
+allowed for each user.
+Each "watch" costs roughly 90 bytes on a 32bit kernel, and roughly 160 bytes
+on a 64bit one.
+The current default value for max_user_watches is the 1/32 of the available
+low memory, divided for the "watch" cost in bytes.
+