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.\"	@(#)sysctl.3	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/9/95
.\"
.Dd September 14, 2019
.Dt SYSCTL 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm sysctl ,
.Nm sysctlbyname ,
.Nm sysctlgetmibinfo ,
.Nm sysctlnametomib ,
.Nm asysctl ,
.Nm asysctlbyname
.Nd get or set system information
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/param.h
.In sys/sysctl.h
.Ft int
.Fn sysctl "const int *name" "u_int namelen" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" \
"const void *newp" "size_t newlen"
.Ft int
.Fn sysctlbyname "const char *sname" "void *oldp" "size_t *oldlenp" \
"const void *newp" "size_t newlen"
.Ft int
.Fn sysctlgetmibinfo "const char *sname" "int *name" "u_int *namelenp" \
"char *cname" "size_t *csz" "struct sysctlnode **rnode" "int v"
.Ft int
.Fn sysctlnametomib "const char *sname" "int *name" "size_t *namelenp"
.Ft void *
.Fn asysctl "const int *name" "size_t namelen" "size_t *len"
.Ft void *
.Fn asysctlbyname "const char *sname" "size_t *len"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
function retrieves system information and allows processes with
appropriate privileges to set system information.
The information available from
.Nm
consists of integers, strings, and tables.
Information may be retrieved and set from the command interface
using the
.Xr sysctl 8
utility.
.Pp
Unless explicitly noted below,
.Nm
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
.Nm
are serialized to avoid deadlock.
.Pp
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.
.Pp
The
.Fn sysctlbyname
function accepts a string representation of a MIB entry and internally
maps it to the appropriate numeric MIB representation.
Its semantics are otherwise no different from
.Fn sysctl .
.Pp
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.
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
.Dv NULL .
.Pp
The size of the available data can be determined by calling
.Nm
with a
.Dv NULL
parameter 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.
.Pp
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
.Dv NULL
and
.Fa newlen
set to 0.
.Pp
The
.Fn sysctlnametomib
function can be used to map the string representation of a MIB entry
to the numeric version.
The
.Fa name
argument should point to an array of integers large enough to hold the
MIB, and
.Fa namelenp
should indicate the number of integer slots available.
Following a successful translation, the size_t indicated by
.Fa namelenp
will be changed to show the number of slots consumed.
.Pp
The
.Fn sysctlgetmibinfo
function performs name translation similar to
.Fn sysctlnametomib ,
but also canonicalizes the name (or returns the first erroneous token
from the string being parsed) into the space indicated by
.Fa cname
and
.Fa csz .
.Fa csz
should indicate the size of the buffer pointed to by
.Fa cname
and on return, will indicate the size of the returned string including
the trailing
.Sq nul
character.
.Pp
The
.Fa rnode
and
.Fa v
arguments to
.Fn sysctlgetmibinfo
are used to provide a tree for it to parse into, and to get back
either a pointer to, or a copy of, the terminal node.
If
.Fa rnode
is
.Dv NULL ,
.Fn sysctlgetmibinfo
uses its own internal tree for parsing, and checks it against the
kernel at each call, to make sure that the name-to-number mapping is
kept up to date.
The
.Fa v
argument is ignored in this case.
If
.Fa rnode
is not
.Dv NULL
but the pointer it references is, on a successful return,
.Fa rnode
will be adjusted to point to a copy of the terminal node.
The
.Fa v
argument indicates which version of the
.Nm
node structure the caller wants.
The application must later
.Fn free
this copy.
If neither
.Fa rnode
nor the pointer it references are
.Dv NULL ,
the pointer is used as the address of a tree over which the parsing is
done.
In this last case, the tree is not checked against the kernel, no
refreshing of the mappings is performed, and the value given by
.Fa v
must agree with the version indicated by the tree.
It is recommended that applications always use
.Dv SYSCTL_VERSION
as the value for
.Fa v ,
as defined in the include file
.Pa sys/sysctl.h .
.Pp
The numeric and text names of sysctl variables are described in
.Xr sysctl 7 .
The numeric names are defined as preprocessor macros.
The top level names are defined with a CTL_ prefix in
.In sys/sysctl.h .
The next and subsequent levels down have different prefixes for each
subtree.
.Pp
For example, the following retrieves the maximum number of processes allowed
in the system - the
.Li kern.maxproc
variable:
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
int mib[2], maxproc;
size_t len;
.sp
mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
mib[1] = KERN_MAXPROC;
len = sizeof(maxproc);
sysctl(mib, 2, &maxproc, &len, NULL, 0);
.Ed
.sp
To retrieve the standard search path for the system utilities -
.Li user.cs_path :
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
int mib[2];
size_t len;
char *p;
.sp
mib[0] = CTL_USER;
mib[1] = USER_CS_PATH;
sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, &len, NULL, 0);
p = malloc(len);
sysctl(mib, 2, p, &len, NULL, 0);
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Fn asysctl
and
.Fn asysctlbyname
functions are wrappers for
.Fn sysctl
and
.Fn sysctlbyname .
They return memory allocated with
.Xr malloc 3
and resize the buffer in a loop until all data fits.
.Sh DYNAMIC OPERATIONS
Several meta-identifiers are provided to perform operations on the
.Nm
tree itself, or support alternate means of accessing the data
instrumented by the
.Nm
tree.
.Bl -column CTLXCREATESYMXXX
.It Sy Name	Description
.It CTL\_QUERY	Retrieve a mapping of names to numbers below a given node
.It CTL\_CREATE	Create a new node
.It CTL\_CREATESYM	Create a new node by its kernel symbol
.It CTL\_DESTROY	Destroy a node
.It CTL\_DESCRIBE	Retrieve node descriptions
.El
.Pp
The core interface to all of these meta-functions is the structure
that the kernel uses to describe the tree internally, as defined in
.In sys/sysctl.h
as:
.Bd -literal
struct sysctlnode {
        uint32_t sysctl_flags;          /* flags and type */
        int32_t sysctl_num;             /* mib number */
        char sysctl_name[SYSCTL_NAMELEN]; /* node name */
        uint32_t sysctl_ver;        /* node's version vs. rest of tree */
        uint32_t __rsvd;
        union {
                struct {
                        uint32_t suc_csize; /* size of child node array */
                        uint32_t suc_clen; /* number of valid children */
                        struct sysctlnode* suc_child; /* array of child nodes */
                } scu_child;
                struct {
                        void *sud_data; /* pointer to external data */
                        size_t sud_offset; /* offset to data */
                } scu_data;
                int32_t scu_alias;      /* node this node refers to */
                int32_t scu_idata;      /* immediate "int" data */
                u_quad_t scu_qdata;     /* immediate "u_quad_t" data */
        } sysctl_un;
        size_t _sysctl_size;            /* size of instrumented data */
        sysctlfn _sysctl_func;          /* access helper function */
        struct sysctlnode *sysctl_parent; /* parent of this node */
        const char *sysctl_desc;        /* description of node */
};

#define sysctl_csize    sysctl_un.scu_child.suc_csize
#define sysctl_clen     sysctl_un.scu_child.suc_clen
#define sysctl_child    sysctl_un.scu_child.suc_child
#define sysctl_data     sysctl_un.scu_data.sud_data
#define sysctl_offset   sysctl_un.scu_data.sud_offset
#define sysctl_alias    sysctl_un.scu_alias
#define sysctl_idata    sysctl_un.scu_idata
#define sysctl_qdata    sysctl_un.scu_qdata
.Ed
.Pp
Querying the tree to discover the name to number mapping permits
dynamic discovery of all the data that the tree currently has
instrumented.
For example, to discover all the nodes below the
.Dv CTL_VFS
node:
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
struct sysctlnode query, vfs[128];
int mib[2];
size_t len;
.sp
mib[0] = CTL_VFS;
mib[1] = CTL_QUERY;
memset(&query, 0, sizeof(query));
query.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION;
len = sizeof(vfs);
sysctl(mib, 2, &vfs[0], &len, &query, sizeof(query));
.Ed
.Pp
Note that a reference to an empty node with
.Fa sysctl_flags
set to
.Dv SYSCTL_VERSION
is passed to sysctl in order to indicate the version that the program
is using.
All dynamic operations passing nodes into sysctl require that the
version be explicitly specified.
.Pp
Creation and destruction of nodes works by constructing part of a new
node description (or a description of the existing node) and invoking
.Dv CTL_CREATE
(or
.Dv CTL_CREATESYM )
or
.Dv CTL_DESTROY
at the parent of the new
node, with a pointer to the new node passed via the
.Fa new
and
.Fa newlen
arguments.
If valid values for
.Fa old
and
.Fa oldlenp
are passed, a copy of the new node once in the tree will be returned.
If the create operation fails because a node with the same name or MIB
number exists, a copy of the conflicting node will be returned.
.Pp
The minimum requirements for creating a node are setting the
.Fa sysctl_flags
to indicate the new node's type,
.Fa sysctl_num
to either the new node's number (or
.Dv CTL_CREATE
or
.Dv CTL_CREATESYM
if a
dynamically allocated MIB number is acceptable),
.Fa sysctl_size
to the size of the data to be instrumented (which must agree with the
given type), and
.Fa sysctl_name
must be set to the new node's name.
Nodes that are not of type
.Dq node
must also have some description of the data to be instrumented, which
will vary depending on what is to be instrumented.
.Pp
If existing kernel data is to be covered by this new node, its address
should be given in
.Fa sysctl_data
or, if
.Dv CTL_CREATESYM
is used,
.Fa sysctl_data
should be set to a string containing its name from the kernel's symbol
table.
If new data is to be instrumented and an initial value is available,
the new integer or quad type data should be placed into either
.Fa sysctl_idata
or
.Fa sysctl_qdata ,
respectively, along with the
.Dv CTLFLAG_IMMEDIATE
flag being set, or
.Fa sysctl_data
should be set to point to a copy of the new data, and the
.Dv CTLFLAG_OWNDATA
flag must be set.
This latter method is the only way that new string and struct type
nodes can be initialized.
Invalid kernel addresses are accepted, but any attempt to access those
nodes will return an error.
.Pp
The
.Fa sysctl_csize ,
.Fa sysctl_clen ,
.Fa sysctl_child ,
.Fa sysctl_parent ,
and
.Fa sysctl_alias
members are used by the kernel to link the tree together and must be
.Dv NULL
or 0.
Nodes created in this manner cannot have helper functions, so
.Fa sysctl_func
must also be
.Dv NULL .
If the
.Fa sysctl_ver
member is non-zero, it must match either the version of the parent or
the version at the root of the MIB or an error is returned.
This can be used to ensure that nodes are only added or removed from a
known state of the tree.
Note: It may not be possible to determine the version at the root
of the tree.
.Pp
This example creates a new subtree and adds a node to it that controls the
.Fa audiodebug
kernel variable, thereby making it tunable at at any time, without
needing to use
.Xr ddb 4
or
.Xr kvm 3
to alter the kernel's memory directly.
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
struct sysctlnode node;
int mib[2];
size_t len;
.sp
mib[0] = CTL_CREATE;		/* create at top-level */
len = sizeof(node);
memset(&node, 0, len);
node.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION|CTLFLAG_READWRITE|CTLTYPE_NODE;
snprintf(node.sysctl_name, sizeof(node.sysctl_name), "local");
node.sysctl_num = CTL_CREATE;	/* request dynamic MIB number */
sysctl(&mib[0], 1, &node, &len, &node, len);
.sp
mib[0] = node.sysctl_num;	/* use new MIB number */
mib[1] = CTL_CREATESYM;		/* create at second level */
len = sizeof(node);
memset(&node, 0, len);
node.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION|CTLFLAG_READWRITE|CTLTYPE_INT;
snprintf(node.sysctl_name, sizeof(node.sysctl_name), "audiodebug");
node.sysctl_num = CTL_CREATE;
node.sysctl_data = "audiodebug"; /* kernel symbol to be used */
sysctl(&mib[0], 2, NULL, NULL, &node, len);
.Ed
.Pp
The process for deleting nodes is similar, but less data needs to
be supplied.
Only the
.Fa sysctl_num
field
needs to be filled in; almost all other fields must be left blank.
The
.Fa sysctl_name
and/or
.Fa sysctl_ver
fields can be filled in with the name and version of the existing node
as additional checks on what will be deleted.
If all the given data fail to match any node, nothing will be deleted.
If valid values for
.Fa old
and
.Fa oldlenp
are supplied and a node is deleted, a copy of what was in the MIB tree
will be returned.
.Pp
This sample code shows the deletion of the two nodes created in the
above example:
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
int mib[2];
.sp
len = sizeof(node);
memset(&node, 0, len);
node.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION;
.sp
mib[0] = 3214;			/* assumed number for "local" */
mib[1] = CTL_DESTROY;
node.sysctl_num = 3215;		/* assumed number for "audiodebug" */
sysctl(&mib[0], 2, NULL, NULL, &node, len);
.sp
mib[0] = CTL_DESTROY;
node.sysctl_num = 3214;		/* now deleting "local" */
sysctl(&mib[0], 1, NULL, NULL, &node, len);
.Ed
.Pp
Descriptions of each of the nodes can also be retrieved, if they are
available.
Descriptions can be retrieved in bulk at each level or on a per-node
basis.
The layout of the buffer into which the descriptions are returned is a
series of variable length structures, each of which describes its own
size.
The length indicated includes the terminating
.Sq nul
character.
Nodes that have no description or where the description is not
available are indicated by an empty string.
The
.Fa descr_ver
will match the
.Fa sysctl_ver
value for a given node, so that descriptions for nodes whose number
have been recycled can be detected and ignored or discarded.
.Bd -literal
struct sysctldesc {
        int32_t         descr_num;      /* mib number of node */
        uint32_t        descr_ver;      /* version of node */
        uint32_t        descr_len;      /* length of description string */
        char            descr_str[1];   /* not really 1...see above */
};
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Fn NEXT_DESCR
macro can be used to skip to the next description in the retrieved
list.
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
struct sysctlnode desc;
struct sysctldesc *d;
char buf[1024];
int mib[2];
size_t len;
.sp
/* retrieve kern-level descriptions */
mib[0] = CTL_KERN;
mib[1] = CTL_DESCRIBE;
d = (struct sysctldesc *)&buf[0];
len = sizeof(buf);
sysctl(mib, 2, d, &len, NULL, 0);
while ((caddr_t)d < (caddr_t)&buf[len]) {
	printf("node %d: %.*s\\n", d->descr_num, d->descr_len,
	    d->descr_str);
	d = NEXT_DESCR(d);
}
.sp
/* retrieve description for kern.securelevel */
memset(&desc, 0, sizeof(desc));
desc.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION;
desc.sysctl_num = KERN_SECURELEVEL;
d = (struct sysctldesc *)&buf[0];
len = sizeof(buf);
sysctl(mib, 2, d, &len, &desc, sizeof(desc));
printf("kern.securelevel: %.*s\\n", d->descr_len, d->descr_str);
.Ed
.Pp
Descriptions can also be set as follows, subject to the following rules:
.Pp
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
The kernel securelevel is at zero or lower
.It
The caller has super-user privileges
.It
The node does not currently have a description
.It
The node is not marked as
.Dq permanent
.El
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
struct sysctlnode desc;
int mib[2];
.sp
/* presuming the given top-level node was just added... */
mib[0] = 3214; /* mib numbers taken from previous examples */
mib[1] = CTL_DESCRIBE;
memset(&desc, 0, sizeof(desc));
desc.sysctl_flags = SYSCTL_VERSION;
desc.sysctl_num = 3215;
desc.sysctl_desc = "audio debug control knob";
sysctl(mib, 2, NULL, NULL, &desc, sizeof(desc));
.Ed
.Pp
Upon successfully setting a description, the new description will be
returned in the space indicated by the
.Fa oldp
and
.Fa oldlenp
arguments.
.Pp
The
.Fa sysctl_flags
field in the struct sysctlnode contains the sysctl version, node type
information, and a number of flags.
The macros
.Fn SYSCTL_VERS ,
.Fn SYSCTL_TYPE ,
and
.Fn SYSCTL_FLAGS
can be used to access the different fields.
Valid flags are:
.Bl -column CTLFLAGXPERMANENTXXX
.It Sy Name	Description
.It CTLFLAG\_READONLY	Node is read-only
.It CTLFLAG\_READWRITE	Node is writable by the superuser
.It CTLFLAG\_ANYWRITE	Node is writable by anyone
.It CTLFLAG\_PRIVATE	Node is readable only by the superuser
.It CTLFLAG\_PERMANENT	Node cannot be removed (cannot be set by
processes)
.It CTLFLAG\_OWNDATA	Node owns data and does not instrument
existing data
.It CTLFLAG\_IMMEDIATE	Node contains instrumented data and does not
instrument existing data
.It CTLFLAG\_HEX	Node's contents should be displayed in a hexadecimal
form
.It CTLFLAG\_ROOT	Node is the root of a tree (cannot be set at
any time)
.It CTLFLAG\_ANYNUMBER	Node matches any MIB number (cannot be set by
processes)
.It CTLFLAG\_HIDDEN	Node not displayed by default
.It CTLFLAG\_ALIAS	Node refers to a sibling node (cannot be set
by processes)
.It CTLFLAG\_OWNDESC	Node owns its own description string space
.El
.Sh RETURN VALUES
If the call to
.Nm
is successful, 0 is returned.
Otherwise \-1 is returned and
.Va errno
is set appropriately.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width <netinet6/udp6Xvar.h> -compact
.It Aq Pa sys/sysctl.h
definitions for top level identifiers, second level kernel and hardware
identifiers, and user level identifiers
.It Aq Pa sys/socket.h
definitions for second level network identifiers
.It Aq Pa sys/gmon.h
definitions for third level profiling identifiers
.It Aq Pa uvm/uvm_param.h
definitions for second level virtual memory identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet/in.h
definitions for third level IPv4/v6 identifiers and
fourth level IPv4/v6 identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp_var.h
definitions for fourth level ICMP identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet/icmp6.h
definitions for fourth level ICMPv6 identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet/tcp_var.h
definitions for fourth level TCP identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet/udp_var.h
definitions for fourth level UDP identifiers
.It Aq Pa netinet6/udp6_var.h
definitions for fourth level IPv6 UDP identifiers
.It Aq Pa netipsec/ipsec.h
definitions for fourth level IPsec identifiers
.It Aq Pa netipsec/key_var.h
definitions for third level PF_KEY identifiers
.It Aq Pa machine/cpu.h
definitions for second level machdep identifiers
.El
.Sh ERRORS
The following errors may be reported:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EFAULT
The buffer
.Fa name ,
.Fa oldp ,
.Fa newp ,
or length pointer
.Fa oldlenp
contains an invalid address, or the requested value is temporarily
unavailable.
.It Bq Er EINVAL
The
.Fa name
array is zero or greater than
.Dv CTL_MAXNAME ;
or a non-null
.Fa newp
is given and its specified length in
.Fa newlen
is too large or too small, or the given value is not acceptable for
the given node.
.It Bq Er EISDIR
The
.Fa name
array specifies an intermediate rather than terminal name.
.It Bq Er ENOENT
The
.Fa name
array specifies a node that does not exist in the tree;
or an attempt was made to destroy a node that does not exist, or to
create or destroy a node below a node that does not exist.
.It Bq Er ENOMEM
The length pointed to by
.Fa oldlenp
is too short to hold the requested value.
.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
The
.Fa name
array specifies a node below a node that addresses data.
.It Bq Er ENOTEMPTY
An attempt was made to destroy a node that still has children.
.It Bq Er EOPNOTSUPP
The
.Fa name
array specifies a value that is unknown or a meta-operation was
attempted that the requested node does not support.
.It Bq Er EPERM
An attempt is made to set a read-only value; or
a process without appropriate privilege attempts to set a value or to
create or destroy a node; or
an attempt to change a value protected by the current kernel security
level is made.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sysctl 7 ,
.Xr sysctl 8 ,
.Xr secmodel_securelevel 9
.\" .Xr sysctl 9
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
function first appeared in
.Bx 4.4 .