Man _sysctl en anglais
SYSCTL(2)                  Linux Programmer's Manual                 SYSCTL(2)



 

NAME


       sysctl - read/write system parameters

 

SYNOPSIS


       #include 
       #include 

       int _sysctl(struct __sysctl_args *args);

 

DESCRIPTION






       The _sysctl() call reads and/or writes kernel parameters.  For example,
       the hostname, or the maximum number of open files.   The  argument  has
       the form

           struct __sysctl_args {
               int    *name;    /* integer vector describing variable */
               int     nlen;    /* length of this vector */
               void   *oldval;  /* 0 or address where to store old value */
               size_t *oldlenp; /* available room for old value,
                                   overwritten by actual size of old value */
               void   *newval;  /* 0 or address of new value */
               size_t  newlen;  /* size of new value */
           };

       This  call  does  a  search  in a tree structure, possibly resembling a
       directory tree under /proc/sys, and if  the  requested  item  is  found
       calls some appropriate routine to read or modify the value.

 

RETURN VALUE


       Upon successful completion, _sysctl() returns 0.  Otherwise, a value of
       -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

 

ERRORS


       EFAULT The invocation asked for the previous value  by  setting  oldval
              non-NULL, but allowed zero room in oldlenp.

 

       ENOTDIR


              name was not found.

       EPERM  No  search  permission for one of the encountered "directories",
              or no read permission where oldval was  non-zero,  or  no  write
              permission where newval was non-zero.

 

CONFORMING TO


       This  call  is  Linux-specific,  and  should  not  be  used in programs
       intended to be portable.  A sysctl() call has  been  present  in  Linux
       since  version  1.3.57.   It  originated in 4.4BSD.  Only Linux has the
       /proc/sys mirror, and the object naming schemes  differ  between  Linux
       and 4.4BSD, but the declaration of the sysctl() function is the same in
       both.

 

NOTES


       Glibc does not provide a wrapper for this system call;  call  it  using
       syscall(2).

       Or  rather... don't call it: use of this system call has long been dis-
       couraged, and it is so unloved that it is  likely  to  disappear  in  a
       future  kernel  version.   Remove  it  from  your programs now; use the
       /proc/sys interface instead.

 

BUGS


       The object names vary between kernel versions, making this system  call
       worthless for applications.

       Not all available objects are properly documented.

       It  is  not  yet  possible  to  change  operating  system by writing to
       /proc/sys/kernel/ostype.

 

EXAMPLE


       #define _GNU_SOURCE
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 

       int _sysctl(struct __sysctl_args *args );

       #define OSNAMESZ 100

       int
       main(void)
       {
           struct __sysctl_args args;
           char osname[OSNAMESZ];
           size_t osnamelth;
           int name[] = { CTL_KERN, KERN_OSTYPE };

           memset(&args, 0, sizeof(struct __sysctl_args));
           args.name = name;
           args.nlen = sizeof(name)/sizeof(name[0]);
           args.oldval = osname;
           args.oldlenp = &osnamelth;

           osnamelth = sizeof(osname);

           if (syscall(SYS__sysctl, &args) == -1) {
               perror("_sysctl");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }
           printf("This machine is running %*s\n", osnamelth, osname);
           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

 

SEE ALSO


       proc(5)

 

COLOPHON


       This page is part of release 3.05 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of  the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                             2007-09-22                         SYSCTL(2)