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authorAnton Vorontsov <avorontsov@ru.mvista.com>2009-09-23 03:49:27 +0400
committerAnton Vorontsov <avorontsov@ru.mvista.com>2009-09-23 03:49:27 +0400
commitf056878332a91ed984a116bad4e7d49aefff9e6e (patch)
tree572f4757c8e7811d45e0be0c2ae529c78fb63441 /Documentation/sysctl
parent3961f7c3cf247eee5df7fabadc7a40f2deeb98f3 (diff)
parent7fa07729e439a6184bd824746d06a49cca553f15 (diff)
Merge branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6
Conflicts: drivers/power/wm97xx_battery.c
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sysctl')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt46
-rw-r--r--Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt4
2 files changed, 36 insertions, 14 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
index 322a00bb99d9..3e5b63ebb821 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Currently, these files might (depending on your configuration)
show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
- acpi_video_flags
- acct
+- callhome [ S390 only ]
- auto_msgmni
- core_pattern
- core_uses_pid
@@ -91,6 +92,21 @@ valid for 30 seconds.
==============================================================
+callhome:
+
+Controls the kernel's callhome behavior in case of a kernel panic.
+
+The s390 hardware allows an operating system to send a notification
+to a service organization (callhome) in case of an operating system panic.
+
+When the value in this file is 0 (which is the default behavior)
+nothing happens in case of a kernel panic. If this value is set to "1"
+the complete kernel oops message is send to the IBM customer service
+organization in case the mainframe the Linux operating system is running
+on has a service contract with IBM.
+
+==============================================================
+
core_pattern:
core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
@@ -303,25 +319,29 @@ This option can be used to select the type of process address
space randomization that is used in the system, for architectures
that support this feature.
-0 - Turn the process address space randomization off by default.
+0 - Turn the process address space randomization off. This is the
+ default for architectures that do not support this feature anyways,
+ and kernels that are booted with the "norandmaps" parameter.
1 - Make the addresses of mmap base, stack and VDSO page randomized.
This, among other things, implies that shared libraries will be
- loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the location
- of code start is randomized.
+ loaded to random addresses. Also for PIE-linked binaries, the
+ location of code start is randomized. This is the default if the
+ CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option is enabled.
- With heap randomization, the situation is a little bit more
- complicated.
- There a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
+2 - Additionally enable heap randomization. This is the default if
+ CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK is disabled.
+
+ There are a few legacy applications out there (such as some ancient
versions of libc.so.5 from 1996) that assume that brk area starts
- just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
- start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
+ just after the end of the code+bss. These applications break when
+ start of the brk area is randomized. There are however no known
non-legacy applications that would be broken this way, so for most
- systems it is safe to choose full randomization. However there is
- a CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK option for systems with ancient and/or broken
- binaries, that makes heap non-randomized, but keeps all other
- parts of process address space randomized if randomize_va_space
- sysctl is turned on.
+ systems it is safe to choose full randomization.
+
+ Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured
+ with CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK enabled, which excludes the heap from process
+ address space randomization.
==============================================================
diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
index c4de6359d440..e6fb1ec2744b 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt
@@ -585,7 +585,9 @@ caching of directory and inode objects.
At the default value of vfs_cache_pressure=100 the kernel will attempt to
reclaim dentries and inodes at a "fair" rate with respect to pagecache and
swapcache reclaim. Decreasing vfs_cache_pressure causes the kernel to prefer
-to retain dentry and inode caches. Increasing vfs_cache_pressure beyond 100
+to retain dentry and inode caches. When vfs_cache_pressure=0, the kernel will
+never reclaim dentries and inodes due to memory pressure and this can easily
+lead to out-of-memory conditions. Increasing vfs_cache_pressure beyond 100
causes the kernel to prefer to reclaim dentries and inodes.
==============================================================