SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>
#include <linux/sysctl.h>

---

int _sysctl(struct __sysctl_args *args);

Note: There is no glibc wrapper for this system call; see NOTES.

DESCRIPTION

Do not use this system call! See NOTES.

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.

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 discouraged, and it is so unloved that it is likely to disappear in a future kernel version. Since Linux 2.6.24, uses of this system call result in warnings in the kernel log. Remove it from your programs now; use the /proc/sys interface instead.

This system call is available only if the kernel was configured with the CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL option.

EXAMPLE

#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <linux/sysctl.h>
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);
}

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 4.06 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.