Topic summary
Sysctl

Unix-like software that manages kernel attributes sysctlApplying sysctl in a Linux systemWritten inCOperating systemUnix-like (BSD)TypeSystem configuration sysctl is a software mechanism in some Unix-like operating systems that reads and modifies the attributes of the system kernel such as its version number, maximum limits, and security settings. It is available both as a system call for compiled programs, and an administrator command for interactive use and scripting. Linux additionally exposes sysctl as a virtual file system. BSD In BSD, these parameters are generally objects in a management information base (MIB) that describe tunable limits such as the size of a shared memory segment, the number of threads the operating system will use as an NFS client, or the maximum number of processes on the system; or describe, enable or disable behaviors such as IP forwarding, security restrictions on the superuser (the "securelevel"), or debugging output. In OpenBSD and DragonFly BSD, sysctl is also used as the transport layer for the hw.sensors framework for hardware monitoring, whereas NetBSD uses the ioctl system call for its sysmon envsys counterpart. Both sysctl and ioctl are the tw