Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 26 Feb 2014 18:32:08 +0100 | From | Alexander Graf <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] ksm: Expose configuration via sysctl |
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Sven-Haegar Koch wrote: > On Tue, 25 Feb 2014, Dave Hansen wrote: > > >> On 02/25/2014 03:09 PM, Alexander Graf wrote: >> >>>> Couldn't we also (maybe in parallel) just teach the sysctl userspace >>>> about sysfs? This way we don't have to do parallel sysctls and sysfs >>>> for *EVERYTHING* in the kernel: >>>> >>>> sysfs.kernel.mm.transparent_hugepage.enabled=enabled >>>> >>> It's pretty hard to filter this. We definitely do not want to expose all of sysfs through /proc/sys. But how do we know which files are actual configuration and which ones are dynamic system introspection data? >>> >>> We could add a filter, but then we can just as well stick with the manual approach I followed here :). >>> >> Maybe not stick it under /proc/sys, but teach sysctl(8) about them. I >> guess at the moment, sysctl says that it's tied to /proc/sys: >> >> >>> DESCRIPTION >>> sysctl is used to modify kernel parameters at runtime. The parameters available are those listed under /proc/sys/. Procfs is required >>> for sysctl support in Linux. You can use sysctl to both read and write sysctl data. >>> >> But surely that's not set in stone just because the manpage says so. :) >> > > What I still don't get is why you need this? > > My distribution (Debian) has a sysfsutils package which provides a > /etc/sysfs.conf / /etc/sysfs.d/foo exactly like /etc/sysctl.conf. > > Don't other distributions have something like this? >
Maybe that's the right answer to the problem, but I still don't understand why these properties were put into sysfs in the first place. We're not configuring a dynamic device here, are we?
Also if we do want something like a sysfs.conf and sysfs.d, that should probably be something that gets properly coordinated between distributions so that users don't get completely confused. Today openSUSE does not have a sysfs.conf/.d provided by the sysfsutils package. Maybe it's something homegrown?
Alex
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