kernel-parameters.txt

February 2003             Kernel Parameters                     v2.5.59
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following is a consolidated list of the kernel parameters as implemented
(mostly) by the __setup() macro and sorted into English Dictionary order
(defined as ignoring all punctuation and sorting digits before letters in a
case insensitive manner), and with descriptions where known.

Module parameters for loadable modules are specified only as the
parameter name with optional '=' and value as appropriate, such as:

	modprobe usbcore blinkenlights=1

Module parameters for modules that are built into the kernel image
are specified on the kernel command line with the module name plus
'.' plus parameter name, with '=' and value if appropriate, such as:

	usbcore.blinkenlights=1

The text in square brackets at the beginning of the description state the
restrictions on the kernel for the said kernel parameter to be valid. The
restrictions referred to are that the relevant option is valid if:

	ACPI	ACPI support is enabled.
	ALSA	ALSA sound support is enabled.
	APIC	APIC support is enabled.
	APM	Advanced Power Management support is enabled.
	AX25	Appropriate AX.25 support is enabled.
	CD	Appropriate CD support is enabled.
	DEVFS	devfs support is enabled. 
	DRM	Direct Rendering Management support is enabled. 
	EDD	BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services (EDD) is enabled
	EFI	EFI Partitioning (GPT) is enabled
	EIDE	EIDE/ATAPI support is enabled.
	FB	The frame buffer device is enabled.
	HW	Appropriate hardware is enabled.
	IA-32	IA-32 aka i386 architecture is enabled.
	IA-64	IA-64 architecture is enabled.
	IOSCHED	More than one I/O scheduler is enabled.
	IP_PNP	IP DCHP, BOOTP, or RARP is enabled.
	ISAPNP	ISA PnP code is enabled.
	ISDN	Appropriate ISDN support is enabled.
	JOY	Appropriate joystick support is enabled.
	LP	Printer support is enabled.
	LOOP	Loopback device support is enabled.
	M68k	M68k architecture is enabled.
			These options have more detailed description inside of
			Documentation/m68k/kernel-options.txt.
	MCA	MCA bus support is enabled.
	MDA	MDA console support is enabled.
	MOUSE	Appropriate mouse support is enabled.
	MTD	MTD support is enabled.
	NET	Appropriate network support is enabled.
	NUMA	NUMA support is enabled.
	NFS	Appropriate NFS support is enabled.
	OSS	OSS sound support is enabled.
	PARIDE	The ParIDE subsystem is enabled.
	PARISC	The PA-RISC architecture is enabled.
	PCI	PCI bus support is enabled.
	PCMCIA	The PCMCIA subsystem is enabled.
	PNP	Plug & Play support is enabled.
	PPC	PowerPC architecture is enabled.
	PPT	Parallel port support is enabled.
	PS2	Appropriate PS/2 support is enabled.
	RAM	RAM disk support is enabled.
	S390	S390 architecture is enabled.
	SCSI	Appropriate SCSI support is enabled.
			A lot of drivers has their options described inside of
			Documentation/scsi/.
	SELINUX SELinux support is enabled.
	SERIAL	Serial support is enabled.
	SMP	The kernel is an SMP kernel.
	SPARC	Sparc architecture is enabled.
	SWSUSP	Software suspension is enabled.
	TS	Appropriate touchscreen support is enabled.
	USB	USB support is enabled.
	USBHID	USB Human Interface Device support is enabled.
	V4L	Video For Linux support is enabled.
	VGA	The VGA console has been enabled.
	VT	Virtual terminal support is enabled.
	WDT	Watchdog support is enabled.
	XT	IBM PC/XT MFM hard disk support is enabled.
	X86-64	X86-64 architecture is enabled.
			More X86-64 boot options can be found in
			Documentation/x86_64/boot-options.txt .

In addition, the following text indicates that the option:

	BUGS=	Relates to possible processor bugs on the said processor.
	KNL	Is a kernel start-up parameter.
	BOOT	Is a boot loader parameter.

Parameters denoted with BOOT are actually interpreted by the boot
loader, and have no meaning to the kernel directly.
Do not modify the syntax of boot loader parameters without extreme
need or coordination with <Documentation/i386/boot.txt>.

Note that ALL kernel parameters listed below are CASE SENSITIVE, and that
a trailing = on the name of any parameter states that that parameter will
be entered as an environment variable, whereas its absence indicates that
it will appear as a kernel argument readable via /proc/cmdline by programs
running once the system is up.

	53c7xx=		[HW,SCSI] Amiga SCSI controllers
			See header of drivers/scsi/53c7xx.c.
			See also Documentation/scsi/ncr53c7xx.txt.

	acpi=		[HW,ACPI] Advanced Configuration and Power Interface 
			Format: { force | off | ht | strict }
			force -- enable ACPI if default was off
			off -- disable ACPI if default was on
			noirq -- do not use ACPI for IRQ routing
			ht -- run only enough ACPI to enable Hyper Threading
			strict --  Be less tolerant of platforms that are not
				strictly ACPI specification compliant.

			See also Documentation/pm.txt, pci=noacpi

	acpi_sleep=	[HW,ACPI] Sleep options
			Format: { s3_bios, s3_mode }
			See Documentation/power/video.txt
 
	acpi_sci=	[HW,ACPI] ACPI System Control Interrupt trigger mode
			Format: { level | edge |  high | low }

	acpi_irq_balance	[HW,ACPI] ACPI will balance active IRQs
				default in APIC mode

	acpi_irq_nobalance	[HW,ACPI] ACPI will not move active IRQs (default)
				default in PIC mode

	acpi_irq_pci=	[HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, Clear listed IRQs for use by PCI
			Format: <irq>,<irq>...

	acpi_irq_isa=	[HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, Mark listed IRQs used by ISA
			Format: <irq>,<irq>...

	acpi_osi=	[HW,ACPI] empty param disables _OSI

	acpi_serialize	[HW,ACPI] force serialization of AML methods

	acpi_skip_timer_override [HW,ACPI]
			Recognize and ignore IRQ0/pin2 Interrupt Override.
			For broken nForce2 BIOS resulting in XT-PIC timer.

	acpi_dbg_layer=	[HW,ACPI]
			Format: <int>
			Each bit of the <int> indicates an acpi debug layer,
			1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
			debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
			via /proc/acpi/debug_layer.

	acpi_dbg_level=	[HW,ACPI]
			Format: <int>
			Each bit of the <int> indicates an acpi debug level,
			1: enable, 0: disable. It is useful for boot time
			debugging. After system has booted up, it can be set
			via /proc/acpi/debug_level.

	acpi_fake_ecdt	[HW,ACPI] Workaround failure due to BIOS lacking ECDT

	ad1816=		[HW,OSS]
			Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>
			See also Documentation/sound/oss/AD1816.

	ad1848=		[HW,OSS]
			Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<dma2>,<type>

	adlib=		[HW,OSS]
			Format: <io>
 
	advansys=	[HW,SCSI]
			See header of drivers/scsi/advansys.c.

	advwdt=		[HW,WDT] Advantech WDT
			Format: <iostart>,<iostop>

	aedsp16=	[HW,OSS] Audio Excel DSP 16
			Format: <io>,<irq>,<dma>,<mss_io>,<mpu_io>,<mpu_irq>
			See also header of sound/oss/aedsp16.c.
 
	aha152x=	[HW,SCSI]
			See Documentation/scsi/aha152x.txt.

	aha1542=	[HW,SCSI]
			Format: <portbase>[,<buson>,<busoff>[,<dmaspeed>]]

	aic7xxx=	[HW,SCSI]
			See Documentation/scsi/aic7xxx.txt.

	aic79xx=	[HW,SCSI]
			See Documentation/scsi/aic79xx.txt.

	AM53C974=	[HW,SCSI]
			Format: <host-scsi-id>,<target-scsi-id>,<max-rate>,<max-offset>
			See also header of drivers/scsi/AM53C974.c.

	amijoy.map=	[HW,JOY] Amiga joystick support
			Map of devices attached to JOY0DAT and JOY1DAT
			Format: <a>,<b>