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Kernel Parameters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Hyphens (dashes) and underscores are equivalent in parameter names, so
log_buf_len=1M print-fatal-signals=1
can also be entered as
log-buf-len=1M print_fatal_signals=1
This document may not be entirely up to date and comprehensive. The command
"modinfo -p ${modulename}" shows a current list of all parameters of a loadable
module. Loadable modules, after being loaded into the running kernel, also
reveal their parameters in /sys/module/${modulename}/parameters/. Some of these
parameters may be changed at runtime by the command
"echo -n ${value} > /sys/module/${modulename}/parameters/${parm}".
The parameters listed below are only valid if certain kernel build options were
enabled and if respective hardware is present. The text in square brackets at
the beginning of each description states the restrictions within which a
parameter is applicable:
AGP AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is enabled.
ALSA ALSA sound support is enabled.
APIC APIC support is enabled.
APM Advanced Power Management support is enabled.
BLACKFIN Blackfin architecture 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.
GCOV GCOV profiling is enabled.
HW Appropriate hardware is enabled.
IA-64 IA-64 architecture is enabled.
IP_PNP IP DHCP, BOOTP, or RARP is enabled.
ISAPNP ISA PnP code is enabled.
ISDN Appropriate ISDN support is enabled.
JOY Appropriate joystick support is enabled.
KGDB Kernel debugger support is enabled.
KVM Kernel Virtual Machine support is enabled.
LIBATA Libata driver 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.
MSI Message Signaled Interrupts (PCI).
MTD MTD (Memory Technology Device) 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.
PV_OPS A paravirtualized kernel is enabled.
PARIDE The ParIDE (parallel port IDE) 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 have their options described inside
the Documentation/scsi/ sub-directory.
SECURITY Different security models are enabled.
APPARMOR AppArmor support is enabled.
SH SuperH architecture is enabled.
SMP The kernel is an SMP kernel.
SPARC Sparc architecture is enabled.
SWSUSP Software suspend (hibernation) is enabled.
SUSPEND System suspend states are enabled.
FTRACE Function tracing enabled.
TPM TPM drivers are enabled.
UMS USB Mass Storage 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.
X86-32 X86-32, aka i386 architecture is enabled.
X86-64 X86-64 architecture is enabled.
More X86-64 boot options can be found in
X86 Either 32bit or 64bit x86 (same as X86-32+X86-64)
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/x86/boot.txt>.
There are also arch-specific kernel-parameters not documented here.
See for example <Documentation/x86/x86_64/boot-options.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.
The number of kernel parameters is not limited, but the length of the
complete command line (parameters including spaces etc.) is limited to
a fixed number of characters. This limit depends on the architecture
and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file
./include/asm/setup.h as COMMAND_LINE_SIZE.
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acpi= [HW,ACPI,X86]
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
Format: { force | off | strict | noirq | rsdt }
force -- enable ACPI if default was off
off -- disable ACPI if default was on
noirq -- do not use ACPI for IRQ routing
strict -- Be less tolerant of platforms that are not
rsdt -- prefer RSDT over (default) XSDT
copy_dsdt -- copy DSDT to memory
See also Documentation/power/pm.txt, pci=noacpi
acpi_apic_instance= [ACPI, IOAPIC]
Format: <int>
2: use 2nd APIC table, if available
1,0: use 1st APIC table
acpi_backlight= [HW,ACPI]
acpi_backlight=vendor
acpi_backlight=video
If set to vendor, prefer vendor specific driver
(e.g. thinkpad_acpi, sony_acpi, etc.) instead
of the ACPI video.ko driver.
acpi.debug_layer= [HW,ACPI,ACPI_DEBUG]
acpi.debug_level= [HW,ACPI,ACPI_DEBUG]
CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG must be enabled to produce any ACPI
debug output. Bits in debug_layer correspond to a
_COMPONENT in an ACPI source file, e.g.,
#define _COMPONENT ACPI_PCI_COMPONENT
Bits in debug_level correspond to a level in
ACPI_DEBUG_PRINT statements, e.g.,
ACPI_DEBUG_PRINT((ACPI_DB_INFO, ...
The debug_level mask defaults to "info". See
Documentation/acpi/debug.txt for more information about
debug layers and levels.
Enable processor driver info messages:
acpi.debug_layer=0x20000000
Enable PCI/PCI interrupt routing info messages:
acpi.debug_layer=0x400000
Enable AML "Debug" output, i.e., stores to the Debug
object while interpreting AML:
acpi.debug_layer=0xffffffff acpi.debug_level=0x2
Enable all messages related to ACPI hardware:
acpi.debug_layer=0x2 acpi.debug_level=0xffffffff
Some values produce so much output that the system is
unusable. The "log_buf_len" parameter may be useful
if you need to capture more output.
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acpi_display_output= [HW,ACPI]
acpi_display_output=vendor
acpi_display_output=video
See above.
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_isa= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, mark listed IRQs used by ISA
Format: <irq>,<irq>...
acpi_irq_pci= [HW,ACPI] If irq_balance, clear listed IRQs for
use by PCI
Format: <irq>,<irq>...
acpi_no_auto_ssdt [HW,ACPI] Disable automatic loading of SSDT
acpi_os_name= [HW,ACPI] Tell ACPI BIOS the name of the OS
Format: To spoof as Windows 98: ="Microsoft Windows"
acpi_osi= [HW,ACPI] Modify list of supported OS interface strings
acpi_osi="string1" # add string1 -- only one string
acpi_osi="!string2" # remove built-in string2
acpi_osi= # disable all strings
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acpi_pm_good [X86]
Override the pmtimer bug detection: force the kernel
to assume that this machine's pmtimer latches its value
and always returns good values.
acpi_sci= [HW,ACPI] ACPI System Control Interrupt trigger mode
Format: { level | edge | high | low }
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_sleep= [HW,ACPI] Sleep options
Format: { s3_bios, s3_mode, s3_beep, s4_nohwsig,
old_ordering, s4_nonvs, sci_force_enable }
See Documentation/power/video.txt for information on
s3_bios and s3_mode.
s3_beep is for debugging; it makes the PC's speaker beep
as soon as the kernel's real-mode entry point is called.
s4_nohwsig prevents ACPI hardware signature from being
used during resume from hibernation.
old_ordering causes the ACPI 1.0 ordering of the _PTS
control method, with respect to putting devices into
low power states, to be enforced (the ACPI 2.0 ordering
of _PTS is used by default).
nonvs prevents the kernel from saving/restoring the
ACPI NVS memory during suspend/hibernation and resume.
sci_force_enable causes the kernel to set SCI_EN directly
on resume from S1/S3 (which is against the ACPI spec,
but some broken systems don't work without it).
acpi_use_timer_override [HW,ACPI]
Use timer override. For some broken Nvidia NF5 boards
that require a timer override, but don't have HPET
acpi_enforce_resources= [ACPI]
{ strict | lax | no }
Check for resource conflicts between native drivers
and ACPI OperationRegions (SystemIO and SystemMemory
only). IO ports and memory declared in ACPI might be
used by the ACPI subsystem in arbitrary AML code and
can interfere with legacy drivers.
strict (default): access to resources claimed by ACPI
is denied; legacy drivers trying to access reserved
resources will fail to bind to device using them.
lax: access to resources claimed by ACPI is allowed;
legacy drivers trying to access reserved resources
will bind successfully but a warning message is logged.
no: ACPI OperationRegions are not marked as reserved,
no further checks are performed.
add_efi_memmap [EFI; X86] Include EFI memory map in
kernel's map of available physical RAM.
agp= [AGP]
{ off | try_unsupported }
off: disable AGP support
try_unsupported: try to drive unsupported chipsets
(may crash computer or cause data corruption)
ALSA [HW,ALSA]
See Documentation/sound/alsa/alsa-parameters.txt
alignment= [KNL,ARM]
Allow the default userspace alignment fault handler
behaviour to be specified. Bit 0 enables warnings,
bit 1 enables fixups, and bit 2 sends a segfault.
amd_iommu= [HW,X86-84]
Pass parameters to the AMD IOMMU driver in the system.
Possible values are:
fullflush - enable flushing of IO/TLB entries when
they are unmapped. Otherwise they are
flushed before they will be reused, which
is a lot of faster
off - do not initialize any AMD IOMMU found in
the system
amijoy.map= [HW,JOY] Amiga joystick support
Map of devices attached to JOY0DAT and JOY1DAT
Format: <a>,<b>
See also Documentation/kernel/input/joystick.txt
analog.map= [HW,JOY] Analog joystick and gamepad support
Specifies type or capabilities of an analog joystick
connected to one of 16 gameports
Format: <type1>,<type2>,..<type16>
apc= [HW,SPARC]
Power management functions (SPARCstation-4/5 + deriv.)
Format: noidle
Disable APC CPU standby support. SPARCstation-Fox does
not play well with APC CPU idle - disable it if you have
APC and your system crashes randomly.
apic= [APIC,X86-32] Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
Change the output verbosity whilst booting
Format: { quiet (default) | verbose | debug }
Change the amount of debugging information output
when initialising the APIC and IO-APIC components.
autoconf= [IPV6]
See Documentation/networking/ipv6.txt.
show_lapic= [APIC,X86] Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
Limit apic dumping. The parameter defines the maximal
number of local apics being dumped. Also it is possible
to set it to "all" by meaning -- no limit here.
Format: { 1 (default) | 2 | ... | all }.
The parameter valid if only apic=debug or
apic=verbose is specified.
Example: apic=debug show_lapic=all
See header of arch/x86/kernel/apm_32.c.
arcrimi= [HW,NET] ARCnet - "RIM I" (entirely mem-mapped) cards
Format: <io>,<irq>,<nodeID>
ataflop= [HW,M68k]
atarimouse= [HW,MOUSE] Atari Mouse
atkbd.extra= [HW] Enable extra LEDs and keys on IBM RapidAccess,
EzKey and similar keyboards
atkbd.reset= [HW] Reset keyboard during initialization
atkbd.set= [HW] Select keyboard code set
Format: <int> (2 = AT (default), 3 = PS/2)
atkbd.scroll= [HW] Enable scroll wheel on MS Office and similar
keyboards
atkbd.softraw= [HW] Choose between synthetic and real raw mode
Format: <bool> (0 = real, 1 = synthetic (default))
atkbd.softrepeat= [HW]
Use software keyboard repeat
autotest [IA64]
baycom_epp= [HW,AX25]
Format: <io>,<mode>
baycom_par= [HW,AX25] BayCom Parallel Port AX.25 Modem
Format: <io>,<mode>
See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_par.c.
baycom_ser_fdx= [HW,AX25]
BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Full Duplex Mode)
Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>[,<baud>]
See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_fdx.c.
baycom_ser_hdx= [HW,AX25]
BayCom Serial Port AX.25 Modem (Half Duplex Mode)
Format: <io>,<irq>,<mode>
See header of drivers/net/hamradio/baycom_ser_hdx.c.
boot_delay= Milliseconds to delay each printk during boot.
Values larger than 10 seconds (10000) are changed to
no delay (0).
Format: integer
bootmem_debug [KNL] Enable bootmem allocator debug messages.
bttv.card= [HW,V4L] bttv (bt848 + bt878 based grabber cards)
bttv.radio= Most important insmod options are available as
kernel args too.
bttv.pll= See Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Insmod-options
bttv.tuner= and Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CARDLIST
c101= [NET] Moxa C101 synchronous serial card
cachesize= [BUGS=X86-32] Override level 2 CPU cache size detection.
Sometimes CPU hardware bugs make them report the cache
size incorrectly. The kernel will attempt work arounds
to fix known problems, but for some CPUs it is not
possible to determine what the correct size should be.
This option provides an override for these situations.
capability.disable=
[SECURITY] Disable capabilities. This would normally
be used only if an alternative security model is to be
configured. Potentially dangerous and should only be
used if you are entirely sure of the consequences.
ccw_timeout_log [S390]
See Documentation/s390/CommonIO for details.
cgroup_disable= [KNL] Disable a particular controller
Format: {name of the controller(s) to disable}
{Currently supported controllers - "memory"}
checkreqprot [SELINUX] Set initial checkreqprot flag value.
Format: { "0" | "1" }
See security/selinux/Kconfig help text.
0 -- check protection applied by kernel (includes
any implied execute protection).
1 -- check protection requested by application.
Default value is set via a kernel config option.
Value can be changed at runtime via
/selinux/checkreqprot.
cio_ignore= [S390]
See Documentation/s390/CommonIO for details.
clock= [BUGS=X86-32, HW] gettimeofday clocksource override.
Forces specified clocksource (if available) to be used
when calculating gettimeofday(). If specified
clocksource is not available, it defaults to PIT.
clocksource= Override the default clocksource
Format: <string>
Override the default clocksource and use the clocksource
with the name specified.
Some clocksource names to choose from, depending on
the platform:
[all] jiffies (this is the base, fallback clocksource)
[ACPI] acpi_pm
[ARM] imx_timer1,OSTS,netx_timer,mpu_timer2,
pxa_timer,timer3,32k_counter,timer0_1
[AVR32] avr32
[X86-32] pit,hpet,tsc,vmi-timer;
scx200_hrt on Geode; cyclone on IBM x440
[MIPS] MIPS
[PARISC] cr16
[S390] tod
[SH] SuperH
[SPARC64] tick
[X86-64] hpet,tsc
clearcpuid=BITNUM [X86]
Disable CPUID feature X for the kernel. See
arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h for the valid bit
numbers. Note the Linux specific bits are not necessarily
stable over kernel options, but the vendor specific
ones should be.
Also note that user programs calling CPUID directly
or using the feature without checking anything
will still see it. This just prevents it from
being used by the kernel or shown in /proc/cpuinfo.
Also note the kernel might malfunction if you disable
some critical bits.
cmo_free_hint= [PPC] Format: { yes | no }
Specify whether pages are marked as being inactive
when they are freed. This is used in CMO environments
to determine OS memory pressure for page stealing by
a hypervisor.
Default: yes
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code_bytes [X86] How many bytes of object code to print
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in an oops report.
Range: 0 - 8192
Default: 64
Format:
<io>[,<irq>[,<nodeID>[,<backplane>[,<ckp>[,<timeout>]]]]]
com90io= [HW,NET] ARCnet - COM90xx chipset (IO-mapped buffers)
Format: <io>[,<irq>]
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