ocfs2: Introduce dir lookup helper struct
[deliverable/linux.git] / Documentation / sysrq.txt
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1da177e4 1Linux Magic System Request Key Hacks
d346cce3 2Documentation for sysrq.c
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3
4* What is the magic SysRq key?
5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6It is a 'magical' key combo you can hit which the kernel will respond to
7regardless of whatever else it is doing, unless it is completely locked up.
8
9* How do I enable the magic SysRq key?
10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11You need to say "yes" to 'Magic SysRq key (CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ)' when
12configuring the kernel. When running a kernel with SysRq compiled in,
13/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq controls the functions allowed to be invoked via
14the SysRq key. By default the file contains 1 which means that every
15possible SysRq request is allowed (in older versions SysRq was disabled
16by default, and you were required to specifically enable it at run-time
17but this is not the case any more). Here is the list of possible values
18in /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq:
19 0 - disable sysrq completely
20 1 - enable all functions of sysrq
21 >1 - bitmask of allowed sysrq functions (see below for detailed function
22 description):
23 2 - enable control of console logging level
24 4 - enable control of keyboard (SAK, unraw)
25 8 - enable debugging dumps of processes etc.
26 16 - enable sync command
27 32 - enable remount read-only
28 64 - enable signalling of processes (term, kill, oom-kill)
29 128 - allow reboot/poweroff
30 256 - allow nicing of all RT tasks
31
32You can set the value in the file by the following command:
33 echo "number" >/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
34
35Note that the value of /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq influences only the invocation
36via a keyboard. Invocation of any operation via /proc/sysrq-trigger is always
d346cce3 37allowed (by a user with admin privileges).
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38
39* How do I use the magic SysRq key?
40~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
41On x86 - You press the key combo 'ALT-SysRq-<command key>'. Note - Some
42 keyboards may not have a key labeled 'SysRq'. The 'SysRq' key is
43 also known as the 'Print Screen' key. Also some keyboards cannot
44 handle so many keys being pressed at the same time, so you might
dfb0042d 45 have better luck with "press Alt", "press SysRq", "release SysRq",
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46 "press <command key>", release everything.
47
48On SPARC - You press 'ALT-STOP-<command key>', I believe.
49
50On the serial console (PC style standard serial ports only) -
51 You send a BREAK, then within 5 seconds a command key. Sending
52 BREAK twice is interpreted as a normal BREAK.
53
54On PowerPC - Press 'ALT - Print Screen (or F13) - <command key>,
55 Print Screen (or F13) - <command key> may suffice.
56
57On other - If you know of the key combos for other architectures, please
58 let me know so I can add them to this section.
59
d346cce3 60On all - write a character to /proc/sysrq-trigger. e.g.:
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61
62 echo t > /proc/sysrq-trigger
63
64* What are the 'command' keys?
65~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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66'b' - Will immediately reboot the system without syncing or unmounting
67 your disks.
68
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69'c' - Will perform a kexec reboot in order to take a crashdump.
70
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71'd' - Shows all locks that are held.
72
78831ba6 73'e' - Send a SIGTERM to all processes, except for init.
1da177e4 74
78831ba6 75'f' - Will call oom_kill to kill a memory hog process.
1da177e4 76
d29c91c7 77'g' - Used by kgdb on ppc and sh platforms.
1da177e4 78
78831ba6 79'h' - Will display help (actually any other key than those listed
09736bd3 80 here will display help. but 'h' is easy to remember :-)
1da177e4 81
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82'i' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, except for init.
83
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84'j' - Forcibly "Just thaw it" - filesystems frozen by the FIFREEZE ioctl.
85
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86'k' - Secure Access Key (SAK) Kills all programs on the current virtual
87 console. NOTE: See important comments below in SAK section.
1da177e4 88
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89'l' - Shows a stack backtrace for all active CPUs.
90
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91'm' - Will dump current memory info to your console.
92
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93'n' - Used to make RT tasks nice-able
94
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95'o' - Will shut your system off (if configured and supported).
96
97'p' - Will dump the current registers and flags to your console.
98
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99'q' - Will dump per CPU lists of all armed hrtimers (but NOT regular
100 timer_list timers) and detailed information about all
101 clockevent devices.
acf11fae 102
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103'r' - Turns off keyboard raw mode and sets it to XLATE.
104
105's' - Will attempt to sync all mounted filesystems.
106
107't' - Will dump a list of current tasks and their information to your
108 console.
109
110'u' - Will attempt to remount all mounted filesystems read-only.
111
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112'v' - Dumps Voyager SMP processor info to your console.
113
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114'w' - Dumps tasks that are in uninterruptable (blocked) state.
115
116'x' - Used by xmon interface on ppc/powerpc platforms.
117
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118'0'-'9' - Sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages
119 will be printed to your console. ('0', for example would make
120 it so that only emergency messages like PANICs or OOPSes would
121 make it to your console.)
122
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123* Okay, so what can I use them for?
124~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
125Well, un'R'aw is very handy when your X server or a svgalib program crashes.
126
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127sa'K' (Secure Access Key) is useful when you want to be sure there is no
128trojan program running at console which could grab your password
129when you would try to login. It will kill all programs on given console,
130thus letting you make sure that the login prompt you see is actually
1da177e4 131the one from init, not some trojan program.
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132IMPORTANT: In its true form it is not a true SAK like the one in a :IMPORTANT
133IMPORTANT: c2 compliant system, and it should not be mistaken as :IMPORTANT
134IMPORTANT: such. :IMPORTANT
d346cce3 135 It seems others find it useful as (System Attention Key) which is
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136useful when you want to exit a program that will not let you switch consoles.
137(For example, X or a svgalib program.)
138
139re'B'oot is good when you're unable to shut down. But you should also 'S'ync
140and 'U'mount first.
141
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142'C'rashdump can be used to manually trigger a crashdump when the system is hung.
143The kernel needs to have been built with CONFIG_KEXEC enabled.
144
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145'S'ync is great when your system is locked up, it allows you to sync your
146disks and will certainly lessen the chance of data loss and fscking. Note
147that the sync hasn't taken place until you see the "OK" and "Done" appear
148on the screen. (If the kernel is really in strife, you may not ever get the
149OK or Done message...)
150
151'U'mount is basically useful in the same ways as 'S'ync. I generally 'S'ync,
152'U'mount, then re'B'oot when my system locks. It's saved me many a fsck.
153Again, the unmount (remount read-only) hasn't taken place until you see the
154"OK" and "Done" message appear on the screen.
155
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156The loglevels '0'-'9' are useful when your console is being flooded with
157kernel messages you do not want to see. Selecting '0' will prevent all but
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158the most urgent kernel messages from reaching your console. (They will
159still be logged if syslogd/klogd are alive, though.)
160
161t'E'rm and k'I'll are useful if you have some sort of runaway process you
162are unable to kill any other way, especially if it's spawning other
163processes.
164
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165"'J'ust thaw it" is useful if your system becomes unresponsive due to a frozen
166(probably root) filesystem via the FIFREEZE ioctl.
167
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168* Sometimes SysRq seems to get 'stuck' after using it, what can I do?
169~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
170That happens to me, also. I've found that tapping shift, alt, and control
171on both sides of the keyboard, and hitting an invalid sysrq sequence again
d346cce3 172will fix the problem. (i.e., something like alt-sysrq-z). Switching to another
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173virtual console (ALT+Fn) and then back again should also help.
174
175* I hit SysRq, but nothing seems to happen, what's wrong?
176~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
177There are some keyboards that send different scancodes for SysRq than the
178pre-defined 0x54. So if SysRq doesn't work out of the box for a certain
179keyboard, run 'showkey -s' to find out the proper scancode sequence. Then
180use 'setkeycodes <sequence> 84' to define this sequence to the usual SysRq
181code (84 is decimal for 0x54). It's probably best to put this command in a
182boot script. Oh, and by the way, you exit 'showkey' by not typing anything
183for ten seconds.
184
185* I want to add SysRQ key events to a module, how does it work?
186~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
187In order to register a basic function with the table, you must first include
188the header 'include/linux/sysrq.h', this will define everything else you need.
189Next, you must create a sysrq_key_op struct, and populate it with A) the key
190handler function you will use, B) a help_msg string, that will print when SysRQ
191prints help, and C) an action_msg string, that will print right before your
338cec32 192handler is called. Your handler must conform to the prototype in 'sysrq.h'.
1da177e4 193
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194After the sysrq_key_op is created, you can call the kernel function
195register_sysrq_key(int key, struct sysrq_key_op *op_p); this will
196register the operation pointed to by 'op_p' at table key 'key',
197if that slot in the table is blank. At module unload time, you must call
198the function unregister_sysrq_key(int key, struct sysrq_key_op *op_p), which
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199will remove the key op pointed to by 'op_p' from the key 'key', if and only if
200it is currently registered in that slot. This is in case the slot has been
201overwritten since you registered it.
202
203The Magic SysRQ system works by registering key operations against a key op
204lookup table, which is defined in 'drivers/char/sysrq.c'. This key table has
205a number of operations registered into it at compile time, but is mutable,
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206and 2 functions are exported for interface to it:
207 register_sysrq_key and unregister_sysrq_key.
208Of course, never ever leave an invalid pointer in the table. I.e., when
209your module that called register_sysrq_key() exits, it must call
210unregister_sysrq_key() to clean up the sysrq key table entry that it used.
211Null pointers in the table are always safe. :)
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212
213If for some reason you feel the need to call the handle_sysrq function from
214within a function called by handle_sysrq, you must be aware that you are in
215a lock (you are also in an interrupt handler, which means don't sleep!), so
216you must call __handle_sysrq_nolock instead.
217
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218* When I hit a SysRq key combination only the header appears on the console?
219~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
220Sysrq output is subject to the same console loglevel control as all
221other console output. This means that if the kernel was booted 'quiet'
222as is common on distro kernels the output may not appear on the actual
223console, even though it will appear in the dmesg buffer, and be accessible
224via the dmesg command and to the consumers of /proc/kmsg. As a specific
225exception the header line from the sysrq command is passed to all console
226consumers as if the current loglevel was maximum. If only the header
227is emitted it is almost certain that the kernel loglevel is too low.
228Should you require the output on the console channel then you will need
229to temporarily up the console loglevel using alt-sysrq-8 or:
230
231 echo 8 > /proc/sysrq-trigger
232
233Remember to return the loglevel to normal after triggering the sysrq
234command you are interested in.
235
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236* I have more questions, who can I ask?
237~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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238And I'll answer any questions about the registration system you got, also
239responding as soon as possible.
240 -Crutcher
241
242* Credits
243~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5e03e2c4 244Written by Mydraal <vulpyne@vulpyne.net>
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245Updated by Adam Sulmicki <adam@cfar.umd.edu>
246Updated by Jeremy M. Dolan <jmd@turbogeek.org> 2001/01/28 10:15:59
247Added to by Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher+kernel@datastacks.com>
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