2 bool "/proc file system support" if EXPERT
5 This is a virtual file system providing information about the status
6 of the system. "Virtual" means that it doesn't take up any space on
7 your hard disk: the files are created on the fly by the kernel when
8 you try to access them. Also, you cannot read the files with older
9 version of the program less: you need to use more or cat.
11 It's totally cool; for example, "cat /proc/interrupts" gives
12 information about what the different IRQs are used for at the moment
13 (there is a small number of Interrupt ReQuest lines in your computer
14 that are used by the attached devices to gain the CPU's attention --
15 often a source of trouble if two devices are mistakenly configured
16 to use the same IRQ). The program procinfo to display some
17 information about your system gathered from the /proc file system.
19 Before you can use the /proc file system, it has to be mounted,
20 meaning it has to be given a location in the directory hierarchy.
21 That location should be /proc. A command such as "mount -t proc proc
22 /proc" or the equivalent line in /etc/fstab does the job.
24 The /proc file system is explained in the file
25 <file:Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt> and on the proc(5) manpage
28 This option will enlarge your kernel by about 67 KB. Several
29 programs depend on this, so everyone should say Y here.
32 bool "/proc/kcore support" if !ARM
33 depends on PROC_FS && MMU
36 Provides a virtual ELF core file of the live kernel. This can
37 be read with gdb and other ELF tools. No modifications can be
38 made using this mechanism.
41 bool "/proc/vmcore support"
42 depends on PROC_FS && CRASH_DUMP
45 Exports the dump image of crashed kernel in ELF format.
47 config PROC_VMCORE_DEVICE_DUMP
48 bool "Device Hardware/Firmware Log Collection"
49 depends on PROC_VMCORE
52 After kernel panic, device drivers can collect the device
53 specific snapshot of their hardware or firmware before the
54 underlying devices are initialized in crash recovery kernel.
55 Note that the device driver must be present in the crash
56 recovery kernel's initramfs to collect its underlying device
59 If you say Y here, the collected device dumps will be added
60 as ELF notes to /proc/vmcore.
63 bool "Sysctl support (/proc/sys)" if EXPERT
68 The sysctl interface provides a means of dynamically changing
69 certain kernel parameters and variables on the fly without requiring
70 a recompile of the kernel or reboot of the system. The primary
71 interface is through /proc/sys. If you say Y here a tree of
72 modifiable sysctl entries will be generated beneath the
73 /proc/sys directory. They are explained in the files
74 in <file:Documentation/sysctl/>. Note that enabling this
75 option will enlarge the kernel by at least 8 KB.
77 As it is generally a good thing, you should say Y here unless
78 building a kernel for install/rescue disks or your system is very
81 config PROC_PAGE_MONITOR
83 depends on PROC_FS && MMU
84 bool "Enable /proc page monitoring" if EXPERT
86 Various /proc files exist to monitor process memory utilization:
87 /proc/pid/smaps, /proc/pid/clear_refs, /proc/pid/pagemap,
88 /proc/kpagecount, and /proc/kpageflags. Disabling these
89 interfaces will reduce the size of the kernel by approximately 4kb.
92 bool "Include /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children file"
95 Provides a fast way to retrieve first level children pids of a task. See
96 <file:Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt> for more information.
98 Say Y if you are running any user-space software which takes benefit from
99 this interface. For example, rkt is such a piece of software.