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authorHakan Olsson <ho@cvs.openbsd.org>2001-05-11 15:01:52 +0000
committerHakan Olsson <ho@cvs.openbsd.org>2001-05-11 15:01:52 +0000
commit82c81d4e1afa4b9be9fe7f8fbd8ca193f6a369ff (patch)
tree259a12affb6978c1c80b57ef18ba12b8dd61ba2f /sbin/sysctl
parent9e62115e3d59c104360166fdda9f72bc3b8c5e63 (diff)
Put the flag options in a list. (ok deraadt@)
Diffstat (limited to 'sbin/sysctl')
-rw-r--r--sbin/sysctl/sysctl.845
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 24 deletions
diff --git a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.8 b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.8
index 691d42f4296..26c45e4ca5c 100644
--- a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.8
+++ b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\" $OpenBSD: sysctl.8,v 1.62 2001/05/11 06:40:01 angelos Exp $
+.\" $OpenBSD: sysctl.8,v 1.63 2001/05/11 15:01:51 ho Exp $
.\" $NetBSD: sysctl.8,v 1.4 1995/09/30 07:12:49 thorpej Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1993
@@ -53,42 +53,39 @@
.Fl aA
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
-.Nm sysctl
+.Nm
utility retrieves kernel state and allows processes with
appropriate privilege to set kernel state.
The state to be retrieved or set is described using a
``Management Information Base'' (``MIB'') style name,
described as a dotted set of components.
-The
-.Fl a
-flag can be used to list all the currently available string or integer values.
-The
-.Fl A
-flag will list all the known MIB names including tables.
+
+The options are as follows:
+.Bl -tag -width xxx
+.It Fl a
+list all the currently available string or integer values.
+.It Fl A
+list all the known MIB names including tables.
Those with string or integer values will be printed as with the
.Fl a
-flag; for the table values,
-the name of the utility to retrieve them is given.
-.Pp
-The
-.Fl n
-flag specifies that the printing of the field name should be
-suppressed and that only its value should be output.
-This flag is useful for setting shell variables.
-For example, to save the pagesize in variable psize, use:
+flag; for the table values, the name of the utility to retrieve them is given.
+.It Fl n
+suppress printing of the field name, only output the field value.
+Useful for setting shell variables.
+For example:
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
set psize=`sysctl -n hw.pagesize`
.Ed
.Pp
If just a MIB style name is given,
the corresponding value is retrieved.
-If a value is to be set, the
-.Fl w
-flag must be specified and the MIB name followed
-by an equal sign and the new value to be used.
+.It Fl w
+required to set a variable. The MIB name should be followed
+by an equal sign and the new value.
+.El
.Pp
The information available from
-.Nm sysctl
+.Nm
consists of integers, strings, and tables.
The tabular information can only be retrieved by special
purpose programs such as
@@ -295,7 +292,7 @@ privilege can change the value.
.El
.Pp
The
-.Nm sysctl
+.Nm
program can get or set debugging variables
that have been identified for its display.
This information can be obtained by using the command:
@@ -303,7 +300,7 @@ This information can be obtained by using the command:
sysctl debug
.Ed
In addition,
-.Nm sysctl
+.Nm
can extract information about the filesystems that have been compiled
into the running system.
This information can be obtained by using the command: