SYSCONF(3)                                                   Linux Programmer's Manual                                                  SYSCONF(3)

NAME

       sysconf - get configuration information at run time

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       long sysconf(int name);

DESCRIPTION

       POSIX  allows  an application to test at compile or run time whether certain options are supported, or what the value is of certain config-
       urable constants or limits.

       At compile time this is done by including <unistd.h> and/or <limits.h> and testing the value of certain macros.

       At run time, one can ask for numerical values using the present function sysconf().  One can ask for numerical values that  may  depend  on
       the filesystem in which a file resides using fpathconf(3) and pathconf(3).  One can ask for string values using confstr(3).

       The values obtained from these functions are system configuration constants.  They do not change during the lifetime of a process.

       For  options, typically, there is a constant _POSIX_FOO that may be defined in <unistd.h>.  If it is undefined, one should ask at run time.
       If it is defined to -1, then the option is not supported.  If it is defined to 0, then relevant functions and headers exist, but one has to
       ask  at  run time what degree of support is available.  If it is defined to a value other than -1 or 0, then the option is supported.  Usu-
       ally the value (such as 200112L) indicates the year and month of the POSIX revision describing the option.  Glibc uses the value 1 to indi-
       cate support as long as the POSIX revision has not been published yet.  The sysconf() argument will be _SC_FOO.  For a list of options, see
       posixoptions(7).

       For variables or limits, typically, there is a constant _FOO, maybe defined in <limits.h>, or _POSIX_FOO, maybe defined in <unistd.h>.  The
       constant  will  not  be  defined if the limit is unspecified.  If the constant is defined, it gives a guaranteed value, and a greater value
       might actually be supported.  If an application wants to take advantage of values which may change between systems, a call to sysconf() can
       be made.  The sysconf() argument will be _SC_FOO.

   POSIX.1 variables
       We give the name of the variable, the name of the sysconf() argument used to inquire about its value, and a short description.

       First, the POSIX.1 compatible values.

       ARG_MAX - _SC_ARG_MAX
              The maximum length of the arguments to the exec(3) family of functions.  Must not be less than _POSIX_ARG_MAX (4096).

       CHILD_MAX - _SC_CHILD_MAX
              The maximum number of simultaneous processes per user ID.  Must not be less than _POSIX_CHILD_MAX (25).

       HOST_NAME_MAX - _SC_HOST_NAME_MAX
              Maximum  length  of  a  hostname,  not  including  the  terminating null byte, as returned by gethostname(2).  Must not be less than
              _POSIX_HOST_NAME_MAX (255).

       LOGIN_NAME_MAX - _SC_LOGIN_NAME_MAX
              Maximum length of a login name, including the terminating null byte.  Must not be less than _POSIX_LOGIN_NAME_MAX (9).

       NGROUPS_MAX - _SC_NGROUPS_MAX
              Maximum number of supplementary group IDs.

       clock ticks - _SC_CLK_TCK
              The number of clock ticks per second.  The corresponding variable is obsolete.  It was of course called CLK_TCK.  (Note:  the  macro
              CLOCKS_PER_SEC does not give information: it must equal 1000000.)

       OPEN_MAX - _SC_OPEN_MAX
              The maximum number of files that a process can have open at any time.  Must not be less than _POSIX_OPEN_MAX (20).

       PAGESIZE - _SC_PAGESIZE
              Size of a page in bytes.  Must not be less than 1.  (Some systems use PAGE_SIZE instead.)

       RE_DUP_MAX - _SC_RE_DUP_MAX
              The number of repeated occurrences of a BRE permitted by regexec(3) and regcomp(3).  Must not be less than _POSIX2_RE_DUP_MAX (255).

       STREAM_MAX - _SC_STREAM_MAX
              The  maximum  number of streams that a process can have open at any time.  If defined, it has the same value as the standard C macro
              FOPEN_MAX.  Must not be less than _POSIX_STREAM_MAX (8).

       SYMLOOP_MAX - _SC_SYMLOOP_MAX
              The maximum number of symbolic links seen in a pathname before resolution returns ELOOP.  Must not be less  than  _POSIX_SYMLOOP_MAX
              (8).

       TTY_NAME_MAX - _SC_TTY_NAME_MAX
              The maximum length of terminal device name, including the terminating null byte.  Must not be less than _POSIX_TTY_NAME_MAX (9).

       TZNAME_MAX - _SC_TZNAME_MAX
              The maximum number of bytes in a timezone name.  Must not be less than _POSIX_TZNAME_MAX (6).

       _POSIX_VERSION - _SC_VERSION
              indicates  the  year  and  month the POSIX.1 standard was approved in the format YYYYMML; the value 199009L indicates the Sept. 1990
              revision.

   POSIX.2 variables
       Next, the POSIX.2 values, giving limits for utilities.

       BC_BASE_MAX - _SC_BC_BASE_MAX
              indicates the maximum obase value accepted by the bc(1) utility.

       BC_DIM_MAX - _SC_BC_DIM_MAX
              indicates the maximum value of elements permitted in an array by bc(1).

       BC_SCALE_MAX - _SC_BC_SCALE_MAX
              indicates the maximum scale value allowed by bc(1).

       BC_STRING_MAX - _SC_BC_STRING_MAX
              indicates the maximum length of a string accepted by bc(1).

       COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX - _SC_COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX
              indicates the maximum numbers of weights that can be assigned to an entry of the LC_COLLATE order keyword in the  locale  definition
              file,

       EXPR_NEST_MAX - _SC_EXPR_NEST_MAX
              is the maximum number of expressions which can be nested within parentheses by expr(1).

       LINE_MAX - _SC_LINE_MAX
              The  maximum  length  of a utility's input line, either from standard input or from a file.  This includes space for a trailing new-
              line.

       RE_DUP_MAX - _SC_RE_DUP_MAX
              The maximum number of repeated occurrences of a regular expression when the interval notation {m,n} is used.

       POSIX2_VERSION - _SC_2_VERSION
              indicates the version of the POSIX.2 standard in the format of YYYYMML.

       POSIX2_C_DEV - _SC_2_C_DEV
              indicates whether the POSIX.2 C language development facilities are supported.

       POSIX2_FORT_DEV - _SC_2_FORT_DEV
              indicates whether the POSIX.2 FORTRAN development utilities are supported.

       POSIX2_FORT_RUN - _SC_2_FORT_RUN
              indicates whether the POSIX.2 FORTRAN run-time utilities are supported.

       _POSIX2_LOCALEDEF - _SC_2_LOCALEDEF
              indicates whether the POSIX.2 creation of locates via localedef(1) is supported.

       POSIX2_SW_DEV - _SC_2_SW_DEV
              indicates whether the POSIX.2 software development utilities option is supported.

       These values also exist, but may not be standard.

        - _SC_PHYS_PAGES
              The number of pages of physical memory.  Note that it is possible for the product of this value and the  value  of  _SC_PAGESIZE  to
              overflow.

        - _SC_AVPHYS_PAGES
              The number of currently available pages of physical memory.

        - _SC_NPROCESSORS_CONF
              The number of processors configured.  See also get_nprocs_conf(3).

        - _SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN
              The number of processors currently online (available).  See also get_nprocs_conf(3).

RETURN VALUE

       The return value of sysconf() is one of the following:

       *  On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the cause of the error (for example, EINVAL, indicating that name is invalid).

       *  If  name  corresponds to a maximum or minimum limit, and that limit is indeterminate, -1 is returned and errno is not changed.  (To dis-
          tinguish an indeterminate limit from an error, set errno to zero before the call, and then check whether errno is  nonzero  when  -1  is
          returned.)

       *  If  name corresponds to an option, a positive value is returned if the option is supported, and -1 is returned if the option is not sup-
          ported.

       *  Otherwise, the current value of the option or limit is returned.  This value will not be more restrictive than the  corresponding  value
          that was described to the application in <unistd.h> or <limits.h> when the application was compiled.

ERRORS

       EINVAL name is invalid.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

       +----------+---------------+-------------+
       |Interface | Attribute     | Value       |
       +----------+---------------+-------------+
       |sysconf() | Thread safety | MT-Safe env |
       +----------+---------------+-------------+
CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

BUGS

       It is difficult to use ARG_MAX because it is not specified how much of the argument space for exec(3) is consumed by the user's environment
       variables.

       Some returned values may be huge; they are not suitable for allocating memory.

SEE ALSO

       bc(1), expr(1), getconf(1), locale(1), confstr(3), fpathconf(3), pathconf(3), posixoptions(7)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and  the
       latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

GNU                                                                 2017-11-26                                                          SYSCONF(3)