2 @c @node Tunables, , Internal Probes, Top
3 @c %MENU% Tunable switches to alter libc internal behavior
7 @dfn{Tunables} are a feature in @theglibc{} that allows application authors and
8 distribution maintainers to alter the runtime library behavior to match
9 their workload. These are implemented as a set of switches that may be
10 modified in different ways. The current default method to do this is via
11 the @env{GLIBC_TUNABLES} environment variable by setting it to a string
12 of colon-separated @var{name}=@var{value} pairs. For example, the following
13 example enables @code{malloc} checking and sets the @code{malloc}
18 GLIBC_TUNABLES=glibc.malloc.trim_threshold=128:glibc.malloc.check=3
22 Tunables are not part of the @glibcadj{} stable ABI, and they are
23 subject to change or removal across releases. Additionally, the method to
24 modify tunable values may change between releases and across distributions.
25 It is possible to implement multiple `frontends' for the tunables allowing
26 distributions to choose their preferred method at build time.
28 Finally, the set of tunables available may vary between distributions as
29 the tunables feature allows distributions to add their own tunables under
32 Passing @option{--list-tunables} to the dynamic loader to print all
33 tunables with minimum and maximum values:
36 $ /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --list-tunables
37 glibc.rtld.nns: 0x4 (min: 0x1, max: 0x10)
38 glibc.elision.skip_lock_after_retries: 3 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
39 glibc.malloc.trim_threshold: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
40 glibc.malloc.perturb: 0 (min: 0, max: 255)
41 glibc.cpu.x86_shared_cache_size: 0x100000 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
42 glibc.pthread.rseq: 1 (min: 0, max: 1)
43 glibc.cpu.prefer_map_32bit_exec: 0 (min: 0, max: 1)
44 glibc.mem.tagging: 0 (min: 0, max: 255)
45 glibc.elision.tries: 3 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
46 glibc.elision.enable: 0 (min: 0, max: 1)
47 glibc.malloc.hugetlb: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
48 glibc.cpu.x86_rep_movsb_threshold: 0x2000 (min: 0x100, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
49 glibc.malloc.mxfast: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
50 glibc.rtld.dynamic_sort: 2 (min: 1, max: 2)
51 glibc.elision.skip_lock_busy: 3 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
52 glibc.malloc.top_pad: 0x20000 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
53 glibc.cpu.x86_rep_stosb_threshold: 0x800 (min: 0x1, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
54 glibc.cpu.x86_non_temporal_threshold: 0xc0000 (min: 0x4040, max: 0xfffffffffffffff)
56 glibc.pthread.stack_cache_size: 0x2800000 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
57 glibc.cpu.hwcap_mask: 0x6 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
58 glibc.malloc.mmap_max: 0 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
59 glibc.elision.skip_trylock_internal_abort: 3 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
60 glibc.malloc.tcache_unsorted_limit: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
63 glibc.elision.skip_lock_internal_abort: 3 (min: 0, max: 2147483647)
64 glibc.malloc.arena_max: 0x0 (min: 0x1, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
65 glibc.malloc.mmap_threshold: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
66 glibc.cpu.x86_data_cache_size: 0x8000 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
67 glibc.malloc.tcache_count: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
68 glibc.malloc.arena_test: 0x0 (min: 0x1, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
69 glibc.pthread.mutex_spin_count: 100 (min: 0, max: 32767)
70 glibc.rtld.optional_static_tls: 0x200 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
71 glibc.malloc.tcache_max: 0x0 (min: 0x0, max: 0xffffffffffffffff)
72 glibc.malloc.check: 0 (min: 0, max: 3)
76 * Tunable names:: The structure of a tunable name
77 * Memory Allocation Tunables:: Tunables in the memory allocation subsystem
78 * Dynamic Linking Tunables:: Tunables in the dynamic linking subsystem
79 * Elision Tunables:: Tunables in elision subsystem
80 * POSIX Thread Tunables:: Tunables in the POSIX thread subsystem
81 * Hardware Capability Tunables:: Tunables that modify the hardware
82 capabilities seen by @theglibc{}
83 * Memory Related Tunables:: Tunables that control the use of memory by
85 * gmon Tunables:: Tunables that control the gmon profiler, used in
86 conjunction with gprof
91 @section Tunable names
93 @cindex Tunable namespaces
95 A tunable name is split into three components, a top namespace, a tunable
96 namespace and the tunable name. The top namespace for tunables implemented in
97 @theglibc{} is @code{glibc}. Distributions that choose to add custom tunables
98 in their maintained versions of @theglibc{} may choose to do so under their own
101 The tunable namespace is a logical grouping of tunables in a single
102 module. This currently holds no special significance, although that may
103 change in the future.
105 The tunable name is the actual name of the tunable. It is possible that
106 different tunable namespaces may have tunables within them that have the
107 same name, likewise for top namespaces. Hence, we only support
108 identification of tunables by their full name, i.e. with the top
109 namespace, tunable namespace and tunable name, separated by periods.
111 @node Memory Allocation Tunables
112 @section Memory Allocation Tunables
113 @cindex memory allocation tunables
114 @cindex malloc tunables
115 @cindex tunables, malloc
117 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.malloc
118 Memory allocation behavior can be modified by setting any of the
119 following tunables in the @code{malloc} namespace:
122 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.check
123 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_CHECK_} environment variable and is
124 identical in features. This tunable has no effect by default and needs the
125 debug library @file{libc_malloc_debug} to be preloaded using the
126 @code{LD_PRELOAD} environment variable.
128 Setting this tunable to a non-zero value less than 4 enables a special (less
129 efficient) memory allocator for the @code{malloc} family of functions that is
130 designed to be tolerant against simple errors such as double calls of
131 free with the same argument, or overruns of a single byte (off-by-one
132 bugs). Not all such errors can be protected against, however, and memory
133 leaks can result. Any detected heap corruption results in immediate
134 termination of the process.
136 Like @env{MALLOC_CHECK_}, @code{glibc.malloc.check} has a problem in that it
137 diverges from normal program behavior by writing to @code{stderr}, which could
138 by exploited in SUID and SGID binaries. Therefore, @code{glibc.malloc.check}
139 is disabled by default for SUID and SGID binaries. This can be enabled again
140 by the system administrator by adding a file @file{/etc/suid-debug}; the
141 content of the file could be anything or even empty.
144 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.top_pad
145 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_TOP_PAD_} environment variable and is
146 identical in features.
148 This tunable determines the amount of extra memory in bytes to obtain from the
149 system when any of the arenas need to be extended. It also specifies the
150 number of bytes to retain when shrinking any of the arenas. This provides the
151 necessary hysteresis in heap size such that excessive amounts of system calls
154 The default value of this tunable is @samp{131072} (128 KB).
157 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.perturb
158 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_PERTURB_} environment variable and is
159 identical in features.
161 If set to a non-zero value, memory blocks are initialized with values depending
162 on some low order bits of this tunable when they are allocated (except when
163 allocated by @code{calloc}) and freed. This can be used to debug the use of
164 uninitialized or freed heap memory. Note that this option does not guarantee
165 that the freed block will have any specific values. It only guarantees that the
166 content the block had before it was freed will be overwritten.
168 The default value of this tunable is @samp{0}.
171 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.mmap_threshold
172 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_MMAP_THRESHOLD_} environment variable
173 and is identical in features.
175 When this tunable is set, all chunks larger than this value in bytes are
176 allocated outside the normal heap, using the @code{mmap} system call. This way
177 it is guaranteed that the memory for these chunks can be returned to the system
178 on @code{free}. Note that requests smaller than this threshold might still be
179 allocated via @code{mmap}.
181 If this tunable is not set, the default value is set to @samp{131072} bytes and
182 the threshold is adjusted dynamically to suit the allocation patterns of the
183 program. If the tunable is set, the dynamic adjustment is disabled and the
184 value is set as static.
187 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.trim_threshold
188 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_TRIM_THRESHOLD_} environment variable
189 and is identical in features.
191 The value of this tunable is the minimum size (in bytes) of the top-most,
192 releasable chunk in an arena that will trigger a system call in order to return
193 memory to the system from that arena.
195 If this tunable is not set, the default value is set as 128 KB and the
196 threshold is adjusted dynamically to suit the allocation patterns of the
197 program. If the tunable is set, the dynamic adjustment is disabled and the
198 value is set as static.
201 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.mmap_max
202 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_MMAP_MAX_} environment variable and is
203 identical in features.
205 The value of this tunable is maximum number of chunks to allocate with
206 @code{mmap}. Setting this to zero disables all use of @code{mmap}.
208 The default value of this tunable is @samp{65536}.
211 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.arena_test
212 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_ARENA_TEST} environment variable and is
213 identical in features.
215 The @code{glibc.malloc.arena_test} tunable specifies the number of arenas that
216 can be created before the test on the limit to the number of arenas is
217 conducted. The value is ignored if @code{glibc.malloc.arena_max} is set.
219 The default value of this tunable is 2 for 32-bit systems and 8 for 64-bit
223 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.arena_max
224 This tunable supersedes the @env{MALLOC_ARENA_MAX} environment variable and is
225 identical in features.
227 This tunable sets the number of arenas to use in a process regardless of the
228 number of cores in the system.
230 The default value of this tunable is @code{0}, meaning that the limit on the
231 number of arenas is determined by the number of CPU cores online. For 32-bit
232 systems the limit is twice the number of cores online and on 64-bit systems, it
233 is 8 times the number of cores online.
236 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.tcache_max
237 The maximum size of a request (in bytes) which may be met via the
238 per-thread cache. The default (and maximum) value is 1032 bytes on
239 64-bit systems and 516 bytes on 32-bit systems.
242 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.tcache_count
243 The maximum number of chunks of each size to cache. The default is 7.
244 The upper limit is 65535. If set to zero, the per-thread cache is effectively
247 The approximate maximum overhead of the per-thread cache is thus equal
248 to the number of bins times the chunk count in each bin times the size
249 of each chunk. With defaults, the approximate maximum overhead of the
250 per-thread cache is approximately 236 KB on 64-bit systems and 118 KB
254 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.tcache_unsorted_limit
255 When the user requests memory and the request cannot be met via the
256 per-thread cache, the arenas are used to meet the request. At this
257 time, additional chunks will be moved from existing arena lists to
258 pre-fill the corresponding cache. While copies from the fastbins,
259 smallbins, and regular bins are bounded and predictable due to the bin
260 sizes, copies from the unsorted bin are not bounded, and incur
261 additional time penalties as they need to be sorted as they're
262 scanned. To make scanning the unsorted list more predictable and
263 bounded, the user may set this tunable to limit the number of chunks
264 that are scanned from the unsorted list while searching for chunks to
265 pre-fill the per-thread cache with. The default, or when set to zero,
269 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.mxfast
270 One of the optimizations @code{malloc} uses is to maintain a series of ``fast
271 bins'' that hold chunks up to a specific size. The default and
272 maximum size which may be held this way is 80 bytes on 32-bit systems
273 or 160 bytes on 64-bit systems. Applications which value size over
274 speed may choose to reduce the size of requests which are serviced
275 from fast bins with this tunable. Note that the value specified
276 includes @code{malloc}'s internal overhead, which is normally the size of one
277 pointer, so add 4 on 32-bit systems or 8 on 64-bit systems to the size
278 passed to @code{malloc} for the largest bin size to enable.
281 @deftp Tunable glibc.malloc.hugetlb
282 This tunable controls the usage of Huge Pages on @code{malloc} calls. The
283 default value is @code{0}, which disables any additional support on
286 Setting its value to @code{1} enables the use of @code{madvise} with
287 @code{MADV_HUGEPAGE} after memory allocation with @code{mmap}. It is enabled
288 only if the system supports Transparent Huge Page (currently only on Linux).
290 Setting its value to @code{2} enables the use of Huge Page directly with
291 @code{mmap} with the use of @code{MAP_HUGETLB} flag. The huge page size
292 to use will be the default one provided by the system. A value larger than
293 @code{2} specifies huge page size, which will be matched against the system
294 supported ones. If provided value is invalid, @code{MAP_HUGETLB} will not
298 @node Dynamic Linking Tunables
299 @section Dynamic Linking Tunables
300 @cindex dynamic linking tunables
301 @cindex rtld tunables
303 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.rtld
304 Dynamic linker behavior can be modified by setting the
305 following tunables in the @code{rtld} namespace:
308 @deftp Tunable glibc.rtld.nns
309 Sets the number of supported dynamic link namespaces (see @code{dlmopen}).
310 Currently this limit can be set between 1 and 16 inclusive, the default is 4.
311 Each link namespace consumes some memory in all thread, and thus raising the
312 limit will increase the amount of memory each thread uses. Raising the limit
313 is useful when your application uses more than 4 dynamic link namespaces as
314 created by @code{dlmopen} with an lmid argument of @code{LM_ID_NEWLM}.
315 Dynamic linker audit modules are loaded in their own dynamic link namespaces,
316 but they are not accounted for in @code{glibc.rtld.nns}. They implicitly
317 increase the per-thread memory usage as necessary, so this tunable does
318 not need to be changed to allow many audit modules e.g. via @env{LD_AUDIT}.
321 @deftp Tunable glibc.rtld.optional_static_tls
322 Sets the amount of surplus static TLS in bytes to allocate at program
323 startup. Every thread created allocates this amount of specified surplus
324 static TLS. This is a minimum value and additional space may be allocated
325 for internal purposes including alignment. Optional static TLS is used for
326 optimizing dynamic TLS access for platforms that support such optimizations
327 e.g. TLS descriptors or optimized TLS access for POWER (@code{DT_PPC64_OPT}
328 and @code{DT_PPC_OPT}). In order to make the best use of such optimizations
329 the value should be as many bytes as would be required to hold all TLS
330 variables in all dynamic loaded shared libraries. The value cannot be known
331 by the dynamic loader because it doesn't know the expected set of shared
332 libraries which will be loaded. The existing static TLS space cannot be
333 changed once allocated at process startup. The default allocation of
334 optional static TLS is 512 bytes and is allocated in every thread.
337 @deftp Tunable glibc.rtld.dynamic_sort
338 Sets the algorithm to use for DSO sorting, valid values are @samp{1} and
339 @samp{2}. For value of @samp{1}, an older O(n^3) algorithm is used, which is
340 long time tested, but may have performance issues when dependencies between
341 shared objects contain cycles due to circular dependencies. When set to the
342 value of @samp{2}, a different algorithm is used, which implements a
343 topological sort through depth-first search, and does not exhibit the
344 performance issues of @samp{1}.
346 The default value of this tunable is @samp{2}.
349 @node Elision Tunables
350 @section Elision Tunables
351 @cindex elision tunables
352 @cindex tunables, elision
354 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.elision
355 Contended locks are usually slow and can lead to performance and scalability
356 issues in multithread code. Lock elision will use memory transactions to under
357 certain conditions, to elide locks and improve performance.
358 Elision behavior can be modified by setting the following tunables in
359 the @code{elision} namespace:
362 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.enable
363 The @code{glibc.elision.enable} tunable enables lock elision if the feature is
364 supported by the hardware. If elision is not supported by the hardware this
365 tunable has no effect.
367 Elision tunables are supported for 64-bit Intel, IBM POWER, and z System
371 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.skip_lock_busy
372 The @code{glibc.elision.skip_lock_busy} tunable sets how many times to use a
373 non-transactional lock after a transactional failure has occurred because the
374 lock is already acquired. Expressed in number of lock acquisition attempts.
376 The default value of this tunable is @samp{3}.
379 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.skip_lock_internal_abort
380 The @code{glibc.elision.skip_lock_internal_abort} tunable sets how many times
381 the thread should avoid using elision if a transaction aborted for any reason
382 other than a different thread's memory accesses. Expressed in number of lock
383 acquisition attempts.
385 The default value of this tunable is @samp{3}.
388 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.skip_lock_after_retries
389 The @code{glibc.elision.skip_lock_after_retries} tunable sets how many times
390 to try to elide a lock with transactions, that only failed due to a different
391 thread's memory accesses, before falling back to regular lock.
392 Expressed in number of lock elision attempts.
394 This tunable is supported only on IBM POWER, and z System architectures.
396 The default value of this tunable is @samp{3}.
399 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.tries
400 The @code{glibc.elision.tries} sets how many times to retry elision if there is
401 chance for the transaction to finish execution e.g., it wasn't
402 aborted due to the lock being already acquired. If elision is not supported
403 by the hardware this tunable is set to @samp{0} to avoid retries.
405 The default value of this tunable is @samp{3}.
408 @deftp Tunable glibc.elision.skip_trylock_internal_abort
409 The @code{glibc.elision.skip_trylock_internal_abort} tunable sets how many
410 times the thread should avoid trying the lock if a transaction aborted due to
411 reasons other than a different thread's memory accesses. Expressed in number
412 of try lock attempts.
414 The default value of this tunable is @samp{3}.
417 @node POSIX Thread Tunables
418 @section POSIX Thread Tunables
419 @cindex pthread mutex tunables
420 @cindex thread mutex tunables
421 @cindex mutex tunables
422 @cindex tunables thread mutex
424 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.pthread
425 The behavior of POSIX threads can be tuned to gain performance improvements
426 according to specific hardware capabilities and workload characteristics by
427 setting the following tunables in the @code{pthread} namespace:
430 @deftp Tunable glibc.pthread.mutex_spin_count
431 The @code{glibc.pthread.mutex_spin_count} tunable sets the maximum number of times
432 a thread should spin on the lock before calling into the kernel to block.
433 Adaptive spin is used for mutexes initialized with the
434 @code{PTHREAD_MUTEX_ADAPTIVE_NP} GNU extension. It affects both
435 @code{pthread_mutex_lock} and @code{pthread_mutex_timedlock}.
437 The thread spins until either the maximum spin count is reached or the lock
440 The default value of this tunable is @samp{100}.
443 @deftp Tunable glibc.pthread.stack_cache_size
444 This tunable configures the maximum size of the stack cache. Once the
445 stack cache exceeds this size, unused thread stacks are returned to
446 the kernel, to bring the cache size below this limit.
448 The value is measured in bytes. The default is @samp{41943040}
452 @deftp Tunable glibc.pthread.rseq
453 The @code{glibc.pthread.rseq} tunable can be set to @samp{0}, to disable
454 restartable sequences support in @theglibc{}. This enables applications
455 to perform direct restartable sequence registration with the kernel.
456 The default is @samp{1}, which means that @theglibc{} performs
457 registration on behalf of the application.
459 Restartable sequences are a Linux-specific extension.
462 @deftp Tunable glibc.pthread.stack_hugetlb
463 This tunable controls whether to use Huge Pages in the stacks created by
464 @code{pthread_create}. This tunable only affects the stacks created by
465 @theglibc{}, it has no effect on stack assigned with
466 @code{pthread_attr_setstack}.
468 The default is @samp{1} where the system default value is used. Setting
469 its value to @code{0} enables the use of @code{madvise} with
470 @code{MADV_NOHUGEPAGE} after stack creation with @code{mmap}.
472 This is a memory utilization optimization, since internal glibc setup of either
473 the thread descriptor and the guard page might force the kernel to move the
474 thread stack originally backup by Huge Pages to default pages.
477 @node Hardware Capability Tunables
478 @section Hardware Capability Tunables
479 @cindex hardware capability tunables
480 @cindex hwcap tunables
481 @cindex tunables, hwcap
482 @cindex hwcaps tunables
483 @cindex tunables, hwcaps
484 @cindex data_cache_size tunables
485 @cindex tunables, data_cache_size
486 @cindex shared_cache_size tunables
487 @cindex tunables, shared_cache_size
488 @cindex non_temporal_threshold tunables
489 @cindex tunables, non_temporal_threshold
491 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.cpu
492 Behavior of @theglibc{} can be tuned to assume specific hardware capabilities
493 by setting the following tunables in the @code{cpu} namespace:
496 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.hwcap_mask
497 This tunable supersedes the @env{LD_HWCAP_MASK} environment variable and is
498 identical in features.
500 The @code{AT_HWCAP} key in the Auxiliary Vector specifies instruction set
501 extensions available in the processor at runtime for some architectures. The
502 @code{glibc.cpu.hwcap_mask} tunable allows the user to mask out those
503 capabilities at runtime, thus disabling use of those extensions.
506 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.hwcaps
507 The @code{glibc.cpu.hwcaps=-xxx,yyy,-zzz...} tunable allows the user to
508 enable CPU/ARCH feature @code{yyy}, disable CPU/ARCH feature @code{xxx}
509 and @code{zzz} where the feature name is case-sensitive and has to match
510 the ones in @code{sysdeps/x86/include/cpu-features.h}.
512 On s390x, the supported HWCAP and STFLE features can be found in
513 @code{sysdeps/s390/cpu-features.c}. In addition the user can also set
514 a CPU arch-level like @code{z13} instead of single HWCAP and STFLE features.
516 On powerpc, the supported HWCAP and HWCAP2 features can be found in
517 @code{sysdeps/powerpc/dl-procinfo.c}.
519 This tunable is specific to i386, x86-64, s390x and powerpc.
522 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.cached_memopt
523 The @code{glibc.cpu.cached_memopt=[0|1]} tunable allows the user to
524 enable optimizations recommended for cacheable memory. If set to
525 @code{1}, @theglibc{} assumes that the process memory image consists
526 of cacheable (non-device) memory only. The default, @code{0},
527 indicates that the process may use device memory.
529 This tunable is specific to powerpc, powerpc64 and powerpc64le.
532 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.name
533 The @code{glibc.cpu.name=xxx} tunable allows the user to tell @theglibc{} to
534 assume that the CPU is @code{xxx} where xxx may have one of these values:
535 @code{generic}, @code{falkor}, @code{thunderxt88}, @code{thunderx2t99},
536 @code{thunderx2t99p1}, @code{ares}, @code{emag}, @code{kunpeng},
539 This tunable is specific to aarch64.
542 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_data_cache_size
543 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_data_cache_size} tunable allows the user to set
544 data cache size in bytes for use in memory and string routines.
546 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
549 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_shared_cache_size
550 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_shared_cache_size} tunable allows the user to
551 set shared cache size in bytes for use in memory and string routines.
554 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_non_temporal_threshold
555 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_non_temporal_threshold} tunable allows the user
556 to set threshold in bytes for non temporal store. Non temporal stores
557 give a hint to the hardware to move data directly to memory without
558 displacing other data from the cache. This tunable is used by some
559 platforms to determine when to use non temporal stores in operations
560 like memmove and memcpy.
562 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
565 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_rep_movsb_threshold
566 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_rep_movsb_threshold} tunable allows the user to
567 set threshold in bytes to start using "rep movsb". The value must be
568 greater than zero, and currently defaults to 2048 bytes.
570 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
573 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_rep_stosb_threshold
574 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_rep_stosb_threshold} tunable allows the user to
575 set threshold in bytes to start using "rep stosb". The value must be
576 greater than zero, and currently defaults to 2048 bytes.
578 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
581 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_ibt
582 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_ibt} tunable allows the user to control how
583 indirect branch tracking (IBT) should be enabled. Accepted values are
584 @code{on}, @code{off}, and @code{permissive}. @code{on} always turns
585 on IBT regardless of whether IBT is enabled in the executable and its
586 dependent shared libraries. @code{off} always turns off IBT regardless
587 of whether IBT is enabled in the executable and its dependent shared
588 libraries. @code{permissive} is the same as the default which disables
589 IBT on non-CET executables and shared libraries.
591 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
594 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.x86_shstk
595 The @code{glibc.cpu.x86_shstk} tunable allows the user to control how
596 the shadow stack (SHSTK) should be enabled. Accepted values are
597 @code{on}, @code{off}, and @code{permissive}. @code{on} always turns on
598 SHSTK regardless of whether SHSTK is enabled in the executable and its
599 dependent shared libraries. @code{off} always turns off SHSTK regardless
600 of whether SHSTK is enabled in the executable and its dependent shared
601 libraries. @code{permissive} changes how dlopen works on non-CET shared
602 libraries. By default, when SHSTK is enabled, dlopening a non-CET shared
603 library returns an error. With @code{permissive}, it turns off SHSTK
606 This tunable is specific to i386 and x86-64.
609 @deftp Tunable glibc.cpu.prefer_map_32bit_exec
610 When this tunable is set to @code{1}, shared libraries of non-setuid
611 programs will be loaded below 2GB with MAP_32BIT.
613 Note that the @env{LD_PREFER_MAP_32BIT_EXEC} environment is an alias of
616 This tunable is specific to 64-bit x86-64.
619 @node Memory Related Tunables
620 @section Memory Related Tunables
621 @cindex memory related tunables
623 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.mem
624 This tunable namespace supports operations that affect the way @theglibc{}
625 and the process manage memory.
628 @deftp Tunable glibc.mem.tagging
629 If the hardware supports memory tagging, this tunable can be used to
630 control the way @theglibc{} uses this feature. At present this is only
631 supported on AArch64 systems with the MTE extension; it is ignored for
634 This tunable takes a value between 0 and 255 and acts as a bitmask
635 that enables various capabilities.
637 Bit 0 (the least significant bit) causes the @code{malloc}
638 subsystem to allocate
639 tagged memory, with each allocation being assigned a random tag.
641 Bit 1 enables precise faulting mode for tag violations on systems that
642 support deferred tag violation reporting. This may cause programs
645 Bit 2 enables either precise or deferred faulting mode for tag violations
646 whichever is preferred by the system.
648 Other bits are currently reserved.
650 @Theglibc{} startup code will automatically enable memory tagging
651 support in the kernel if this tunable has any non-zero value.
653 The default value is @samp{0}, which disables all memory tagging.
657 @section gmon Tunables
658 @cindex gmon tunables
660 @deftp {Tunable namespace} glibc.gmon
661 This tunable namespace affects the behaviour of the gmon profiler.
662 gmon is a component of @theglibc{} which is normally used in
663 conjunction with gprof.
665 When GCC compiles a program with the @code{-pg} option, it instruments
666 the program with calls to the @code{mcount} function, to record the
667 program's call graph. At program startup, a memory buffer is allocated
668 to store this call graph; the size of the buffer is calculated using a
669 heuristic based on code size. If during execution, the buffer is found
670 to be too small, profiling will be aborted and no @file{gmon.out} file
671 will be produced. In that case, you will see the following message
672 printed to standard error:
675 mcount: call graph buffer size limit exceeded, gmon.out will not be generated
678 Most of the symbols discussed in this section are defined in the header
679 @code{sys/gmon.h}. However, some symbols (for example @code{mcount})
680 are not defined in any header file, since they are only intended to be
681 called from code generated by the compiler.
684 @deftp Tunable glibc.mem.minarcs
685 The heuristic for sizing the call graph buffer is known to be
686 insufficient for small programs; hence, the calculated value is clamped
687 to be at least a minimum size. The default minimum (in units of
688 call graph entries, @code{struct tostruct}), is given by the macro
689 @code{MINARCS}. If you have some program with an unusually complex
690 call graph, for which the heuristic fails to allocate enough space,
691 you can use this tunable to increase the minimum to a larger value.
694 @deftp Tunable glibc.mem.maxarcs
695 To prevent excessive memory consumption when profiling very large
696 programs, the call graph buffer is allowed to have a maximum of
697 @code{MAXARCS} entries. For some very large programs, the default
698 value of @code{MAXARCS} defined in @file{sys/gmon.h} is too small; in
699 that case, you can use this tunable to increase it.
701 Note the value of the @code{maxarcs} tunable must be greater or equal
702 to that of the @code{minarcs} tunable; if this constraint is violated,
703 a warning will printed to standard error at program startup, and
704 the @code{minarcs} value will be used as the maximum as well.
706 Setting either tunable too high may result in a call graph buffer
707 whose size exceeds the available memory; in that case, an out of memory
708 error will be printed at program startup, the profiler will be
709 disabled, and no @file{gmon.out} file will be generated.