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1 | Linux Magic System Request Key Hacks |
2 | Documentation for sysrq.c version 1.15 | |
3 | Last update: $Date: 2001/01/28 10:15:59 $ | |
4 | ||
5 | * What is the magic SysRq key? | |
6 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
7 | It is a 'magical' key combo you can hit which the kernel will respond to | |
8 | regardless of whatever else it is doing, unless it is completely locked up. | |
9 | ||
10 | * How do I enable the magic SysRq key? | |
11 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
12 | You need to say "yes" to 'Magic SysRq key (CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ)' when | |
13 | configuring the kernel. When running a kernel with SysRq compiled in, | |
14 | /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq controls the functions allowed to be invoked via | |
15 | the SysRq key. By default the file contains 1 which means that every | |
16 | possible SysRq request is allowed (in older versions SysRq was disabled | |
17 | by default, and you were required to specifically enable it at run-time | |
18 | but this is not the case any more). Here is the list of possible values | |
19 | in /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq: | |
20 | 0 - disable sysrq completely | |
21 | 1 - enable all functions of sysrq | |
22 | >1 - bitmask of allowed sysrq functions (see below for detailed function | |
23 | description): | |
24 | 2 - enable control of console logging level | |
25 | 4 - enable control of keyboard (SAK, unraw) | |
26 | 8 - enable debugging dumps of processes etc. | |
27 | 16 - enable sync command | |
28 | 32 - enable remount read-only | |
29 | 64 - enable signalling of processes (term, kill, oom-kill) | |
30 | 128 - allow reboot/poweroff | |
31 | 256 - allow nicing of all RT tasks | |
32 | ||
33 | You can set the value in the file by the following command: | |
34 | echo "number" >/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq | |
35 | ||
36 | Note that the value of /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq influences only the invocation | |
37 | via a keyboard. Invocation of any operation via /proc/sysrq-trigger is always | |
38 | allowed. | |
39 | ||
40 | * How do I use the magic SysRq key? | |
41 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
42 | On x86 - You press the key combo 'ALT-SysRq-<command key>'. Note - Some | |
43 | keyboards may not have a key labeled 'SysRq'. The 'SysRq' key is | |
44 | also known as the 'Print Screen' key. Also some keyboards cannot | |
45 | handle so many keys being pressed at the same time, so you might | |
46 | have better luck with "press Alt", "press SysRq", "release Alt", | |
47 | "press <command key>", release everything. | |
48 | ||
49 | On SPARC - You press 'ALT-STOP-<command key>', I believe. | |
50 | ||
51 | On the serial console (PC style standard serial ports only) - | |
52 | You send a BREAK, then within 5 seconds a command key. Sending | |
53 | BREAK twice is interpreted as a normal BREAK. | |
54 | ||
55 | On PowerPC - Press 'ALT - Print Screen (or F13) - <command key>, | |
56 | Print Screen (or F13) - <command key> may suffice. | |
57 | ||
58 | On other - If you know of the key combos for other architectures, please | |
59 | let me know so I can add them to this section. | |
60 | ||
61 | On all - write a character to /proc/sysrq-trigger. eg: | |
62 | ||
63 | echo t > /proc/sysrq-trigger | |
64 | ||
65 | * What are the 'command' keys? | |
66 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
67 | 'r' - Turns off keyboard raw mode and sets it to XLATE. | |
68 | ||
69 | 'k' - Secure Access Key (SAK) Kills all programs on the current virtual | |
70 | console. NOTE: See important comments below in SAK section. | |
71 | ||
72 | 'b' - Will immediately reboot the system without syncing or unmounting | |
73 | your disks. | |
74 | ||
86b1ae38 HN |
75 | 'c' - Will perform a kexec reboot in order to take a crashdump. |
76 | ||
1da177e4 LT |
77 | 'o' - Will shut your system off (if configured and supported). |
78 | ||
79 | 's' - Will attempt to sync all mounted filesystems. | |
80 | ||
81 | 'u' - Will attempt to remount all mounted filesystems read-only. | |
82 | ||
83 | 'p' - Will dump the current registers and flags to your console. | |
84 | ||
85 | 't' - Will dump a list of current tasks and their information to your | |
86 | console. | |
87 | ||
88 | 'm' - Will dump current memory info to your console. | |
89 | ||
90 | 'v' - Dumps Voyager SMP processor info to your console. | |
91 | ||
92 | '0'-'9' - Sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages | |
93 | will be printed to your console. ('0', for example would make | |
94 | it so that only emergency messages like PANICs or OOPSes would | |
95 | make it to your console.) | |
96 | ||
97 | 'f' - Will call oom_kill to kill a memory hog process | |
98 | ||
99 | 'e' - Send a SIGTERM to all processes, except for init. | |
100 | ||
101 | 'i' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, except for init. | |
102 | ||
103 | 'l' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, INCLUDING init. (Your system | |
104 | will be non-functional after this.) | |
105 | ||
106 | 'h' - Will display help ( actually any other key than those listed | |
107 | above will display help. but 'h' is easy to remember :-) | |
108 | ||
109 | * Okay, so what can I use them for? | |
110 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
111 | Well, un'R'aw is very handy when your X server or a svgalib program crashes. | |
112 | ||
113 | sa'K' (Secure Access Key) is useful when you want to be sure there are no | |
114 | trojan program is running at console and which could grab your password | |
115 | when you would try to login. It will kill all programs on given console | |
116 | and thus letting you make sure that the login prompt you see is actually | |
117 | the one from init, not some trojan program. | |
3eecd1dc JJ |
118 | IMPORTANT: In its true form it is not a true SAK like the one in a :IMPORTANT |
119 | IMPORTANT: c2 compliant system, and it should not be mistaken as :IMPORTANT | |
120 | IMPORTANT: such. :IMPORTANT | |
1da177e4 LT |
121 | It seems other find it useful as (System Attention Key) which is |
122 | useful when you want to exit a program that will not let you switch consoles. | |
123 | (For example, X or a svgalib program.) | |
124 | ||
125 | re'B'oot is good when you're unable to shut down. But you should also 'S'ync | |
126 | and 'U'mount first. | |
127 | ||
86b1ae38 HN |
128 | 'C'rashdump can be used to manually trigger a crashdump when the system is hung. |
129 | The kernel needs to have been built with CONFIG_KEXEC enabled. | |
130 | ||
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131 | 'S'ync is great when your system is locked up, it allows you to sync your |
132 | disks and will certainly lessen the chance of data loss and fscking. Note | |
133 | that the sync hasn't taken place until you see the "OK" and "Done" appear | |
134 | on the screen. (If the kernel is really in strife, you may not ever get the | |
135 | OK or Done message...) | |
136 | ||
137 | 'U'mount is basically useful in the same ways as 'S'ync. I generally 'S'ync, | |
138 | 'U'mount, then re'B'oot when my system locks. It's saved me many a fsck. | |
139 | Again, the unmount (remount read-only) hasn't taken place until you see the | |
140 | "OK" and "Done" message appear on the screen. | |
141 | ||
142 | The loglevel'0'-'9' is useful when your console is being flooded with | |
143 | kernel messages you do not want to see. Setting '0' will prevent all but | |
144 | the most urgent kernel messages from reaching your console. (They will | |
145 | still be logged if syslogd/klogd are alive, though.) | |
146 | ||
147 | t'E'rm and k'I'll are useful if you have some sort of runaway process you | |
148 | are unable to kill any other way, especially if it's spawning other | |
149 | processes. | |
150 | ||
151 | * Sometimes SysRq seems to get 'stuck' after using it, what can I do? | |
152 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
153 | That happens to me, also. I've found that tapping shift, alt, and control | |
154 | on both sides of the keyboard, and hitting an invalid sysrq sequence again | |
155 | will fix the problem. (ie, something like alt-sysrq-z). Switching to another | |
156 | virtual console (ALT+Fn) and then back again should also help. | |
157 | ||
158 | * I hit SysRq, but nothing seems to happen, what's wrong? | |
159 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
160 | There are some keyboards that send different scancodes for SysRq than the | |
161 | pre-defined 0x54. So if SysRq doesn't work out of the box for a certain | |
162 | keyboard, run 'showkey -s' to find out the proper scancode sequence. Then | |
163 | use 'setkeycodes <sequence> 84' to define this sequence to the usual SysRq | |
164 | code (84 is decimal for 0x54). It's probably best to put this command in a | |
165 | boot script. Oh, and by the way, you exit 'showkey' by not typing anything | |
166 | for ten seconds. | |
167 | ||
168 | * I want to add SysRQ key events to a module, how does it work? | |
169 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
170 | In order to register a basic function with the table, you must first include | |
171 | the header 'include/linux/sysrq.h', this will define everything else you need. | |
172 | Next, you must create a sysrq_key_op struct, and populate it with A) the key | |
173 | handler function you will use, B) a help_msg string, that will print when SysRQ | |
174 | prints help, and C) an action_msg string, that will print right before your | |
338cec32 | 175 | handler is called. Your handler must conform to the prototype in 'sysrq.h'. |
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176 | |
177 | After the sysrq_key_op is created, you can call the macro | |
178 | register_sysrq_key(int key, struct sysrq_key_op *op_p) that is defined in | |
179 | sysrq.h, this will register the operation pointed to by 'op_p' at table | |
180 | key 'key', if that slot in the table is blank. At module unload time, you must | |
181 | call the macro unregister_sysrq_key(int key, struct sysrq_key_op *op_p), which | |
182 | will remove the key op pointed to by 'op_p' from the key 'key', if and only if | |
183 | it is currently registered in that slot. This is in case the slot has been | |
184 | overwritten since you registered it. | |
185 | ||
186 | The Magic SysRQ system works by registering key operations against a key op | |
187 | lookup table, which is defined in 'drivers/char/sysrq.c'. This key table has | |
188 | a number of operations registered into it at compile time, but is mutable, | |
189 | and 4 functions are exported for interface to it: __sysrq_lock_table, | |
190 | __sysrq_unlock_table, __sysrq_get_key_op, and __sysrq_put_key_op. The | |
191 | functions __sysrq_swap_key_ops and __sysrq_swap_key_ops_nolock are defined | |
192 | in the header itself, and the REGISTER and UNREGISTER macros are built from | |
193 | these. More complex (and dangerous!) manipulations of the table are possible | |
194 | using these functions, but you must be careful to always lock the table before | |
195 | you read or write from it, and to unlock it again when you are done. (And of | |
196 | course, to never ever leave an invalid pointer in the table). Null pointers in | |
197 | the table are always safe :) | |
198 | ||
199 | If for some reason you feel the need to call the handle_sysrq function from | |
200 | within a function called by handle_sysrq, you must be aware that you are in | |
201 | a lock (you are also in an interrupt handler, which means don't sleep!), so | |
202 | you must call __handle_sysrq_nolock instead. | |
203 | ||
204 | * I have more questions, who can I ask? | |
205 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1da177e4 LT |
206 | And I'll answer any questions about the registration system you got, also |
207 | responding as soon as possible. | |
208 | -Crutcher | |
209 | ||
210 | * Credits | |
211 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
5e03e2c4 | 212 | Written by Mydraal <[email protected]> |
1da177e4 LT |
213 | Updated by Adam Sulmicki <[email protected]> |
214 | Updated by Jeremy M. Dolan <[email protected]> 2001/01/28 10:15:59 | |
215 | Added to by Crutcher Dunnavant <[email protected]> |