Kernel Parameters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The following is a consolidated list of the kernel parameters as implemented
-(mostly) by the __setup() macro and sorted into English Dictionary order
-(defined as ignoring all punctuation and sorting digits before letters in a
-case insensitive manner), and with descriptions where known.
-
-Module parameters for loadable modules are specified only as the
-parameter name with optional '=' and value as appropriate, such as:
-
- modprobe usbcore blinkenlights=1
-
-Module parameters for modules that are built into the kernel image
-are specified on the kernel command line with the module name plus
-'.' plus parameter name, with '=' and value if appropriate, such as:
-
- usbcore.blinkenlights=1
+The following is a consolidated list of the kernel parameters as
+implemented by the __setup(), core_param() and module_param() macros
+and sorted into English Dictionary order (defined as ignoring all
+punctuation and sorting digits before letters in a case insensitive
+manner), and with descriptions where known.
+
+The kernel parses parameters from the kernel command line up to "--";
+if it doesn't recognize a parameter and it doesn't contain a '.', the
+parameter gets passed to init: parameters with '=' go into init's
+environment, others are passed as command line arguments to init.
+Everything after "--" is passed as an argument to init.
+
+Module parameters can be specified in two ways: via the kernel command
+line with a module name prefix, or via modprobe, e.g.:
+
+ (kernel command line) usbcore.blinkenlights=1
+ (modprobe command line) modprobe usbcore blinkenlights=1
+
+Parameters for modules which are built into the kernel need to be
+specified on the kernel command line. modprobe looks through the
+kernel command line (/proc/cmdline) and collects module parameters
+when it loads a module, so the kernel command line can be used for
+loadable modules too.
Hyphens (dashes) and underscores are equivalent in parameter names, so
log_buf_len=1M print-fatal-signals=1
can also be entered as
log-buf-len=1M print_fatal_signals=1
+Double-quotes can be used to protect spaces in values, e.g.:
+ param="spaces in here"
This document may not be entirely up to date and comprehensive. The command
"modinfo -p ${modulename}" shows a current list of all parameters of a loadable
Also note the kernel might malfunction if you disable
some critical bits.
- cma=nn[MG] [ARM,KNL]
- Sets the size of kernel global memory area for contiguous
+ cma=nn[MG]@[start[MG][-end[MG]]]
+ [ARM,X86,KNL]
+ Sets the size of kernel global memory area for
+ contiguous memory allocations and optionally the
+ placement constraint by the physical address range of
memory allocations. For more information, see
include/linux/dma-contiguous.h
for working out where the kernel is dying during
startup.
+ initcall_blacklist= [KNL] Do not execute a comma-separated list of
+ initcall functions. Useful for debugging built-in
+ modules and initcalls.
+
initrd= [BOOT] Specify the location of the initial ramdisk
inport.irq= [HW] Inport (ATI XL and Microsoft) busmouse driver
timeout < 0: reboot immediately
Format: <timeout>
+ crash_kexec_post_notifiers
+ Run kdump after running panic-notifiers and dumping
+ kmsg. This only for the users who doubt kdump always
+ succeeds in any situation.
+ Note that this also increases risks of kdump failure,
+ because some panic notifiers can make the crashed
+ kernel more unstable.
+
parkbd.port= [HW] Parallel port number the keyboard adapter is
connected to, default is 0.
Format: <parport#>