RE: [PATCH net-next] docs: net: document neigh gc_interval and gc_stale_time sysctls

[Keller, Jacob E]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gabriel Goller <g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2026 8:22 AM
> To: David S. Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Eric Dumazet
> <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>; Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>; Paolo Abeni
> <pabeni@xxxxxxxxxx>; Simon Horman <horms@xxxxxxxxxx>; Jonathan
> Corbet <corbet@xxxxxxx>; Shuah Khan <skhan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; linux-doc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; linux-
> kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [PATCH net-next] docs: net: document neigh gc_interval and
> gc_stale_time sysctls
> 
> Add missing documentation for two neighbor table garbage collector
> sysctl parameters in ip-sysctl.rst:
> 
>  * neigh/default/gc_interval: controls how often the garbage collector
>    runs for neighbor entries (default: 30 seconds)
>  * neigh/default/gc_stale_time: controls how long an unused neighbor
>    entry is kept before becoming eligible for garbage collection
>    (default: 60 seconds)
> 
> Signed-off-by: Gabriel Goller <g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---

Reviewed-by: Jacob Keller <Jacob.e.keller@xxxxxxxxx>

>  Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst | 15 +++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
> b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
> index 28c7e4f5ecf9..033e18303d79 100644
> --- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
> @@ -202,6 +202,21 @@ neigh/default/gc_thresh3 - INTEGER
> 
>  	Default: 1024
> 
> +neigh/default/gc_interval - INTEGER
> +	How often the garbage collector for neighbor entries should run. This
> +	value applies to the entire table, not individual entries.
> +
> +	Default: 30 seconds
> +
> +neigh/default/gc_stale_time - INTEGER
> +	Determines how long a neighbor entry can remain unused before it is
> +	considered stale and eligible for garbage collection. Entries that have
> +	not been used for longer than this time will be removed by the
> garbage
> +	collector, unless they have active references, are marked as
> PERMANENT,
> +	or carry the NTF_EXT_LEARNED or NTF_EXT_VALIDATED flag.
> +
> +	Default: 60 seconds
> +
>  neigh/default/unres_qlen_bytes - INTEGER
>  	The maximum number of bytes which may be used by packets
>  	queued for each	unresolved address by other network layers.
> --
> 2.47.3
> 
>