SYS(1)

💖 SYS(1) — the AFS Command Reference, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, buckle up, we're doing the AFS Command Reference and this one is short and sweet. like, suspiciously short. enjoy it while it lasts 💅

---

✨ NAME ✨

sys — reports the compile-time CPU/operating system type 🖥️

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

sys

that's it. no flags. no args. she's a one-liner, and honestly? iconic for it. 👑

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so like — sys prints out a string that got baked in at compile time, and that string tells you the local machine's CPU/operating system (OS) type. people conventionally call this the sysname. 🎀

here's the tea: this string is the default for the value that lives in kernel memory. the Cache Manager swaps this string in for the @sys variable whenever @sys shows up in AFS pathnames. and if you're like "why do I care about @sys", the OpenAFS Quick Start Guide and the OpenAFS Administration Guide both explain how using @sys can simplify your cell configuration. so like, go read those, they're giving main character energy. 🦋

if you wanna set a new value in kernel memory, that's <cyan>fs sysname</cyan>. and if you wanna view the current value that's actually set in the kernel, use either fs sysname or livesys. ✨

---

⚠️ CAUTIONS ⚠️ (read this one, fr fr)

ok so 99.9% of the time you want livesys, not this command. not me warning you dramatically but I am warning you dramatically. 😭

sys shows you a single value that's been hard-coded at compile time. periodt. it does not go ask the Cache Manager what the current value is, and it does not report sysname lists. it can't. it doesn't know. 🙈

so if you changed the local system type with fs sysname, or if you're running a version of sys that was compiled differently than the Cache Manager running on the system — the value you get back will not match the actual behavior of the Cache Manager. 💀

the only reason to use sys is that livesys wasn't available in older versions of AFS. that's it. that's the whole reason. nostalgic vibes only. 🫶

---

✨ OUTPUT ✨

the machine's system type shows up as a text string:

I<system_type>

---

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

here's the output you get on a Sun Netra T1 running Solaris 10 🌸:

% sys
sun4x_510

ate. no crumbs. 🔥

---

✨ PRIVILEGE REQUIRED ✨

None 🎉 — you need zero privileges, she's free, she's accessible, we love that for her.

---

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• fs_sysname(1)
• livesys(1)
• The OpenAFS Quick Start Guides at http://docs.openafs.org/
• The OpenAFS Administration Guide at http://docs.openafs.org/AdminGuide/

---

✨ COPYRIGHT ✨

IBM Corporation 2000. http://www.ibm.com/ All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. 💜

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀✨ this little angel came to you from OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, and she will forever be SYS(1) in my heart. go forth and use livesys. i'm literally begging. 🫶💖