The argument is a pointer to an unsigned integer. This integer holds the new timeout period for the watchdog in multiples of 1 second.
The watchdog framework will only allow timeouts in excess of 1 second. You can specify any timeout period in the range of 1 second to 180 minutes.
If the watchdog function is enabled, the timeout period is immediately reset so that the new value can take effect. An error (EINVAL) is displayed if the timeout period is less than 1 second or longer than 180 minutes.
Note: Setting the timeout period to a value of 0 means that the watchdog timer is uninitialized, so once you arm the watchdog timer, you cannot set the timeout period back to 0. Any attempt to set the timeout period to 0 will be unsuccessful. If you want to disable the watchdog timer, do not attempt to set the timeout period to 0; use the LOMIOCDOGCTL API instead.
Note: This ioctl is not intended for general purpose use. Setting the watchdog timeout to too low a value may cause the system to receive a hardware reset if the watchdog and reset functions are enabled. If the timeout is set too low, the user application must be run with a higher priority (for example, as a real time thread) and must be patted more often to avoid an unintentional expiration.
To change the base unit back to seconds, either remove the following line from the ntwdt.conf file or change the value on that line from 1 to 10:
ntwdt-time-unit=10;