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   6  .TH "MODPROBE" "8" "13 October 2008" "" ""
   7  
   8  .SH NAME
   9  modprobe \- program to add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel
  10  .SH SYNOPSIS
  11  
  12  \fBmodprobe\fR [ \fB-v\fR ] [ \fB-V\fR ] [ \fB-C \fIconfig-file\fB\fR ] [ \fB-n\fR ] [ \fB-i\fR ] [ \fB-q\fR ] [ \fB-o \fImodulename\fB\fR ] [ \fB\fImodulename\fB\fR ] [ \fB\fImodule parameters\fB\fR\fI ...\fR ]
  13  
  14  
  15  \fBmodprobe\fR [ \fB-r\fR ] [ \fB-v\fR ] [ \fB-n\fR ] [ \fB-i\fR ] [ \fB\fImodulename\fB\fR\fI ...\fR ]
  16  
  17  
  18  \fBmodprobe\fR [ \fB-l\fR ] [ \fB-t \fIdirname\fB\fR ] [ \fB\fIwildcard\fB\fR ]
  19  
  20  
  21  \fBmodprobe\fR [ \fB-c\fR ]
  22  
  23  
  24  \fBmodprobe\fR [ \fB--dump-modversions\fR ]
  25  
  26  .SH "DESCRIPTION"
  27  .PP
  28  \fBmodprobe\fR intelligently adds or removes a
  29  module from the Linux kernel: note that for convenience, there
  30  is no difference between _ and - in module names.
  31  \fBmodprobe\fR looks in the module directory
  32  \fI/lib/modules/`uname -r`\fR for all
  33  the modules and other files, except for the optional
  34  \fI/etc/modprobe.conf\fR configuration file and
  35  \fI/etc/modprobe.d\fR directory
  36  (see \fBmodprobe.conf\fR(5)). \fBmodprobe\fR will also use module
  37  options specified on the kernel command line in the form of
  38  <module>\&.option>\&.
  39  .PP
  40  Note that this version of \fBmodprobe\fR does not
  41  do anything to the module itself: the work of resolving symbols
  42  and understanding parameters is done inside the kernel.  So
  43  module failure is sometimes accompanied by a kernel message: see
  44  \fBdmesg\fR(8)\&.
  45  .PP
  46  \fBmodprobe\fR expects an up-to-date
  47  \fImodules.dep\fR file, as generated by
  48  \fBdepmod\fR (see \fBdepmod\fR(8)).  This file lists what other modules each
  49  module needs (if any), and \fBmodprobe\fR uses this
  50  to add or remove these dependencies automatically.  See
  51  \fBmodules.dep\fR(5)).
  52  .PP
  53  If any arguments are given after the
  54  \fImodulename\fR, they are passed to the
  55  kernel (in addition to any options listed in the configuration
  56  file).
  57  .SH "OPTIONS"
  58  .TP
  59  \fB-v --verbose \fR
  60  Print messages about what the program is doing.  Usually
  61  \fBmodprobe\fR only prints messages if
  62  something goes wrong.
  63  
  64  This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR
  65  or \fBremove\fR commands to other
  66  \fBmodprobe\fR commands in the
  67  MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.
  68  .TP
  69  \fB-C --config \fR
  70  This option overrides the default configuration file
  71  (\fI/etc/modprobe.conf\fR or 
  72  \fI/etc/modprobe.d/\fR if that isn't found).
  73  
  74  This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR
  75  or \fBremove\fR commands to other
  76  \fBmodprobe\fR commands in the
  77  MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.
  78  .TP
  79  \fB-c --showconfig \fR
  80  Dump out the configuration file and exit.
  81  .TP
  82  \fB-n --dry-run \fR
  83  This option does everything but actually insert or
  84  delete the modules (or run the install or remove
  85  commands).  Combined with \fB-v\fR, it is
  86  useful for debugging problems.
  87  .TP
  88  \fB-i --ignore-install --ignore-remove \fR
  89  This option causes \fBmodprobe\fR to
  90  ignore \fBinstall\fR and
  91  \fBremove\fR commands in the
  92  configuration file (if any), for the module on the
  93  command line (any dependent modules are still subject
  94  to commands set for them in the configuration file).
  95  See \fBmodprobe.conf\fR(5)\&.
  96  .TP
  97  \fB-q --quiet \fR
  98  Normally \fBmodprobe\fR will report an error
  99  if you try to remove or insert a module it can't find (and
 100  isn't an alias or
 101  \fBinstall\fR/\fBremove\fR
 102  command).  With this flag, \fBmodprobe\fR
 103  will simply ignore any bogus names (the kernel uses this
 104  to opportunistically probe for modules which might exist).
 105  .TP
 106  \fB-r --remove \fR
 107  This option causes \fBmodprobe\fR to remove,
 108  rather than insert a module.  If the modules it depends on
 109  are also unused, \fBmodprobe\fR will try to
 110  remove them, too.  Unlike insertion, more than one module
 111  can be specified on the command line (it does not make
 112  sense to specify module parameters when removing modules).
 113  
 114  There is usually no reason to remove modules, but some
 115  buggy modules require it.  Your kernel may not support
 116  removal of modules.
 117  .TP
 118  \fB-w --wait \fR
 119  This option is applicable only with the -r or --remove option.
 120  It causes modprobe to block in the kernel (within the kernel
 121  module handling code itself) waiting for the specified modules'
 122  reference count to reach zero. Default operation is for modprobe
 123  to operate like rmmod, which exits with EWOULDBLOCK if the
 124  modules reference count is non-zero.
 125  .TP
 126  \fB-V --version \fR
 127  Show version of program, and exit.  See below for caveats when run on older kernels.
 128  .TP
 129  \fB-f --force \fR
 130  Try to strip any versioning information from the module,
 131  which might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the
 132  same as using both \fB--force-vermagic\fR and
 133  \fB--force-modversion\fR\&.  Naturally, these
 134  checks are there for your protection, so using this option
 135  is dangerous.
 136  
 137  This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or
 138  alias) on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
 139  .TP
 140  \fB--force-vermagic \fR
 141  Every module contains a small string containing important
 142  information, such as the kernel and compiler versions.  If
 143  a module fails to load and the kernel complains that the
 144  "version magic" doesn't match, you can use this option to
 145  remove it.  Naturally, this check is there for your
 146  protection, so this using option is dangerous.
 147  
 148  This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or
 149  alias) on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
 150  .TP
 151  \fB--force-modversion \fR
 152  When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a
 153  section is created detailing the versions of every
 154  interface used by (or supplied by) the module.  If a
 155  module fails to load and the kernel complains that the
 156  module disagrees about a version of some interface, you
 157  can use "--force-modversion" to remove the version
 158  information altogether.  Naturally, this check is there
 159  for your protection, so using this option is dangerous.
 160  
 161  This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or
 162  alias) on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
 163  .TP
 164  \fB-l --list \fR
 165  List all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*"
 166  if no wildcard is given).  This option is provided for
 167  backwards compatibility: see
 168  \fBfind\fR(1) and
 169  \fBbasename\fR(1) for a more flexible alternative.
 170  .TP
 171  \fB-a --all \fR
 172  Insert all module names on the command line.
 173  .TP
 174  \fB-t --type \fR
 175  Restrict \fB-l\fR to modules
 176  in directories matching the
 177  \fIdirname\fR given.  This option
 178  is provided for backwards compatibility: see
 179  \fBfind\fR(1)
 180  and
 181  \fBbasename\fR(1) or a more flexible alternative.
 182  .TP
 183  \fB-s --syslog \fR
 184  This option causes any error messages to go through the
 185  syslog mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE)
 186  rather than to standard error.  This is also automatically
 187  enabled when stderr is unavailable.
 188  
 189  This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR
 190  or \fBremove\fR commands to other
 191  \fBmodprobe\fR commands in the
 192  MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.
 193  .TP
 194  \fB--set-version \fR
 195  Set the kernel version, rather than using
 196  \fBuname\fR(2) to decide on the kernel version (which dictates where to
 197  find the modules).  This also disables backwards
 198  compatibility checks (so 
 199  \fBmodprobe.old\fR(8) will never be run).
 200  .TP
 201  \fB--show-depends \fR
 202  List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including
 203  the module itself.  This produces a (possibly empty) set
 204  of module filenames, one per line, each starting with
 205  "insmod".  Install commands which apply are shown prefixed by
 206  "install".  It does not run any of the install commands.  Note that
 207  \fBmodinfo\fR(8)
 208  can be used to extract dependencies of a module from the
 209  module itself, but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
 210  .TP
 211  \fB-o --name \fR
 212  This option tries to rename the module which is being
 213  inserted into the kernel.  Some testing modules can
 214  usefully be inserted multiple times, but the kernel
 215  refuses to have two modules of the same name.  Normally,
 216  modules should not require multiple insertions, as that
 217  would make them useless if there were no module support.
 218  .TP
 219  \fB--first-time \fR
 220  Normally, \fBmodprobe\fR will succeed (and do
 221  nothing) if told to insert a module which is already
 222  present, or remove a module which isn't present.  This is
 223  backwards compatible with the modutils, and ideal for
 224  simple scripts.  However, more complicated scripts often
 225  want to know whether \fBmodprobe\fR really
 226  did something: this option makes modprobe fail for that
 227  case.
 228  .TP
 229  \fB--dump-modversions \fR
 230  Print out a list of module versioning information required by a
 231  module. This option is commonly used by distributions in order to
 232  package up a Linuxx kernel module using module versioning deps.
 233  .TP
 234  \fB--use-blacklist \fR
 235  Apply a matchin blacklist entry also to a request by module name,
 236  not only to a request by an alias.
 237  .SH "BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY"
 238  .PP
 239  This version of \fBmodprobe\fR is for kernels
 240  2.5.48 and above.  If it detects a kernel
 241  with support for old-style modules (for which much of the work
 242  was done in userspace), it will attempt to run
 243  \fBmodprobe.old\fR in its place, so it is
 244  completely transparent to the user.
 245  .SH "ENVIRONMENT"
 246  .PP
 247  The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to
 248  pass arguments to \fBmodprobe\fR\&.
 249  .SH "COPYRIGHT"
 250  .PP
 251  This manual page Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.
 252  .SH "SEE ALSO"
 253  .PP
 254  \fBmodprobe.conf\fR(5),
 255  \fBlsmod\fR(8),
 256  \fBmodprobe.old\fR(8)