1MODPROBE(8) MODPROBE(8)
2
6 modprobe - program to add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel
7
9 modprobe [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -C config-file ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ -q ] [
10 -b ] [ -o modulename ] [ modulename ] [ module parameters... ]
11 modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ modulename... ]
13 modprobe [ -l ] [ -t dirname ] [ wildcard ]
15 modprobe [ -c ]
17 modprobe [ --dump-modversions ]
19
21 modprobe intelligently adds or removes a module from the Linux kernel:
22 note that for convenience, there is no difference between _ and - in
23 module names. modprobe looks in the module directory /lib/mod‐
24 ules/`uname -r` for all the modules and other files, except for the
25 optional /etc/modprobe.conf configuration file and /etc/modprobe.d
26 directory (see modprobe.conf(5)). modprobe will also use module options
27 specified on the kernel command line in the form of <module>.<option>.
28 Note that this version of modprobe does not do anything to the module
30 itself: the work of resolving symbols and understanding parameters is
31 done inside the kernel. So module failure is sometimes accompanied by a
32 kernel message: see dmesg(8).
33 modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep file, as generated by depmod
35 (see depmod(8)). This file lists what other modules each module needs
36 (if any), and modprobe uses this to add or remove these dependencies
37 automatically. See modules.dep(5)).
38 If any arguments are given after the modulename, they are passed to the
40 kernel (in addition to any options listed in the configuration file).
41
43 -v --verbose
44 Print messages about what the program is doing. Usually modprobe
45 only prints messages if something goes wrong.
46 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
48 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
49 variable.
50 -C --config
52 This option overrides the default configuration directory/file
53 (/etc/modprobe.d or /etc/modprobe.conf).
54 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
56 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
57 variable.
58 -c --showconfig
60 Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory
61 and exit.
62 -n --dry-run
64 This option does everything but actually insert or delete the
65 modules (or run the install or remove commands). Combined with
66 -v, it is useful for debugging problems.
67 -i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
69 This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove com‐
70 mands in the configuration file (if any) for the module speci‐
71 fied on the command line (any dependent modules are still sub‐
72 ject to commands set for them in the configuration file). See
73 modprobe.conf(5).
74 -q --quiet
76 Normally modprobe will report an error if you try to remove or
77 insert a module it can't find (and isn't an alias or
78 install/remove command). With this flag, modprobe will simply
79 ignore any bogus names (the kernel uses this to opportunisti‐
80 cally probe for modules which might exist).
81 -r --remove
83 This option causes modprobe to remove rather than insert a mod‐
84 ule. If the modules it depends on are also unused, modprobe will
85 try to remove them too. Unlike insertion, more than one module
86 can be specified on the command line (it does not make sense to
87 specify module parameters when removing modules).
88 There is usually no reason to remove modules, but some buggy
90 modules require it. Your kernel may not support removal of mod‐
91 ules.
92 -w --wait
94 This option is applicable only with the -r or --remove option.
95 It causes modprobe to block in the kernel (within the kernel
96 module handling code itself) waiting for the specified module's
97 reference count to reach zero. Default operation is for modprobe
98 to operate like rmmod, which exits with EWOULDBLOCK if the mod‐
99 ule's reference count is non-zero.
100 -V --version
102 Show version of program and exit.
103 -f --force
105 Try to strip any versioning information from the module which
106 might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the same as using
107 both --force-vermagic and --force-modversion. Naturally, these
108 checks are there for your protection, so using this option is
109 dangerous.
110 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
112 on the command line and any modules it on which it depends.
113 --force-vermagic
115 Every module contains a small string containing important infor‐
116 mation, such as the kernel and compiler versions. If a module
117 fails to load and the kernel complains that the "version magic"
118 doesn't match, you can use this option to remove it. Naturally,
119 this check is there for your protection, so this using option is
120 dangerous.
121 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
123 on the command line and any modules on which it depends.
124 --force-modversion
126 When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a section
127 detailing the versions of every interfaced used by (or supplied
128 by) the module is created. If a module fails to load and the
129 kernel complains that the module disagrees about a version of
130 some interface, you can use "--force-modversion" to remove the
131 version information altogether. Naturally, this check is there
132 for your protection, so using this option is dangerous.
133 This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on
135 the command line and any modules on which it depends.
136 -l --list
138 List all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*" if no wild‐
139 card is given). This option is provided for backwards compati‐
140 bility: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alterna‐
141 tive.
142 -a --all
144 Insert all module names on the command line.
145 -t --type
147 Restrict -l to modules in directories matching the dirname
148 given. This option is provided for backwards compatibility: see
149 find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alternative.
150 -s --syslog
152 This option causes any error messages to go through the syslog
153 mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE) rather than to
154 standard error. This is also automatically enabled when stderr
155 is unavailable.
156 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
158 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
159 variable.
160 -S --set-version
162 Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on
163 the kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).
164 -D --show-depends
166 List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including the mod‐
167 ule itself. This produces a (possibly empty) set of module file‐
168 names, one per line, each starting with "insmod". Install com‐
169 mands which apply are shown prefixed by "install". It does not
170 run any of the install commands. Note that modinfo(8) can be
171 used to extract dependencies of a module from the module itself,
172 but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
173 -o --name
175 This option tries to rename the module which is being inserted
176 into the kernel. Some testing modules can usefully be inserted
177 multiple times, but the kernel refuses to have two modules of
178 the same name. Normally, modules should not require multiple
179 insertions, as that would make them useless if there were no
180 module support.
181 --first-time
183 Normally, modprobe will succeed (and do nothing) if told to
184 insert a module which is already present or to remove a module
185 which isn't present. This is ideal for simple scripts; however,
186 more complicated scripts often want to know whether modprobe
187 really did something: this option makes modprobe fail for that
188 case.
189 --dump-modversions
191 Print out a list of module versioning information required by a
192 module. This option is commonly used by distributions in order
193 to package up a Linux kernel module using module versioning
194 deps.
195 -b --use-blacklist
197 This option causes modprobe to apply the blacklist commands in
198 the configuration files (if any) to module names as well. It is
199 usually used by udev(7).
200 -d --dirname
202 Directory where modules can be found, /lib/modules/RELEASE by
203 default.
204
206 The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass
207 arguments to modprobe.
208
210 This manual page Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.
211
213 modprobe.conf(5), lsmod(8), modinfo(8)
214 2002-12-27 MODPROBE(8)