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 ] [ filename... ]
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 -V --version
94 Show version of program and exit.
95 -f --force
97 Try to strip any versioning information from the module which
98 might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the same as using
99 both --force-vermagic and --force-modversion. Naturally, these
100 checks are there for your protection, so using this option is
101 dangerous.
102 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
104 on the command line and any modules it on which it depends.
105 --force-vermagic
107 Every module contains a small string containing important infor‐
108 mation, such as the kernel and compiler versions. If a module
109 fails to load and the kernel complains that the "version magic"
110 doesn't match, you can use this option to remove it. Naturally,
111 this check is there for your protection, so this using option is
112 dangerous.
113 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
115 on the command line and any modules on which it depends.
116 --force-modversion
118 When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a section
119 detailing the versions of every interfaced used by (or supplied
120 by) the module is created. If a module fails to load and the
121 kernel complains that the module disagrees about a version of
122 some interface, you can use "--force-modversion" to remove the
123 version information altogether. Naturally, this check is there
124 for your protection, so using this option is dangerous.
125 This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on
127 the command line and any modules on which it depends.
128 -l --list
130 List all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*" if no wild‐
131 card is given). This option is provided for backwards compati‐
132 bility: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alterna‐
133 tive.
134 -a --all
136 Insert all module names on the command line.
137 -t --type
139 Restrict -l to modules in directories matching the dirname
140 given. This option is provided for backwards compatibility: see
141 find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alternative.
142 -s --syslog
144 This option causes any error messages to go through the syslog
145 mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE) rather than to
146 standard error. This is also automatically enabled when stderr
147 is unavailable.
148 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
150 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
151 variable.
152 -S --set-version
154 Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on
155 the kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).
156 --show-depends
158 List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including the mod‐
159 ule itself. This produces a (possibly empty) set of module file‐
160 names, one per line, each starting with "insmod". Install com‐
161 mands which apply are shown prefixed by "install". It does not
162 run any of the install commands. Note that modinfo(8) can be
163 used to extract dependencies of a module from the module itself,
164 but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
165 --resolve-alias
167 Print all module names matching an alias.
168 -o --name
170 This option tries to rename the module which is being inserted
171 into the kernel. Some testing modules can usefully be inserted
172 multiple times, but the kernel refuses to have two modules of
173 the same name. Normally, modules should not require multiple
174 insertions, as that would make them useless if there were no
175 module support.
176 --first-time
178 Normally, modprobe will succeed (and do nothing) if told to
179 insert a module which is already present or to remove a module
180 which isn't present. This is ideal for simple scripts; however,
181 more complicated scripts often want to know whether modprobe
182 really did something: this option makes modprobe fail for that
183 case.
184 --dump-modversions
186 Print out a list of module versioning information required by a
187 module. This option is commonly used by distributions in order
188 to package up a Linux kernel module using module versioning
189 deps.
190 -b --use-blacklist
192 This option causes modprobe to apply the blacklist commands in
193 the configuration files (if any) to module names as well. It is
194 usually used by udev(7).
195 -d --dirname
197 Directory where modules can be found, /lib/modules/RELEASE by
198 default.
199
201 The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass
202 arguments to modprobe.
203
205 This manual page Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.
206
208 modprobe.conf(5), lsmod(8), modinfo(8)
209 2002-12-27 MODPROBE(8)