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 ] [ -o
10 modulename ] [ modulename ] [ module parameters ... ]
11 modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ modulename ... ]
14 modprobe [ -l ] [ -t dirname ] [ wildcard ]
17 modprobe [ -c ]
20 modprobe [ --dump-modversions ]
23
26 modprobe intelligently adds or removes a module from the Linux kernel:
27 note that for convenience, there is no difference between _ and - in
28 module names. modprobe looks in the module directory /lib/mod‐
29 ules/`uname -r` for all the modules and other files, except for the
30 optional /etc/modprobe.conf configuration file and /etc/modprobe.d
31 directory (see modprobe.conf(5)).
32 Note that this version of modprobe does not do anything to the module
34 itself: the work of resolving symbols and understanding parameters is
35 done inside the kernel. So module failure is sometimes accompanied by
36 a kernel message: see dmesg(8).
37 modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep file, as generated by depmod
39 (see depmod(8)). This file lists what other modules each module needs
40 (if any), and modprobe uses this to add or remove these dependencies
41 automatically. See modules.dep(5)).
42 If any arguments are given after the modulename, they are passed to the
44 kernel (in addition to any options listed in the configuration file).
45
47 -v --verbose
48 Print messages about what the program is doing. Usually mod‐
49 probe only prints messages if something goes wrong.
50 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
52 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
53 variable.
54 -C --config
56 This option overrides the default configuration file (/etc/mod‐
57 probe.conf or /etc/modprobe.d/ if that isn't found).
58 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
60 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
61 variable.
62 -c --showconfig
64 Dump out the configuration file and exit.
65 -n --dry-run
67 This option does everything but actually insert or delete the
68 modules (or run the install or remove commands). Combined with
69 -v, it is useful for debugging problems.
70 -i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
72 This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove com‐
73 mands in the configuration file (if any), for the module on the
74 command line (any dependent modules are still subject to com‐
75 mands set for them in the configuration file). See mod‐
76 probe.conf(5).
77 -q --quiet
79 Normally modprobe will report an error if you try to remove or
80 insert a module it can't find (and isn't an alias or
81 install/remove command). With this flag, modprobe will simply
82 ignore any bogus names (the kernel uses this to opportunisti‐
83 cally probe for modules which might exist).
84 -r --remove
86 This option causes modprobe to remove, rather than insert a mod‐
87 ule. If the modules it depends on are also unused, modprobe
88 will try to remove them, too. Unlike insertion, more than one
89 module can be specified on the command line (it does not make
90 sense to specify module parameters when removing modules).
91 There is usually no reason to remove modules, but some buggy
93 modules require it. Your kernel may not support removal of mod‐
94 ules.
95 -V --version
97 Show version of program, and exit. See below for caveats when
98 run on older kernels.
99 -f --force
101 Try to strip any versioning information from the module, which
102 might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the same as using
103 both --force-vermagic and --force-modversion. Naturally, these
104 checks are there for your protection, so using this option is
105 dangerous.
106 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
108 on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
109 --force-vermagic
111 Every module contains a small string containing important infor‐
112 mation, such as the kernel and compiler versions. If a module
113 fails to load and the kernel complains that the "version magic"
114 doesn't match, you can use this option to remove it. Naturally,
115 this check is there for your protection, so this using option is
116 dangerous.
117 This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
119 on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
120 --force-modversion
122 When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a section
123 is created detailing the versions of every interface used by (or
124 supplied by) the module. If a module fails to load and the ker‐
125 nel complains that the module disagrees about a version of some
126 interface, you can use "--force-modversion" to remove the ver‐
127 sion information altogether. Naturally, this check is there for
128 your protection, so using this option is dangerous.
129 This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on
131 the command line, and any modules it depends on.
132 -l --list
134 List all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*" if no wild‐
135 card is given). This option is provided for backwards compati‐
136 bility: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alterna‐
137 tive.
138 -a --all
140 Insert all module names on the command line.
141 -t --type
143 Restrict -l to modules in directories matching the dirname
144 given. This option is provided for backwards compatibility: see
145 find(1) and basename(1) or a more flexible alternative.
146 -s --syslog
148 This option causes any error messages to go through the syslog
149 mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE) rather than to
150 standard error. This is also automatically enabled when stderr
151 is unavailable.
152 This option is passed through install or remove commands to
154 other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
155 variable.
156 --set-version
158 Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on
159 the kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).
160 This also disables backwards compatibility checks (so mod‐
161 probe.old(8) will never be run).
162 --show-depends
164 List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including the mod‐
165 ule itself. This produces a (possibly empty) set of module
166 filenames, one per line, each starting with "insmod". Install
167 commands which apply are shown prefixed by "install". It does
168 not run any of the install commands. Note that modinfo(8) can
169 be used to extract dependencies of a module from the module
170 itself, but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
171 -o --name
173 This option tries to rename the module which is being inserted
174 into the kernel. Some testing modules can usefully be inserted
175 multiple times, but the kernel refuses to have two modules of
176 the same name. Normally, modules should not require multiple
177 insertions, as that would make them useless if there were no
178 module support.
179 --first-time
181 Normally, modprobe will succeed (and do nothing) if told to
182 insert a module which is already present, or remove a module
183 which isn't present. This is backwards compatible with the
184 modutils, and ideal for simple scripts. However, more compli‐
185 cated scripts often want to know whether modprobe really did
186 something: this option makes modprobe fail for that case.
187 --dump-modversions
189 Print out a list of module versioning information required by a
190 module. This option is commonly used by distributions in order
191 to package up a Linuxx kernel module using module versioning
192 deps.
193
195 This version of modprobe is for kernels 2.5.48 and above. If it
196 detects a kernel with support for old-style modules (for which much of
197 the work was done in userspace), it will attempt to run modprobe.old in
198 its place, so it is completely transparent to the user.
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), modprobe.old(8)
209 22 March 2007 MODPROBE(8)