modprobe
MODPROBE(8) MODPROBE(8)
NAME
modprobe - program to add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel
SYNOPSIS
modprobe [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -C config-file ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ -q ] [ -o
modulename ] [ modulename ] [ module parameters ... ]
modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ modulename ... ]
modprobe [ -l ] [ -t dirname ] [ -a ] [ wildcard ]
modprobe [ -c ]
DESCRIPTION
modprobe intelligently adds or removes a module from the Linux kernel:
note that for convenience, there is no difference between _ and - in
module names. modprobe looks in the module directory /lib/mod-
ules/‘uname -r‘ for all the modules and other files, except for the
optional /etc/modprobe.conf or /etc/modprobe.d (see modprobe.conf(5)).
Note that this version of modprobe does not do anything to the module
itself: the work of resolving symbols and understanding parameters is
done inside the kernel. So module failure is sometimes accompanied by
a kernel message: see dmesg(8).
modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep file, as generated by dep-
mod (see depmod(8)). This file lists what other modules each module
needs (if any), and modprobe uses this to add or remove these depen-
dencies automatically. See modules.dep(5)).
If any arguments are given after the modulename, they are passed to
the kernel (in addition to any options listed in the configuration
file).
OPTIONS
-v --verbose
Print messages about what the program is doing. Usually mod-
probe only prints messages if something goes wrong.
This option is passed through install or remove commands to
other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
variable.
-C --config
This option overrides the configuration file/directory. The
default is /etc/modprobe.conf if available, or /etc/modprobe.d
if available, or nothing. This option is passed through
install or remove commands to other modprobe commands in the
MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.
-c --showconfig
Dump out the configuration file and exit.
-n --dry-run
This option does everything but actually insert or delete the
modules (or run the install or remove commands). Combined with
-v, it is useful for debugging problems.
-i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove com-
mands in the configuration file (if any), for the module on the
command line (any dependent modules are still subject to com-
mands set for them in the configuration file). See mod-
probe.conf(5).
-q --quiet
Normally modprobe will report an error if you try to remove or
insert a module it can’t find (and isn’t an alias or
install/remove command). With this flag, modprobe will simply
ignore any bogus names (the kernel uses this to opportunisti-
cally probe for modules which might exist).
-r --remove
This option causes modprobe to remove, rather than insert a
module. If the modules it depends on are also unused, modprobe
will try to remove them, too. Unlike insertion, more than one
module can be specified on the command line (it does not make
sense to specify module parameters when removing modules).
There is usually no reason to remove modules, but some buggy
modules require it. Your kernel may not support removal of
modules.
-V --version
Show version of program, and exit. See below for caveats when
run on older kernels.
-f --force
Try to strip any versioning information from the module, which
might otherwise stop it from loading: this is the same as using
both --force-vermagic and --force-modversion. Naturally, these
checks are there for your protection, so using this option is
dangerous.
This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
--force-vermagic
Every module contains a small string containing important
information, such as the kernel and compiler versions. If a
module fails to load and the kernel complains that the "version
magic" doesn’t match, you can use this option to remove it.
Naturally, this check is there for your protection, so this
using option is dangerous.
This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
--force-modversion
When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a sec-
tion is created detailing the versions of every interface used
by (or supplied by) the module. If a module fails to load and
the kernel complains that the module disagrees about a version
of some interface, you can use "--force-modversion" to remove
the version information altogether. Naturally, this check is
there for your protection, so using this option is dangerous.
This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias)
on the command line, and any modules it depends on.
-l --list
List all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*" if no
wildcard is given). This option is provided for backwards com-
patibility: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible
alternative.
-a --all
Insert all modules matching the given wildcard. This option is
provided for backwards compatibility: see find(1) and base-
name(1) for a more flexible alternative.
-t --type
Restrict -l or -a to modules in directories matching the
dirname given. This option is provided for backwards compati-
bility: see find(1) and basename(1) or a more flexible alterna-
tive.
-s --syslog
This option causes any error messages to go through the syslog
mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE) rather than to
standard error. This is also automatically enabled when stderr
is unavailable.
This option is passed through install or remove commands to
other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment
variable.
--set-version
Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on
the kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).
This also disables backwards compatibility checks (so mod-
probe.old(8) will never be run).
--show-depends
List the dependencies of a module (or alias), including the
module itself. This produces a (possibly empty) set of module
filenames, one per line. It does not run any install commands
which might apply. Note that modinfo(8) can be used to extract
dependencies of a module from the module itself, but knows
nothing of aliases.
-o --name
This option tries to rename the module which is being inserted
into the kernel. Some testing modules can usefully be inserted
multiple times, but the kernel refuses to have two modules of
the same name. Normally, modules should not require multiple
insertions, as that would make them useless if there were no
module support.
--first-time
Normally, modprobe will succeed (and do nothing) if told to
insert a module which is already present, or remove a module
which isn’t present. This is backwards compatible with the
modutils, and ideal for simple scripts. However, more compli-
cated scripts often want to know whether modprobe really did
something: this option makes modprobe fail for that case.
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
This version of modprobe is for kernels 2.5.48 and above. If it
detects a kernel with support for old-style modules (for which much of
the work was done in userspace), it will attempt to run modprobe.old
in its place, so it is completely transparent to the user.
ENVIRONMENT
The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass
arguments to modprobe.
COPYRIGHT
This manual page Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.
SEE ALSO
modprobe.conf(5), lsmod(8), modprobe.old(8)
17 January 2004 MODPROBE(8)
