Section 8: modprobe
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MODPROBE(8) Linux Module Support MODPROBE(8)
NAME
modprobe - high level handling of loadable modules
SYNOPSIS
modprobe [ -adnqv ] [ -C config ] module [ symbol=value
... ]
modprobe [ -adnqv ] [ -C config ] [ -t type ] pattern
modprobe -l [ -C config ] [ -t type ] pattern
modprobe -c [ -C config ]
modprobe -r [ -dnv ] [ -C config ] [ module ...]
modprobe -V
OPTIONS
-a, --all
Load all matching modules instead of stopping after
the first successful loading.
-c, --showconfig
Show the currently used configuration.
-d, --debug
Show information about the internal representation
of the stack of modules.
-k, --autoclean
Set 'autoclean' on loaded modules. Used by the
kernel when it calls on modprobe to satify a miss-
ing feature (supplied as a module). The -q option
is implied by -k. These options will automatically
be sent to insmod.
-l, --list
List matching modules.
-n, --show
Don't actually perform the action, just show what
would be done.
-q, --quiet
Do not complain about insmod failing to install a
module. Continue as normal, but silently, with
other possibilities for modprobe to test. This
option will automatically be sent to insmod.
-r, --remove
Remove module (stacks) or do autoclean, depending
on whether there are any modules mentioned on the
command line.
-s, --syslog
Report via syslog instead of stderr. This options
will automatically be sent to insmod.
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-t, --type moduletype
Only consider modules of this type (tag).
-v, --verbose
Print all commands as they are executed.
-V, --version
Show the release version of modprobe.
-C, --config configfile
Use the file configfile instead of (the optional)
/etc/modules.conf to specify the configuration.
The environment variable MODULECONF can also be
used to select (and override) a different configu-
ration file from the default /etc/modules.conf (or
/etc/conf.modules (depreciated)).
DESCRIPTION
The modprobe and depmod utilities are intended to make a
Linux modular kernel more manageable for all users, admin-
istrators and distribution maintainers.
Modprobe uses a "Makefile"-like dependency file, created
by depmod, to automatically load the relevant module(s)
from the set of modules available in predefined directory
trees.
Modprobe is used to load a set of modules, either a single
module, a stack of dependant modules, or all modules that
are marked with a specified tag.
Modprobe will automatically load all base modules needed
in a module stack, as described by the dependency file
modules.dep. If the loading of one of these modules
fails, the whole current stack of modules loaded in the
current session will be unloaded automatically.
Modprobe has two ways of loading modules. One way (the
probe mode) will try to load a module out of a list
(defined by pattern ). Modprobe stops loading as soon as
one module loads successfully. This could be used to
autoload one ethernet driver out of a list.
The other way modprobe can be used is to load all modules
from a list. See EXAMPLES below.
With the option -r, modprobe will automatically unload a
stack of modules, similar to the way rmmod -r does. Note
that using just modprobe -r will clean up unused
autoloaded modules and also perform the pre- and post-
remove commands in the configuration file /etc/mod-
ules.conf.
With the option -l combined with the option -t a list all
available modules of a certain type will be shown.
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Option -c will print the currently used configuration
(default + configuration file).
CONFIGURATION
The behaviour of modprobe (and depmod ) can be modified by
the (optional) configuration file /etc/modules.conf
For a more detailed description of what this file can con-
tain, as well as the default configuration used by depmod
and modprobe, see modules.conf(5).
Note that the pre- and post-remove commands will not be
executed if a module is "autocleaned" by kerneld! Look
for the up-coming support for persistent module storage
instead.
If you want to use the pre- and post-install features, you
will have to turn off autoclean for kerneld and instead
put something like the following line in your crontab
(this is used for kmod systems as well) to do autoclean
every 2 minutes:
*/2 * * * * test -f /proc/modules && /sbin/modprobe -r
STRATEGY
The idea is that modprobe will look first in the directory
containing modules compiled for the current release of the
kernel. If the module is not found there, modprobe will
look in the directory common to the kernel version (e.g.
2.0, 2.2). If the module is still found, modprobe will
look in the directory containing modules for a default
release, and so on.
When you install a new linux, the modules should be moved
to a directory related to the release (and version) of the
kernel you are installing. Then you should do a symlink
from this directory to the "default" directory.
Each time you compile a new kernel, the command make mod-
ules_install will create a new directory, but won't change
the
When you get a module unrelated to the kernel distribution
you should place it in one of the version-independent
directories under /lib/modules.
This is the default strategy, which can be overridden in
/etc/modules.conf.
EXAMPLES
modprobe -t net
Load one of the modules that are stored in the
directory tagged "net". Each module are tried
until one succeeds.
modprobe -a -t boot
All modules that are stored in directories tagged
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boot will be loaded.
modprobe slip
This will attempt to load the module slhc.o if it
was not previously loaded, since the slip module
needs the functionality in the slhc module. This
dependency will be described in the file "mod-
ules.dep" that was created automatically by depmod
modprobe -r slip
will unload the slip module. It will also unload
the slhc module automatically, unless it is used by
some other module as well (like e.g. ppp).
FILES
/etc/modules.conf, (alternatively but depreciated: /etc/conf.modules)
/lib/modules/*/modules.dep,
/lib/modules/*
SEE ALSO
depmod(8), lsmod(8), kerneld(8), ksyms(8), rmmod(8), mod-
ules(2)
REQUIRED UTILITIES
depmod(8), insmod(8)
NOTES
Patterns supplied to modprobe will often need to be
escaped to ensure that it is evaluated in the proper con-
text.
AUTHOR
Jacques Gelinas (jack@solucorp.qc.ca)
Bjorn Ekwall (bj0rn@blox.se)
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