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 ] [ -b ] [ modulename ] [ module parameters ... ]

       modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ modulename ... ]

       modprobe [ -l ] [ -t dirname ] [ wildcard ]

       modprobe [ -c ]

       modprobe [ --dump-modversions ] [ filename ]

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 (automatic underscore conversion is performed).  modprobe looks in the module directory /lib/modules/`uname -r`  for  all  the
       modules	and  other  files,  except  for  the  optional	/etc/modprobe.conf  configuration  file  and  /etc/modprobe.d  directory (see mod-
       probe.conf(5)). modprobe will also use module options specified on the kernel command line in the form of <module>.<option>.

       Note that unlike in 2.4 series Linux kernels (which are not supported by this tool) 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 accom-
       panied by a kernel message: see dmesg(8).

       modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep.bin file (or fallback human readable modules.dep file), as generated by the corresponding depmod
       utility shipped along with modprobe (see depmod(8)).  This file lists what other modules each module needs (if any), and modprobe uses this
       to add or remove these dependencies automatically.

       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

       -a --all
	      Insert all module names on the command line.

       -b --use-blacklist
	      This option causes modprobe to apply the blacklist commands in the configuration files (if any) to module names as well.	It is usu-
	      ally used by udev(7).

       -C --config
	      This option overrides the default configuration directory/file (/etc/modprobe.d or /etc/modprobe.conf).

	      This option is passed through install or remove commands to other modprobe commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.

       -c --showconfig
	      Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.

       --dump-modversions
	      Print out a list of module versioning information required by a module. This option is commonly used by distributions  in  order	to
	      package up a Linux kernel module using module versioning deps.

       -d --dirname
	      Directory where modules can be found, /lib/modules/RELEASE by default.

       --first-time
	      Normally,  modprobe  will  succeed  (and do nothing) if told to insert a module which is already present or to remove a module which
	      isn't present.  This is ideal for simple scripts; however, more complicated scripts often want to know whether modprobe  really  did
	      something: this option makes modprobe fail in the case that it actually didn't do anything.

       --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 unless you know what you're doing.

	      This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules on which it depends.

       --force-modversion
	      When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a section detailing the versions of every interfaced used by (or supplied by)
	      the module is created.  If a module fails to load and the kernel complains that the module disagrees about a version of some  inter-
	      face,  you  can use "--force-modversion" to remove the version information altogether.  Naturally, this check is there for your pro-
	      tection, so using this option is dangerous unless you know what you're doing.

	      This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules on which it depends.

       -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
	      unless you know what you are doing.

	      This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any modules it on which it depends.

       -i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
	      This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove commands in the configuration file (if any) for the module specified on the
	      command  line  (any dependent modules are still subject to commands set for them in the configuration file). Both install and remove
	      commands will currently be ignored when this option is used regardless of whether the request was more specifically made	with  only
	      one or other (and not both) of --ignore-install or --ignore-remove.  See modprobe.conf(5).

       -l --list
	      List  all modules matching the given wildcard (or "*" if no wildcard is given).  This option is provided for backwards compatibility
	      and may go away in future: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alternative.

       -n --dry-run --show
	      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. For historical reasons both --dry-run and --show actually mean the same thing and are interchange-
	      able.

       -q --quiet
	      With this flag, modprobe won't print an error message if you try to remove or insert a module it can't find (and isn't an  alias	or
	      install/remove command).	However, it will still return with a non-zero exit status. The kernel uses this to opportunistically probe
	      for modules which might exist using request_module.

       -R --resolve-alias
	      Print all module names matching an alias. This can be useful for debugging module alias problems.

       -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 distribution kernel may not have  been  built
	      to support removal of modules at all.

       -S --set-version
	      Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to decide on the kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).

       --show-depends
	      List  the  dependencies  of  a module (or alias), including the module itself.  This produces a (possibly empty) set of module file-
	      names, one per line, each starting with "insmod" and is typically used by distributions to determine which modules to  include  when
	      generating  initrd/initramfs  images.   Install  commands  which	apply are shown prefixed by "install".	It does not run any of the
	      install commands.  Note that modinfo(8) can be used to extract dependencies of a module from the module itself, but knows nothing of
	      aliases or install commands.

       -s --syslog
	      This  option causes any error messages to go through the syslog mechanism (as LOG_DAEMON with level LOG_NOTICE) rather than to stan-
	      dard 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.

       -t --type
	      Restrict -l to modules in directories matching the dirname given.  This option is provided for backwards compatibility  and  may	go
	      away in future: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more flexible alternative.

       -V --version
	      Show version of program and exit.

       -v --verbose
	      Print messages about what the program is doing.  Usually modprobe 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.

       --allow-unsupported-modules
	      Load unsupported modules even if disabled in configuration.

RETURN VALUE

       modprobe  returns  0 on success, 1 on an unspecified error and 2 if the module is not supported. Use the --allow-unsupported-modules option
       to force using an unsupported module.

ENVIRONMENT

       The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass arguments to modprobe.

COPYRIGHT

       This manual page originally Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.

SEE ALSO

       modprobe.conf(5), modprobe.d(5), insmod(8), rmmod(8), lsmod(8), modinfo(8)

								   02 June 2010 						       MODPROBE(8)