MODPROBE.CONF(5)                                                                                                                  MODPROBE.CONF(5)

NAME

       modprobe.d, modprobe.conf - Configuration directory/file for modprobe

DESCRIPTION

       Because  the  modprobe  command  can add or remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies, we need a method of specifying
       what options are to be used with those modules.  All files underneath the /etc/modprobe.d directory which  end  with  the  .conf  extension
       specify  those  options  as required. (the /etc/modprobe.conf file can also be used if it exists, but that will be removed in a future ver-
       sion).  They can also be used to create convenient aliases: alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal modprobe behavior
       altogether for those with special requirements (such as inserting more than one module).

       Note  that module and alias names (like other module names) can have - or _ in them: both are interchangable throughout all the module com-
       mands as underscore conversion happens automatically.

       The format of and files under modprobe.d and /etc/modprobe.conf is simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines  starting  with
       '#'  ignored  (useful  for adding comments).  A '' at the end of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the file a bit
       neater.

COMMANDS

       alias wildcard modulename
              This allows you to give alternate names for a module.  For example: "alias my-mod really_long_modulename" means you  can  use  "mod-
              probe  my-mod"  instead  of  "modprobe  really_long_modulename".   You  can  also  use  shell-style  wildcards,  so  "alias  my-mod*
              really_long_modulename" means that "modprobe my-mod-something" has the same effect.  You can't have aliases to other  aliases  (that
              way lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to any other options.

              Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can see using modinfo.  These aliases are used as a last resort (ie.
              if there is no real module, install, remove, or alias command in the configuration).

       blacklist modulename
              Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are aliases describing the devices they support, such as  "pci:123...".   These
              "internal" aliases can be overridden by normal "alias" keywords, but there are cases where two or more modules both support the same
              devices, or a module invalidly claims to support a device that it does not: the blacklist keyword indicates that all of that partic-
              ular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.

       install modulename command...
              This command instructs modprobe to run your command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal.  The command can be any
              shell command: this allows you to do any kind of complex processing you might wish.  For example, if the module "fred" works  better
              with  the  module  "barney"  already installed (but it doesn't depend on it, so modprobe won't automatically load it), you could say
              "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install fred", which would do what  you  wanted.   Note  the  --ignore-
              install, which stops the second modprobe from running the same install command again.  See also remove below.

              The  long term future of this command as a solution to the problem of providing additional module dependencies is not assured and it
              is intended to replace this command with a warning about its eventual removal or deprecation at some point in a future release.  Its
              use  complicates  the  automated determination of module dependencies by distribution utilities, such as mkinitrd (because these now
              need to somehow interpret what the install commands might be doing.  In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency infor-
              mation without the use of this command and work is underway to implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel.

              If  you  use  the  string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it will be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe command line.
              This can be useful because users expect "modprobe fred opt=1" to pass the "opt=1" arg to the module, even if there's an install com-
              mand  in  the configuration file.  So our above example becomes "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install
              fred $CMDLINE_OPTS"

       options modulename option...
              This command allows you to add options to the module modulename (which might be an alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel:
              whether directly (using modprobe modulename or because the module being inserted depends on this module.

              All options are added together: they can come from an option for the module itself, for an alias, and on the command line.

       remove modulename command...
              This is similar to the install command above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run.

       softdep modulename pre: modules... post: modules...
              The softdep command allows you to specify soft, or optional, module dependencies. modulename can be used without these optional mod-
              ules installed, but usually with some features missing. For example, a driver for a storage HBA  might  require  another  module  be
              loaded in order to use management features.

              pre-deps  and post-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove)
              in order before and after the main module given in the modulename argument.

              Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the configuration. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to "modprobe
              a  b  c  d  e" without the softdep.  Flags such as --use-blacklist are applied to all the specified modules, while module parameters
              only apply to module c.

              Note: if there are install or remove commands with the same modulename argument, softdep takes precedence.

       allow_unsupported_modules [0|1]
              In SUSE kernels, every kernel module has a flag 'supported'. If this flag is not set loading this module  will  taint  your  kernel.
              Setting  this option to 0 disables loading of unsupported modules and avoids tainting the kernel. This is typically set in /etc/mod-
              probe.d/unsupported-modules.

COMPATIBILITY

       A future version of module-init-tools will come with a strong warning to avoid use of the install as explained above. This will happen once
       support  for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete.  That support will complement the existing softdep support within this utility by
       providing such dependencies directly within the modules.

COPYRIGHT

       This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.

SEE ALSO

       modprobe(8), modules.dep(5)

                                                                   02 June 2010                                                   MODPROBE.CONF(5)