modprobe(8)						      System Manager's Manual						       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
		 usually 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
		 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 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 specifi-
		 cally 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 compatibil-
		 ity 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 interchangeable.

       -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
		 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.

       -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.

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)

																       modprobe(8)