freebsd man page for kldload

KLDLOAD(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						KLDLOAD(8)

NAME
     kldload -- load a file into the kernel

SYNOPSIS
     kldload [-nqv] file ...

DESCRIPTION
     The kldload utility loads file.ko into the kernel using the kernel linker.  Note that if multiple modules are specified then an attempt will
     be made to load them all, even if some fail.  The .ko extension name is not mandatory when loading a given module using kldload.  It does not
     hurt to specify it though.

     If a bare filename is requested it will only be loaded if it is found within the module path as defined by the sysctl kern.module_path.  To
     load a module from the current directory it must be specified as a full or relative path.	The kldload utility will warn if a module is
     requested as a bare filename and is present in the current directory.

     The following options are available:

     -n      Do not try to load module if already loaded.

     -v      Be more verbose.

     -q      Silence any extraneous warnings.

NOTES
     The kernel security level settings may prevent a module from being loaded or unloaded by giving Operation not permitted.

FILES
     /boot/kernel  directory containing loadable modules.  Modules must have an extension of .ko.

EXIT STATUS
     The kldload utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

EXAMPLES
     To load by module name:

	   > kldload foo

     To load by file name within the module path:

	   > kldload foo.ko

     To load by relative path:

	   > kldload ./foo.ko

     To load by full path:

	   > kldload /boot/kernel/foo.ko

AUTOMATICALLY LOADING MODULES
     Some modules (pf, ipfw, ipf, etc.) may be automatically loaded at boot time when the corresponding rc.conf(5) statement is used.  Modules may
     also be auto-loaded through their addition to loader.conf(5).

SEE ALSO
     kldload(2), loader.conf(5), rc.conf(5), security(7), kldconfig(8), kldstat(8), kldunload(8)

HISTORY
     The kldload utility first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0, replacing the lkm interface.

AUTHORS
     Doug Rabson <dfr@FreeBSD.org>

BSD
								  March 18, 2012							       BSD