Man page 8 : modprobe

modprobe - program to add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel

modprobe [ -v ] [ -V ] [ \fB-C config-file\fB ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ -q ] [ -b ] [ \fBmodulename\fB ] [ \fBmodule parameters\fB ... ] modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ \fBmodulename\fB ... ] modprobe [ -l ] [ \fB-t dirname\fB ] [ \fBwildcard\fB ] modprobe [ -c ] modprobe [ --dump-modversions ] [ \fBfilename\fB ]

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 modprobe.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 accompanied 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).

• -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 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 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 filenames, 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.

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

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

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