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]	[-Q]  [-o mod-
       ulename]  [modulename]  [module parameters ...]

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

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

       modprobe [-c]

       modprobe [--dump-modversions]

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.	modprobe  looks  in  the  module  directory  /lib/mod-
       ules/`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)).	All  files  in	the  /etc/mod-
       probe.d/arch/ directory are ignored.


       Note that 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 file, as generated by depmod
       (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.  See modules.dep(5)).


       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
       -v --verbose
		 Print messages about what the program is doing.  Usually mod-
		 probe only prints messages if something goes wrong.


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


       -C --config
		 This  option  overrides  the	default   configuration   file
		 (/etc/modprobe.conf or /etc/modprobe.d/ if that isn't found).


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


       -c --showconfig
		 Dump out the configuration file and exit.


       -n --dry-run
		 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.


       -i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
		 This option causes modprobe to ignore install and remove com-
		 mands	in  the configuration file (if any), for the module on
		 the command line (any dependent modules are still subject  to
		 commands  set	for them in the configuration file).  See mod-
		 probe.conf(5).


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


       -q --quiet
		 Normally modprobe will report an error if you try  to	remove
		 or  insert  a	module	it  can't  find (and isn't an alias or
		 install/remove 	 command).  With this  flag,  modprobe
			   will simply ignore any bogus names (the kernel uses
		 this to  opportunistically  probe  for  modules  which  might
		 exist).


       -Q --silent
		 As -q with the addition that all warnings and errors are also
		 silenced.


       -r --remove
		 This option causes modprobe to remove, rather than  insert  a
		 module.   If  the modules it depends on are also unused, mod-
		 probe 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 kernel may not support  removal  of
		 modules.


       -V --version
		 Show  version	of  program,  and exit.  See below for caveats
		 when run on older kernels.

       -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.  Natu-
		 rally,  these	checks are there for your protection, so using
		 this option is dangerous.


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


       --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 "ver-
		 sion 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.


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


       --force-modversion
		 When modules are compiled with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a sec-
		 tion is created detailing the	versions  of  every  interface
		 used  by  (or	supplied by) the module.  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.


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


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


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


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


       -s --syslog
		 This  option causes any error messages to go through the sys-
		 log 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  com-
		 mands	to  other  modprobe  commands  in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS
		 environment variable.


       --set-version
		 Set the kernel version, rather than using uname(2) to	decide
		 on  the kernel version (which dictates where to find the mod-
		 ules).  This also disables backwards compatibility checks (so
		 modprobe.old(8) will never be run).


       --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".
		 Install commands which apply are shown prefixed by "install".
		 It  does not run any of the install commands.	Note that mod-
		 info(8)       can be used to extract dependencies of a module
		 from  the  module  itself,  but  knows  nothing of aliases or
		 install commands.


       -o --name This option  tries  to  rename  the  module  which  is  being
		 inserted  into the kernel.  Some testing modules can usefully
		 be inserted multiple times, but the kernel  refuses  to  have
		 two  modules  of the same name.  Normally, modules should not
		 require multiple insertions, as that would make them  useless
		 if there were no module support.


       --first-time
		 Normally,  modprobe  will succeed (and do nothing) if told to
		 insert a module which is already present, or remove a	module
		 which	isn't  present.  This is backwards compatible with the
		 modutils, and ideal for simple scripts.  However,  more  com-
		 plicated  scripts  often want to know whether modprobe really
		 did something: this option makes modprobe fail for that case.


       --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 Linuxx kernel module using module ver-
		 sioning deps.


BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
       This version of modprobe is  for  kernels  2.5.48  and  above.	If  it
       detects	a kernel with support for old-style modules (for which much of
       the work was done in userspace), it will attempt to run modprobe.old in
       its place, so it is completely transparent to the user.


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


COPYRIGHT
       This manual page Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.


SEE ALSO
       modprobe.conf(5), lsmod(8), modprobe.old(8)



								   modprobe(8)