Add or remove modules from the Linux Kernel.
Syntax
modprobe [ -v ] [ -V ] [ -C config-file ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ -q ] [ -b ]
[ -o modulename ] [ modulename ] [ module parameters... ]
modprobe [ -r ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -i ] [ modulename... ]
modprobe [ -l ] [ -t dirname ] [ wildcard ]
modprobe [ -c ]
modprobe [ --dump-modversions ]
Key
-a --all
Insert all module names on the command line.
-b --use-blacklist
Apply the blacklist commands in the configuration files (if any) to module names
as well. It is usually used by udev(7).
-c --showconfig
Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.
-C --config
Override 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.
-d --dirname
Directory where modules can be found, /lib/modules/RELEASE by default.
--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 --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 modinfo(8) can be used to extract
dependencies of a module from the module itself, but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.
-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.
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any
modules it on which it depends.
--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.
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.
This applies any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the command line and any
modules on which it depends.
--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 for that case.
-i --ignore-install --ignore-remove
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). 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: see find(1) and basename(1) for a more
flexible alternative.
-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.
-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.
-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).
-r --remove
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).
The main reason to remove modules is to remove buggy or compromised code.
Your kernel may not support removal of modules.
-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.
-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).
-t --type
Restrict -l to modules in directories matching the dirname given.
This option is provided for backwards compatibility: see find and basename for a more flexible alternative.
-V --version
Show the version of the modprobe 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.
-w --wait
This option is applicable only with the -r or --remove option. It causes modprobe to block in the
kernel (within the kernel module handling code itself) waiting for the specified module's reference count
to reach zero. Default operation is for modprobe to operate like rmmod, which exits with EWOULDBLOCK if
the module's reference count is non-zero.
modprobe intelligently adds or removes a module from the Linux kernel.
For convenience, there is no difference between _ and - in module names. 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 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).
MODPROBE_OPTIONS - can also be used to pass arguments to modprobe.
“I am not a fan of the internet. I think it is overrated. Intelligent information is still intelligent information and an overflow of nonsense does not really help. In German, it's called Daten-müll: data rubbish” ~ Ralf Hütter (Kraftwerk)
rmmod - Simple program to remove a module from the Linux Kernel.
modprobe.conf(5), lsmod(8), modinfo(8)
