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.TH "MODPROBE" "8" "2026\-09\-24" "kmod" "modprobe"
.PP
.SH NAME
.PP
modprobe \- Add and remove modules from the Linux Kernel
.PP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR [\fB\-v\fR] [\fB\-V\fR] [\fB\-C\fR \fIconfig\-file\fR] [\fB\-n\fR] [\fB\-i\fR] [\fB\-q\fR] [\fB\-b\fR] [\fImodulename\fR]
         [\fImodule parameters\fR.\&.\&.\&]
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR [\fB\-r\fR] [\fB\-v\fR] [\fB\-n\fR] [\fB\-i\fR] [\fImodulename\fR.\&.\&.\&]
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR [\fB\-c\fR]
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR [\fB\-\-dump\-modversions\fR] [\fIfilename\fR]
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR 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).\& \fBmodprobe\fR looks in the module
directory /usr/lib/`uname \-r` for all the modules and other files, except
for the optional configuration files (see \fBmodprobe.\&d\fR(5)).\& \fBmodprobe\fR will also
use module options specified on the kernel command line in the form of
<module>.\&<option> and blacklists in the form of modprobe.\&blacklist=<module>.\&
.PP
Note that unlike in 2.\&4 series Linux kernels (which are not supported by this
tool) this version of \fBmodprobe\fR 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
\fBdmesg\fR(8).\&
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR expects an up\-to\-date modules.\&dep.\&bin file as generated by the
corresponding \fBdepmod\fR utility shipped along with \fBmodprobe\fR (see \fBdepmod\fR(8)).\&
This file lists what other modules each module needs (if any), and \fBmodprobe\fR
uses this to add or remove these dependencies automatically.\&
.PP
If any arguments are given after the \fImodulename\fR, they are passed to the kernel
(in addition to any options listed in the configuration file).\&
.PP
When loading modules, \fImodulename\fR can also be a path to the module.\& If the path
is relative, it must explicitly start with ".\&/".\& Note that this may fail when
using a path to a module with dependencies not matching the installed \fBdepmod\fR
database.\&
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-all\fR
.RS 4
Insert all module names on the command line.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-use\-blacklist\fR
.RS 4
This option causes \fBmodprobe\fR to apply the \fBblacklist\fR commands in the
configuration files (if any) to module names as well.\& It is usually used
by \fBudev\fR(7).\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-C\fR \fIdirectory\fR, \fB\-\-config\fR=\fIdirectory\fR
.RS 4
This option overrides the default configuration directory.\& See
\fBmodprobe.\&d\fR(5).\&
.PP
This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR or \fBremove\fR commands to other
\fBmodprobe\fR commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-showconfig\fR
.RS 4
Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-\-dump\-modversions\fR
.RS 4
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.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-dirname\fR
.RS 4
Root directory for modules, / by default.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-\-first\-time\fR
.RS 4
Normally, \fBmodprobe\fR 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 \fBmodprobe\fR really did something: this
option makes \fBmodprobe\fR fail in the case that it actually didn'\&t do
anything.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-\-force\-vermagic\fR
.RS 4
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 using this option is dangerous unless you know what
you'\&re doing.\&
.PP
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the
command line and any modules on which it depends.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-\-force\-modversion\fR
.RS 4
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
\fB\-\-force\-modversion\fR 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.\&
.PP
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the
command line and any modules on which it depends.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
.RS 4
Try to strip any versioning information from the module which might
otherwise stop it from loading: this is the same as using both
\fB\-\-force\-vermagic\fR and \fB\-\-force\-modversion\fR.\& Naturally, these checks are
there for your protection, so using this option is dangerous unless you
know what you are doing.\&
.PP
This applies to any modules inserted: both the module (or alias) on the
command line and any modules on which it depends.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\-install\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\-remove\fR
.RS 4
This option causes \fBmodprobe\fR to ignore \fBinstall\fR and \fBremove\fR 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 \fBinstall\fR and \fBremove\fR 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 \fB\-\-ignore\-install\fR or \fB\-\-ignore\-remove\fR.\& See \fBmodprobe.\&d\fR(5).\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-dry\-run\fR, \fB\-\-show\fR
.RS 4
This option does everything but actually insert or delete the modules
(or run the install or remove commands).\& Combined with \fB\-v\fR, it is
useful for debugging problems.\& For historical reasons both \fB\-\-dry\-run\fR
and \fB\-\-show\fR actually mean the same thing and are interchangeable.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-q\fR, \fB\-\-quiet\fR
.RS 4
With this flag, \fBmodprobe\fR 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
\fBinstall\fR/\fBremove\fR 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.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-resolve\-alias\fR
.RS 4
Print all module names matching an alias.\& This can be useful for
debugging module alias problems.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\fR\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-remove\fR
.RS 4
This option causes \fBmodprobe\fR to remove rather than insert a module.\& If
the modules it depends on are also unused, \fBmodprobe\fR 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).\&
.PP
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.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-w\fR \fITIMEOUT_MSEC\fR, \fB\-\-wait\fR=\fITIMEOUT_MSEC\fR
.RS 4
This option causes \fBmodprobe \-r \fRto continue trying to remove a module
if it fails due to the module being busy, i.\&e.\& its refcount is not 0 at
the time the call is made.\& Modprobe tries to remove the module with an
incremental sleep time between each tentative up until the maximum wait
time in milliseconds passed in this option.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-S\fR \fIversion\fR, \fB\-\-set\-version\fR=\fIversion\fR
.RS 4
Set the kernel version, rather than using \fBuname\fR(2) to decide on the
kernel version (which dictates where to find the modules).\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-\-show\-depends\fR
.RS 4
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.\& \fBInstall\fR commands which apply are shown
prefixed by "install".\& It does not run any of the install commands.\& Note
that \fBmodinfo\fR(8) can be used to extract dependencies of a module from the
module itself, but knows nothing of aliases or install commands.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-syslog\fR
.RS 4
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.\&
.PP
This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR or \fBremove\fR commands to other
\fBmodprobe\fR commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
.RS 4
Show version of program and exit.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
.RS 4
Print messages about what the program is doing.\& Usually \fBmodprobe\fR only
prints messages if something goes wrong.\&
.PP
This option is passed through \fBinstall\fR or \fBremove\fR commands to other
\fBmodprobe\fR commands in the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable.\&
.PP
.RE
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.PP
The MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable can also be used to pass command line
arguments to \fBmodprobe\fR.\& The format is intentionally left undocumented, since
the use by third\-party tools and scripts is discouraged.\&
.PP
The environment variable originates with the implementation of the install
rules.\&
.PP
.SH COPYRIGHT
.PP
This manual page originally Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.\&
.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
\fBmodprobe.\&d\fR(5), \fBinsmod\fR(8), \fBrmmod\fR(8), \fBlsmod\fR(8), \fBmodinfo\fR(8), \fBdepmod\fR(8)
.PP
.SH BUGS
.PP
Please direct any bug reports to kmod'\&s issue tracker at
https://github.\&com/kmod\-project/kmod/issues/ alongside with version used, steps
to reproduce the problem and the expected outcome.\&
.PP
.SH AUTHORS
.PP
Numerous contributions have come from the linux\-modules mailing list
<linux\-modules@vger.\&kernel.\&org> and Github.\& If you have a clone of kmod.\&git
itself, the output of \fBgit\-shortlog\fR(1) and \fBgit\-blame\fR(1) can show you the
authors for specific parts of the project.\&
.PP
\fBLucas De Marchi\fR <lucas.\&de.\&marchi@gmail.\&com> is the current maintainer of the
project.\&