3 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4 <refentry id="modprobe.d">
6 <title>modprobe.d</title>
7 <productname>kmod</productname>
11 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
12 <firstname>Jon</firstname>
13 <surname>Masters</surname>
14 <email>jcm@jonmasters.org</email>
17 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
18 <firstname>Robby</firstname>
19 <surname>Workman</surname>
20 <email>rworkman@slackware.com</email>
23 <contrib>Developer</contrib>
24 <firstname>Lucas</firstname>
25 <surname>De Marchi</surname>
26 <email>lucas.de.marchi@gmail.com</email>
33 <refentrytitle>modprobe.d</refentrytitle>
34 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
38 <refname>modprobe.d</refname>
39 <refpurpose>Configuration directory for modprobe</refpurpose>
43 <para><filename>/lib/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para>
44 <para><filename>/usr/local/lib/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para>
45 <para><filename>/run/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para>
46 <para><filename>/etc/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para>
47 <para><filename>/lib/modules/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para>
50 <refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
51 <para>Because the <command>modprobe</command> command can add or
52 remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies,
53 we need a method of specifying what options are to be used with
54 those modules. All files underneath the
55 <filename>/etc/modprobe.d</filename> directory which end with the
56 <filename>.conf</filename> extension specify those options as
57 required. They can also be used to create convenient aliases:
58 alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal
59 <command>modprobe</command> behavior altogether for those with
60 special requirements (such as inserting more than one module).
63 Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can
64 have - or _ in them: both are interchangeable throughout all the
65 module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically.
68 The format of files under <filename>modprobe.d</filename> is
69 simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines starting
70 with '#' ignored (useful for adding comments). A '\' at the end
71 of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the
76 <refsect1><title>COMMANDS</title>
79 <term>alias <replaceable>wildcard</replaceable> <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
83 This allows you to give alternate names for a module. For example:
84 "alias my-mod really_long_modulename" means you can use "modprobe
85 my-mod" instead of "modprobe really_long_modulename". You can also
86 use shell-style wildcards, so "alias my-mod*
87 really_long_modulename" means that "modprobe my-mod-something" has
88 the same effect. You can't have aliases to other aliases (that way
89 lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to
93 Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can
94 see using <command>modinfo</command>. These aliases are used as a
95 last resort (ie. if there is no real module,
96 <command>install</command>, <command>remove</command>, or
97 <command>alias</command> command in the configuration).
102 <term>blacklist <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
106 Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are aliases
107 describing the devices they support, such as "pci:123...". These
108 "internal" aliases can be overridden by normal "alias" keywords,
109 but there are cases where two or more modules both support the same
110 devices, or a module invalidly claims to support a device that it
111 does not: the <command>blacklist</command> keyword indicates that
112 all of that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.
117 <term>install <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable>
121 This command instructs <command>modprobe</command> to run your
122 command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal.
123 The command can be any shell command: this allows you to do any
124 kind of complex processing you might wish. For example, if the
125 module "fred" works better with the module "barney" already
126 installed (but it doesn't depend on it, so
127 <command>modprobe</command> won't automatically load it), you could
128 say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe
129 --ignore-install fred", which would do what you wanted. Note the
130 <option>--ignore-install</option>, which stops the second
131 <command>modprobe</command> from running the same
132 <command>install</command> command again. See also
133 <command>remove</command> below. </para> <para>The long term
134 future of this command as a solution to the problem of providing
135 additional module dependencies is not assured and it is intended to
136 replace this command with a warning about its eventual removal or
137 deprecation at some point in a future release. Its use complicates
138 the automated determination of module dependencies by distribution
139 utilities, such as mkinitrd (because these now need to somehow
140 interpret what the <command>install</command> commands might be
141 doing. In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency
142 information without the use of this command and work is underway to
143 implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel. </para>
144 <para> If you use the string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it will
145 be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe command line.
146 This can be useful because users expect "modprobe fred opt=1" to
147 pass the "opt=1" arg to the module, even if there's an install
148 command in the configuration file. So our above example becomes
149 "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe
150 --ignore-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS"
155 <term>options <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>option...</replaceable>
159 This command allows you to add options to the module
160 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> (which might be an
161 alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether
162 directly (using <command>modprobe </command>
163 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>) or because the
164 module being inserted depends on this module.
167 All options are added together: they can come from an
168 <command>option</command> for the module itself, for an
169 alias, and on the command line.
174 <term>remove <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable>
178 This is similar to the <command>install</command> command
179 above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run.
184 <term>softdep <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> pre: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> post: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable>
188 The <command>softdep</command> command allows you to specify soft,
189 or optional, module dependencies. <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
190 can be used without these optional modules installed, but usually with
191 some features missing. For example, a driver for a storage HBA might
192 require another module be loaded in order to use management features.
195 pre-deps and post-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other
196 modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove) in order
197 before and after the main module given in the
198 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument.
201 Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the
202 configuration. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to
203 "modprobe a b c d e" without the softdep.
204 Flags such as --use-blacklist are applied to all the specified
205 modules, while module parameters only apply to module c.
208 Note: if there are <command>install</command> or
209 <command>remove</command> commands with the same
210 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument,
211 <command>softdep</command> takes precedence.
217 <refsect1><title>COMPATIBILITY</title>
219 A future version of kmod will come with a strong warning to avoid use of
220 the <command>install</command> as explained above. This will happen once
221 support for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete. That support
222 will complement the existing softdep support within this utility by
223 providing such dependencies directly within the modules.
226 <refsect1><title>COPYRIGHT</title>
228 This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM
229 Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.
232 <refsect1><title>SEE ALSO</title>
234 <refentrytitle>modprobe</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
237 <refentrytitle>modules.dep</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>