1<?xml version="1.0"?> 2<!--*-nxml-*--> 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"> 5 <refentryinfo> 6 <title>modprobe.d</title> 7 <productname>kmod</productname> 8 9 <authorgroup> 10 <author> 11 <contrib>Developer</contrib> 12 <firstname>Jon</firstname> 13 <surname>Masters</surname> 14 <email>jcm@jonmasters.org</email> 15 </author> 16 <author> 17 <contrib>Developer</contrib> 18 <firstname>Robby</firstname> 19 <surname>Workman</surname> 20 <email>rworkman@slackware.com</email> 21 </author> 22 <author> 23 <contrib>Developer</contrib> 24 <firstname>Lucas</firstname> 25 <surname>De Marchi</surname> 26 <email>lucas.de.marchi@gmail.com</email> 27 </author> 28 </authorgroup> 29 </refentryinfo> 30 31 32 <refmeta> 33 <refentrytitle>modprobe.d</refentrytitle> 34 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum> 35 </refmeta> 36 37 <refnamediv> 38 <refname>modprobe.d</refname> 39 <refpurpose>Configuration directory for modprobe</refpurpose> 40 </refnamediv> 41 42 <refsynopsisdiv> 43 <para><filename>/lib/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 44 <para><filename>/etc/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 45 <para><filename>/run/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 46 </refsynopsisdiv> 47 48 <refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title> 49 <para>Because the <command>modprobe</command> command can add or 50 remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies, 51 we need a method of specifying what options are to be used with 52 those modules. All files underneath the 53 <filename>/etc/modprobe.d</filename> directory which end with the 54 <filename>.conf</filename> extension specify those options as 55 required. They can also be used to create convenient aliases: 56 alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal 57 <command>modprobe</command> behavior altogether for those with 58 special requirements (such as inserting more than one module). 59 </para> 60 <para> 61 Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can 62 have - or _ in them: both are interchangeable throughout all the 63 module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically. 64 </para> 65 <para> 66 The format of files under <filename>modprobe.d</filename> is 67 simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines starting 68 with '#' ignored (useful for adding comments). A '\' at the end 69 of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the 70 file a bit neater. 71 </para> 72 </refsect1> 73 74 <refsect1><title>COMMANDS</title> 75 <variablelist> 76 <varlistentry> 77 <term>alias <replaceable>wildcard</replaceable> <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 78 </term> 79 <listitem> 80 <para> 81 This allows you to give alternate names for a module. For example: 82 "alias my-mod really_long_modulename" means you can use "modprobe 83 my-mod" instead of "modprobe really_long_modulename". You can also 84 use shell-style wildcards, so "alias my-mod* 85 really_long_modulename" means that "modprobe my-mod-something" has 86 the same effect. You can't have aliases to other aliases (that way 87 lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to 88 any other options. 89 </para> 90 <para> 91 Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can 92 see using <command>modinfo</command>. These aliases are used as a 93 last resort (ie. if there is no real module, 94 <command>install</command>, <command>remove</command>, or 95 <command>alias</command> command in the configuration). 96 </para> 97 </listitem> 98 </varlistentry> 99 <varlistentry> 100 <term>blacklist <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 101 </term> 102 <listitem> 103 <para> 104 Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are aliases 105 describing the devices they support, such as "pci:123...". These 106 "internal" aliases can be overridden by normal "alias" keywords, 107 but there are cases where two or more modules both support the same 108 devices, or a module invalidly claims to support a device that it 109 does not: the <command>blacklist</command> keyword indicates that 110 all of that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored. 111 </para> 112 </listitem> 113 </varlistentry> 114 <varlistentry> 115 <term>install <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 116 </term> 117 <listitem> 118 <para> 119 This command instructs <command>modprobe</command> to run your 120 command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal. 121 The command can be any shell command: this allows you to do any 122 kind of complex processing you might wish. For example, if the 123 module "fred" works better with the module "barney" already 124 installed (but it doesn't depend on it, so 125 <command>modprobe</command> won't automatically load it), you could 126 say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe 127 --ignore-install fred", which would do what you wanted. Note the 128 <option>--ignore-install</option>, which stops the second 129 <command>modprobe</command> from running the same 130 <command>install</command> command again. See also 131 <command>remove</command> below. </para> <para>The long term 132 future of this command as a solution to the problem of providing 133 additional module dependencies is not assured and it is intended to 134 replace this command with a warning about its eventual removal or 135 deprecation at some point in a future release. Its use complicates 136 the automated determination of module dependencies by distribution 137 utilities, such as mkinitrd (because these now need to somehow 138 interpret what the <command>install</command> commands might be 139 doing. In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency 140 information without the use of this command and work is underway to 141 implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel. </para> 142 <para> If you use the string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it will 143 be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe command line. 144 This can be useful because users expect "modprobe fred opt=1" to 145 pass the "opt=1" arg to the module, even if there's an install 146 command in the configuration file. So our above example becomes 147 "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe 148 --ignore-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS" 149 </para> 150 </listitem> 151 </varlistentry> 152 <varlistentry> 153 <term>options <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>option...</replaceable> 154 </term> 155 <listitem> 156 <para> 157 This command allows you to add options to the module 158 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> (which might be an 159 alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether 160 directly (using <command>modprobe </command> 161 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>) or because the 162 module being inserted depends on this module. 163 </para> 164 <para> 165 All options are added together: they can come from an 166 <command>option</command> for the module itself, for an 167 alias, and on the command line. 168 </para> 169 </listitem> 170 </varlistentry> 171 <varlistentry> 172 <term>remove <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 173 </term> 174 <listitem> 175 <para> 176 This is similar to the <command>install</command> command 177 above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run. 178 </para> 179 </listitem> 180 </varlistentry> 181 <varlistentry> 182 <term>softdep <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> pre: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> post: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> 183 </term> 184 <listitem> 185 <para> 186 The <command>softdep</command> command allows you to specify soft, 187 or optional, module dependencies. <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 188 can be used without these optional modules installed, but usually with 189 some features missing. For example, a driver for a storage HBA might 190 require another module be loaded in order to use management features. 191 </para> 192 <para> 193 pre-deps and post-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other 194 modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove) in order 195 before and after the main module given in the 196 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument. 197 </para> 198 <para> 199 Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the 200 configuration. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to 201 "modprobe a b c d e" without the softdep. 202 Flags such as --use-blacklist are applied to all the specified 203 modules, while module parameters only apply to module c. 204 </para> 205 <para> 206 Note: if there are <command>install</command> or 207 <command>remove</command> commands with the same 208 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument, 209 <command>softdep</command> takes precedence. 210 </para> 211 </listitem> 212 </varlistentry> 213 </variablelist> 214 </refsect1> 215 <refsect1><title>COMPATIBILITY</title> 216 <para> 217 A future version of kmod will come with a strong warning to avoid use of 218 the <command>install</command> as explained above. This will happen once 219 support for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete. That support 220 will complement the existing softdep support within this utility by 221 providing such dependencies directly within the modules. 222 </para> 223 </refsect1> 224 <refsect1><title>COPYRIGHT</title> 225 <para> 226 This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM 227 Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others. 228 </para> 229 </refsect1> 230 <refsect1><title>SEE ALSO</title> 231 <para><citerefentry> 232 <refentrytitle>modprobe</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum> 233 </citerefentry>, 234 <citerefentry> 235 <refentrytitle>modules.dep</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum> 236 </citerefentry> 237 </para> 238 </refsect1> 239</refentry> 240