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>[email protected]</email> 15 </author> 16 <author> 17 <contrib>Developer</contrib> 18 <firstname>Robby</firstname> 19 <surname>Workman</surname> 20 <email>[email protected]</email> 21 </author> 22 <author> 23 <contrib>Developer</contrib> 24 <firstname>Lucas</firstname> 25 <surname>De Marchi</surname> 26 <email>[email protected]</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>@DISTCONFDIR@/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 45 <para><filename>/usr/local/lib/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 46 <para><filename>/run/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 47 <para><filename>/etc/modprobe.d/*.conf</filename></para> 48 </refsynopsisdiv> 49 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). 61 </para> 62 <para> 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. 66 </para> 67 <para> 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 72 file a bit neater. 73 </para> 74 </refsect1> 75 76 <refsect1><title>COMMANDS</title> 77 <variablelist> 78 <varlistentry> 79 <term>alias <replaceable>wildcard</replaceable> <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 80 </term> 81 <listitem> 82 <para> 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 90 any other options. 91 </para> 92 <para> 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). 98 </para> 99 </listitem> 100 </varlistentry> 101 <varlistentry> 102 <term>blacklist <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 103 </term> 104 <listitem> 105 <para> 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. 113 </para> 114 </listitem> 115 </varlistentry> 116 <varlistentry> 117 <term>install <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 118 </term> 119 <listitem> 120 <para> 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" 151 </para> 152 </listitem> 153 </varlistentry> 154 <varlistentry> 155 <term>options <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>option...</replaceable> 156 </term> 157 <listitem> 158 <para> 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. 165 </para> 166 <para> 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. 170 </para> 171 </listitem> 172 </varlistentry> 173 <varlistentry> 174 <term>remove <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 175 </term> 176 <listitem> 177 <para> 178 This is similar to the <command>install</command> command 179 above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run. 180 </para> 181 </listitem> 182 </varlistentry> 183 <varlistentry> 184 <term>softdep <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> pre: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> post: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> 185 </term> 186 <listitem> 187 <para> 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. 193 </para> 194 <para> 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. 199 </para> 200 <para> 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. 206 </para> 207 <para> 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. 212 </para> 213 </listitem> 214 </varlistentry> 215 </variablelist> 216 </refsect1> 217 <refsect1><title>COMPATIBILITY</title> 218 <para> 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. 224 </para> 225 </refsect1> 226 <refsect1><title>COPYRIGHT</title> 227 <para> 228 This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM 229 Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others. 230 </para> 231 </refsect1> 232 <refsect1><title>SEE ALSO</title> 233 <para><citerefentry> 234 <refentrytitle>modprobe</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum> 235 </citerefentry>, 236 <citerefentry> 237 <refentrytitle>modules.dep</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum> 238 </citerefentry> 239 </para> 240 </refsect1> 241</refentry> 242