semodule is the tool used to manage SELinux policy modules, including installing, upgrading, listing and removing modules. semodule may also be used to force a rebuild of policy from the module store and/or to force a reload of policy without performing any other transaction. semodule acts on module packages created by semodule_package. Conventionally, these files have a .pp suffix (policy package), although this is not mandated in any way.

-R, --reload force a reload of policy

-B, --build force a rebuild of policy (also reloads unless -n is used)

--refresh Like --build, but reuses existing linked policy if no changes to module files are detected (by comparing with checksum from the last transaction). One can use this instead of -B to ensure that any changes to the module store done by an external tool (e.g. a package manager) are applied, while automatically skipping the module re-linking if there are no module changes.

-D, --disable_dontaudit Temporarily remove dontaudits from policy. Reverts whenever policy is rebuilt

-i,--install=MODULE_PKG install/replace a module package

-u,--upgrade=MODULE_PKG deprecated, alias for --install

-b,--base=MODULE_PKG deprecated, alias for --install

-r,--remove=MODULE_NAME remove existing module at desired priority (defaults to -X 400)

-l[KIND],--list-modules[=KIND] display list of installed modules (other than base)

KIND:

standard list highest priority, enabled, non-base modules

full list all modules

-X,--priority=PRIORITY set priority for following operations (1-999)

-e,--enable=MODULE_NAME enable module

-d,--disable=MODULE_NAME disable module

-E,--extract=MODULE_PKG Extract a module from the store as an HLL or CIL file to the current directory. A module is extracted as HLL by default. The name of the module written is <module-name>.<lang_ext>

-s,--store name of the store to operate on

-n,--noreload,-N do not reload policy after commit

-h,--help prints help message and quit

-P,--preserve_tunables Preserve tunables in policy

-C,--ignore-module-cache Recompile CIL modules built from HLL files

-p,--path Use an alternate path for the policy root

-S,--store-path Use an alternate path for the policy store root

-v,--verbose be verbose

-c,--cil Extract module as a CIL file. This only affects the --extract option and only modules listed in --extract after this option.

-H,--hll Extract module as an HLL file. This only affects the --extract option and only modules listed in --extract after this option.

-m,--checksum Add SHA256 checksum of modules to the list output.

# Install or replace a base policy package.
$ semodule -b base.pp
# Install or replace a non-base policy package.
$ semodule -i httpd.pp
# Install or replace all non-base modules in the current directory.
# This syntax can be used with -i/u/r/E, but no other option can be entered after the module names
$ semodule -i *.pp
# Install or replace all modules in the current directory.
$ ls *.pp | grep -Ev "base.pp|enableaudit.pp" | xargs /usr/sbin/semodule -b base.pp -i
# List non-base modules.
$ semodule -l
# List all modules including priorities
$ semodule -lfull
# Remove a module at priority 100
$ semodule -X 100 -r wireshark
# Turn on all AVC Messages for which SELinux currently is "dontaudit"ing.
$ semodule -DB
# Turn "dontaudit" rules back on.
$ semodule -B
# Disable a module (all instances of given module across priorities will be disabled).
$ semodule -d alsa
# Install a module at a specific priority.
$ semodule -X 100 -i alsa.pp
# Set an alternate path for the policy root
$ semodule -B -p "/tmp"
# Set an alternate path for the policy store root
$ semodule -B -S "/tmp/var/lib/selinux"
# Write the HLL version of puppet and the CIL version of wireshark
# modules at priority 400 to the current working directory
$ semodule -X 400 --hll -E puppet --cil -E wireshark
# Check whether a module in "localmodule.pp" file is same as installed module "localmodule"
$ /usr/libexec/selinux/hll/pp localmodule.pp | sha256sum
$ semodule -l -m | grep localmodule
# Translate binary module file into CIL (useful for debugging installation errors)
$ /usr/libexec/selinux/hll/pp alsa.pp > alsa.cil

This manual page was written by Dan Walsh <[email protected]>.
The program was written by Karl MacMillan <[email protected]>, Joshua Brindle <[email protected]>, Jason Tang <[email protected]>