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>/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 </refsynopsisdiv> 48 49 <refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title> 50 <para>Because the <command>modprobe</command> command can add or 51 remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies, 52 we need a method of specifying what options are to be used with 53 those modules. All files underneath the 54 <filename>/etc/modprobe.d</filename> directory which end with the 55 <filename>.conf</filename> extension specify those options as 56 required. They can also be used to create convenient aliases: 57 alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal 58 <command>modprobe</command> behavior altogether for those with 59 special requirements (such as inserting more than one module). 60 </para> 61 <para> 62 Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can 63 have - or _ in them: both are interchangeable throughout all the 64 module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically. 65 </para> 66 <para> 67 The format of files under <filename>modprobe.d</filename> is 68 simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines starting 69 with '#' ignored (useful for adding comments). A '\' at the end 70 of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the 71 file a bit neater. 72 </para> 73 </refsect1> 74 75 <refsect1><title>COMMANDS</title> 76 <variablelist> 77 <varlistentry> 78 <term>alias <replaceable>wildcard</replaceable> <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 79 </term> 80 <listitem> 81 <para> 82 This allows you to give alternate names for a module. For example: 83 "alias my-mod really_long_modulename" means you can use "modprobe 84 my-mod" instead of "modprobe really_long_modulename". You can also 85 use shell-style wildcards, so "alias my-mod* 86 really_long_modulename" means that "modprobe my-mod-something" has 87 the same effect. You can't have aliases to other aliases (that way 88 lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to 89 any other options. 90 </para> 91 <para> 92 Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can 93 see using <command>modinfo</command>. These aliases are used as a 94 last resort (ie. if there is no real module, 95 <command>install</command>, <command>remove</command>, or 96 <command>alias</command> command in the configuration). 97 </para> 98 </listitem> 99 </varlistentry> 100 <varlistentry> 101 <term>blacklist <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 102 </term> 103 <listitem> 104 <para> 105 Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are aliases 106 describing the devices they support, such as "pci:123...". These 107 "internal" aliases can be overridden by normal "alias" keywords, 108 but there are cases where two or more modules both support the same 109 devices, or a module invalidly claims to support a device that it 110 does not: the <command>blacklist</command> keyword indicates that 111 all of that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored. 112 </para> 113 </listitem> 114 </varlistentry> 115 <varlistentry> 116 <term>install <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 117 </term> 118 <listitem> 119 <para> 120 This command instructs <command>modprobe</command> to run your 121 command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal. 122 The command can be any shell command: this allows you to do any 123 kind of complex processing you might wish. For example, if the 124 module "fred" works better with the module "barney" already 125 installed (but it doesn't depend on it, so 126 <command>modprobe</command> won't automatically load it), you could 127 say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe 128 --ignore-install fred", which would do what you wanted. Note the 129 <option>--ignore-install</option>, which stops the second 130 <command>modprobe</command> from running the same 131 <command>install</command> command again. See also 132 <command>remove</command> below. </para> <para>The long term 133 future of this command as a solution to the problem of providing 134 additional module dependencies is not assured and it is intended to 135 replace this command with a warning about its eventual removal or 136 deprecation at some point in a future release. Its use complicates 137 the automated determination of module dependencies by distribution 138 utilities, such as mkinitrd (because these now need to somehow 139 interpret what the <command>install</command> commands might be 140 doing. In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency 141 information without the use of this command and work is underway to 142 implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel. </para> 143 <para> If you use the string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it will 144 be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe command line. 145 This can be useful because users expect "modprobe fred opt=1" to 146 pass the "opt=1" arg to the module, even if there's an install 147 command in the configuration file. So our above example becomes 148 "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe 149 --ignore-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS" 150 </para> 151 </listitem> 152 </varlistentry> 153 <varlistentry> 154 <term>options <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>option...</replaceable> 155 </term> 156 <listitem> 157 <para> 158 This command allows you to add options to the module 159 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> (which might be an 160 alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether 161 directly (using <command>modprobe </command> 162 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>) or because the 163 module being inserted depends on this module. 164 </para> 165 <para> 166 All options are added together: they can come from an 167 <command>option</command> for the module itself, for an 168 alias, and on the command line. 169 </para> 170 </listitem> 171 </varlistentry> 172 <varlistentry> 173 <term>remove <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable> 174 </term> 175 <listitem> 176 <para> 177 This is similar to the <command>install</command> command 178 above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run. 179 </para> 180 </listitem> 181 </varlistentry> 182 <varlistentry> 183 <term>softdep <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> pre: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> post: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> 184 </term> 185 <listitem> 186 <para> 187 The <command>softdep</command> command allows you to specify soft, 188 or optional, module dependencies. <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> 189 can be used without these optional modules installed, but usually with 190 some features missing. For example, a driver for a storage HBA might 191 require another module be loaded in order to use management features. 192 </para> 193 <para> 194 pre-deps and post-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other 195 modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove) in order 196 before and after the main module given in the 197 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument. 198 </para> 199 <para> 200 Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the 201 configuration. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to 202 "modprobe a b c d e" without the softdep. 203 Flags such as --use-blacklist are applied to all the specified 204 modules, while module parameters only apply to module c. 205 </para> 206 <para> 207 Note: if there are <command>install</command> or 208 <command>remove</command> commands with the same 209 <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument, 210 <command>softdep</command> takes precedence. 211 </para> 212 </listitem> 213 </varlistentry> 214 </variablelist> 215 </refsect1> 216 <refsect1><title>COMPATIBILITY</title> 217 <para> 218 A future version of kmod will come with a strong warning to avoid use of 219 the <command>install</command> as explained above. This will happen once 220 support for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete. That support 221 will complement the existing softdep support within this utility by 222 providing such dependencies directly within the modules. 223 </para> 224 </refsect1> 225 <refsect1><title>COPYRIGHT</title> 226 <para> 227 This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM 228 Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others. 229 </para> 230 </refsect1> 231 <refsect1><title>SEE ALSO</title> 232 <para><citerefentry> 233 <refentrytitle>modprobe</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum> 234 </citerefentry>, 235 <citerefentry> 236 <refentrytitle>modules.dep</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum> 237 </citerefentry> 238 </para> 239 </refsect1> 240</refentry> 241