'\" t
.\"     Title: modprobe.d
.\"    Author: Jon Masters <jcm@jonmasters.org>
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.78.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 03/01/2015
.\"    Manual: modprobe.d
.\"    Source: kmod
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "MODPROBE\&.D" "5" "03/01/2015" "kmod" "modprobe.d"
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.SH "NAME"
modprobe.d \- Configuration directory for modprobe
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.PP
/lib/modprobe\&.d/*\&.conf
.PP
/etc/modprobe\&.d/*\&.conf
.PP
/run/modprobe\&.d/*\&.conf
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
Because the
\fBmodprobe\fR
command can add or remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies, we need a method of specifying what options are to be used with those modules\&. All files underneath the
/etc/modprobe\&.d
directory which end with the
\&.conf
extension specify those options as required\&. They can also be used to create convenient aliases: alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal
\fBmodprobe\fR
behavior altogether for those with special requirements (such as inserting more than one module)\&.
.PP
Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can have \- or _ in them: both are interchangeable throughout all the module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically\&.
.PP
The format of and files under
modprobe\&.d
is simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines starting with \*(Aq#\*(Aq ignored (useful for adding comments)\&. A \*(Aq\e\*(Aq at the end of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the file a bit neater\&.
.SH "COMMANDS"
.PP
alias \fIwildcard\fR \fImodulename\fR
.RS 4
This allows you to give alternate names for a module\&. For example: "alias my\-mod really_long_modulename" means you can use "modprobe my\-mod" instead of "modprobe really_long_modulename"\&. You can also use shell\-style wildcards, so "alias my\-mod* really_long_modulename" means that "modprobe my\-mod\-something" has the same effect\&. You can\*(Aqt have aliases to other aliases (that way lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to any other options\&.
.sp
Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can see using
\fBmodinfo\fR\&. These aliases are used as a last resort (ie\&. if there is no real module,
\fBinstall\fR,
\fBremove\fR, or
\fBalias\fR
command in the configuration)\&.
.RE
.PP
blacklist \fImodulename\fR
.RS 4
Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are aliases describing the devices they support, such as "pci:123\&.\&.\&."\&. These "internal" aliases can be overridden by normal "alias" keywords, but there are cases where two or more modules both support the same devices, or a module invalidly claims to support a device that it does not: the
\fBblacklist\fR
keyword indicates that all of that particular module\*(Aqs internal aliases are to be ignored\&.
.RE
.PP
install \fImodulename\fR \fIcommand\&.\&.\&.\fR
.RS 4
This command instructs
\fBmodprobe\fR
to run your command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal\&. The command can be any shell command: this allows you to do any kind of complex processing you might wish\&. For example, if the module "fred" works better with the module "barney" already installed (but it doesn\*(Aqt depend on it, so
\fBmodprobe\fR
won\*(Aqt automatically load it), you could say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe \-\-ignore\-install fred", which would do what you wanted\&. Note the
\fB\-\-ignore\-install\fR, which stops the second
\fBmodprobe\fR
from running the same
\fBinstall\fR
command again\&. See also
\fBremove\fR
below\&.
.sp
The long term future of this command as a solution to the problem of providing additional module dependencies is not assured and it is intended to replace this command with a warning about its eventual removal or deprecation at some point in a future release\&. Its use complicates the automated determination of module dependencies by distribution utilities, such as mkinitrd (because these now need to somehow interpret what the
\fBinstall\fR
commands might be doing\&. In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency information without the use of this command and work is underway to implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel\&.
.sp
If you use the string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it will be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe command line\&. This can be useful because users expect "modprobe fred opt=1" to pass the "opt=1" arg to the module, even if there\*(Aqs an install command in the configuration file\&. So our above example becomes "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe \-\-ignore\-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS"
.RE
.PP
options \fImodulename\fR \fIoption\&.\&.\&.\fR
.RS 4
This command allows you to add options to the module
\fImodulename\fR
(which might be an alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether directly (using
\fBmodprobe \fR\fImodulename\fR) or because the module being inserted depends on this module\&.
.sp
All options are added together: they can come from an
\fBoption\fR
for the module itself, for an alias, and on the command line\&.
.RE
.PP
remove \fImodulename\fR \fIcommand\&.\&.\&.\fR
.RS 4
This is similar to the
\fBinstall\fR
command above, except it is invoked when "modprobe \-r" is run\&.
.RE
.PP
softdep \fImodulename\fR pre: \fImodules\&.\&.\&.\fR post: \fImodules\&.\&.\&.\fR
.RS 4
The
\fBsoftdep\fR
command allows you to specify soft, or optional, module dependencies\&.
\fImodulename\fR
can be used without these optional modules installed, but usually with some features missing\&. For example, a driver for a storage HBA might require another module be loaded in order to use management features\&.
.sp
pre\-deps and post\-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove) in order before and after the main module given in the
\fImodulename\fR
argument\&.
.sp
Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the configuration\&. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to "modprobe a b c d e" without the softdep\&. Flags such as \-\-use\-blacklist are applied to all the specified modules, while module parameters only apply to module c\&.
.sp
Note: if there are
\fBinstall\fR
or
\fBremove\fR
commands with the same
\fImodulename\fR
argument,
\fBsoftdep\fR
takes precedence\&.
.RE
.SH "COMPATIBILITY"
.PP
A future version of kmod will come with a strong warning to avoid use of the
\fBinstall\fR
as explained above\&. This will happen once support for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete\&. That support will complement the existing softdep support within this utility by providing such dependencies directly within the modules\&.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.PP
This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation\&. Maintained by Jon Masters and others\&.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBmodprobe\fR(8),
\fBmodules.dep\fR(5)
.SH "AUTHORS"
.PP
\fBJon Masters\fR <\&jcm@jonmasters\&.org\&>
.RS 4
Developer
.RE
.PP
\fBRobby Workman\fR <\&rworkman@slackware\&.com\&>
.RS 4
Developer
.RE
.PP
\fBLucas De Marchi\fR <\&lucas\&.de\&.marchi@gmail\&.com\&>
.RS 4
Developer
.RE
