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.\\" auto-generated by docbook2man-spec $Revision: 1.2 $
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.TH "MODPROBE.CONF" "5" "2010-03-09" "" ""
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modprobe.d, modprobe.conf \- Configuration directory/file for modprobe
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Because the \fBmodprobe\fR command can add or
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remove more than one module, due to modules having dependencies,
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we need a method of specifying what options are to be used with
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those modules. All files underneath the
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\fI/etc/modprobe.d\fR directory which end with the
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\fI\&.conf\fR extension specify those options as
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required. (the \fI/etc/modprobe.conf\fR file can
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also be used if it exists, but that will be removed in a future
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version). They can also be used to create convenient aliases:
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alternate names for a module, or they can override the normal
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\fBmodprobe\fR behavior altogether for those with
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special requirements (such as inserting more than one module).
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Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can
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have - or _ in them: both are interchangable throughout all the
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module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically.
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The format of and files under \fImodprobe.d\fR and
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\fI/etc/modprobe.conf\fR is simple: one
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command per line, with blank lines and lines starting with '#'
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ignored (useful for adding comments). A '\\' at the end of a line
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causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the file a
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\fBalias \fIwildcard\fB \fImodulename\fB\fR
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This allows you to give alternate names for a module. For
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example: "alias my-mod really_long_modulename"
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means you can use "modprobe my-mod" instead of "modprobe
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really_long_modulename". You can also use shell-style
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wildcards, so "alias my-mod* really_long_modulename"
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means that "modprobe my-mod-something" has the same
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effect. You can't have aliases to other aliases (that
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way lies madness), but aliases can have options, which
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will be added to any other options.
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Note that modules can also contain their own aliases,
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which you can see using \fBmodinfo\fR\&. These
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aliases are used as a last resort (ie. if there is no real
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module, \fBinstall\fR,
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\fBremove\fR, or \fBalias\fR
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command in the configuration).
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\fBblacklist \fImodulename\fB\fR
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Modules can contain their own aliases: usually these are
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aliases describing the devices they support, such as
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"pci:123...". These "internal" aliases can be overridden
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by normal "alias" keywords, but there are cases where two
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or more modules both support the same devices, or a module
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invalidly claims to support a device that it does not: the
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\fBblacklist\fR keyword indicates that all of
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that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.
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\fBinstall \fImodulename\fB \fIcommand...\fB\fR
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This command instructs \fBmodprobe\fR to run your
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command instead of inserting the module in the kernel as normal.
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The command can be any shell command: this allows you to do any
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kind of complex processing you might wish. For example, if the
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module "fred" works better with the module "barney"
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already installed (but it doesn't depend on it, so
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\fBmodprobe\fR won't automatically load it),
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you could say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney;
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/sbin/modprobe --ignore-install fred", which would do what
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you wanted. Note the \fB--ignore-install\fR,
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which stops the second \fBmodprobe\fR from
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running the same \fBinstall\fR command again.
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See also \fBremove\fR below.
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The long term future of this command as a solution to the
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problem of providing additional module dependencies is not assured
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and it is intended to replace this command with a warning about
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its eventual removal or deprecation at some point in a future
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release. Its use complicates the automated determination of module
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dependencies by distribution utilities, such as mkinitrd (because
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these now need to somehow interpret what the
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\fBinstall\fR commands might be doing.
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In a perfect world, modules would provide all dependency
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information without the use of this command and work is underway
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to implement soft dependency support within the Linux kernel.
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If you use the string "$CMDLINE_OPTS" in the command, it
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will be replaced by any options specified on the modprobe
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command line. This can be useful because users expect
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"modprobe fred opt=1" to pass the "opt=1" arg to the
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module, even if there's an install command in the
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configuration file. So our above example becomes "install
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fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe
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--ignore-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS"
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\fBoptions \fImodulename\fB \fIoption...\fB\fR
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This command allows you to add options to the module
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\fImodulename\fR (which might be an
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alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether
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directly (using \fBmodprobe\fR
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\fImodulename\fR or because the
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module being inserted depends on this module.
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All options are added together: they can come from an
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\fBoption\fR for the module itself, for an
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alias, and on the command line.
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\fBremove \fImodulename\fB \fIcommand...\fB\fR
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This is similar to the \fBinstall\fR command
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above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run.
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\fBsoftdep \fImodulename\fB pre: \fImodules...\fB post: \fImodules...\fB\fR
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The \fBsoftdep\fR command allows you to specify soft,
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or optional, module dependencies. \fImodulename\fR
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can be used without these optional modules installed, but usually with
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some features missing. For example, a driver for a storage HBA might
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require another module be loaded in order to use management features.
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pre-deps and post-deps modules are lists of names and/or aliases of other
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modules that modprobe will attempt to install (or remove) in order
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before and after the main module given in the
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\fImodulename\fR argument.
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Example: Assume "softdep c pre: a b post: d e" is provided in the
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configuration. Running "modprobe c" is now equivalent to
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"modprobe a b c d e" without the softdep.
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Flags such as --use-blacklist are applied to all the specified
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modules, while module parameters only apply to module c.
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Note: if there are \fBinstall\fR or
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\fBremove\fR commands with the same
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\fImodulename\fR argument,
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\fBsoftdep\fR takes precedence.
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A future version of module-init-tools will come with a strong warning
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to avoid use of the \fBinstall\fR as explained above. This
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will happen once support for soft dependencies in the kernel is complete.
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That support will complement the existing softdep support within this
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utility by providing such dependencies directly within the modules.
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This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM
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Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.
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tests/build/modprobe.conf.5
