modprobe.d(5)
NAME
modprobe.d - Configuration directory for modprobe
SYNOPSIS
/lib/modprobe.d/*.conf /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf /run/modprobe.d/*.conf
DESCRIPTION
Because the modprobe 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 modprobe behavior altogether for those with special requirements (such as inserting more than one module). 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. The format of and files under modprobe.d is simple: one command per line, with blank lines and lines starting with '#' ignored (useful for adding comments). A '\' at the end of a line causes it to continue on the next line, which makes the file a bit neater.
COMMANDS
alias wildcard modulename
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't have aliases to other aliases (that way
lies madness), but aliases can have options, which will be added to
any other options.
Note that modules can also contain their own aliases, which you can
see using modinfo. These aliases are used as a last resort (ie. if
there is no real module, install, remove, or alias command in the
configuration).
blacklist modulename
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 blacklist keyword indicates that all of that
particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.
install modulename command...
This command instructs modprobe 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't
depend on it, so modprobe won't automatically load it), you could
say "install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe
--ignore-install fred", which would do what you wanted. Note the
--ignore-install, which stops the second modprobe from running the
same install command again. See also remove below.
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 install 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.
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's an install
command in the configuration file. So our above example becomes
"install fred /sbin/modprobe barney; /sbin/modprobe
--ignore-install fred $CMDLINE_OPTS"
options modulename option...
This command allows you to add options to the module modulename
(which might be an alias) every time it is inserted into the
kernel: whether directly (using modprobe modulename) or because the
module being inserted depends on this module.
All options are added together: they can come from an option for
the module itself, for an alias, and on the command line.
remove modulename command...
This is similar to the install command above, except it is invoked
when "modprobe -r" is run.
softdep modulename pre: modules... post: modules...
The softdep command allows you to specify soft, or optional, module
dependencies. modulename 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.
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 modulename
argument.
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.
Note: if there are install or remove commands with the same
modulename argument, softdep takes precedence.
COMPATIBILITY
A future version of kmod will come with a strong warning to avoid use of the install 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.
COPYRIGHT
This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.
SEE ALSO
modprobe(8), modules.dep(5)
AUTHORS
Jon Masters <jcm@jonmasters.org>
Developer
Robby Workman <rworkman@slackware.com>
Developer
Lucas De Marchi <lucas.de.marchi@gmail.com>
Developer
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