modprobe.conf man page on Debian

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MODPROBE.CONF(5)					      MODPROBE.CONF(5)

NAME
       modprobe.d, modprobe.conf - Configuration directory/file for modprobe

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.  (the /etc/modprobe.conf file can also be
       used if it exists, but that will be removed in a future version).  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 interchangable throughout all the module com‐
       mands as underscore conversion happens automatically.

       The format of and files under modprobe.d and /etc/modprobe.conf is sim‐
       ple: 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 exam‐
	      ple:  "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 com‐
	      mand 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  sup‐
	      port  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/mod‐
	      probe --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	 prob‐
	      lem  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 mod‐
	      ule  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 pro‐
	      vide 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 miss‐
	      ing. 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 mod‐
	      ulename argument, softdep takes precedence.

COMPATIBILITY
       A  future  version of module-init-tools 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 Corpora‐
       tion. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.

SEE ALSO
       modprobe(8), modules.dep(5)

				30 October 2011		      MODPROBE.CONF(5)
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