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<!doctype refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN" [
<!ENTITY debian "<productname>Debian GNU/Linux</productname>">
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<!ENTITY sgml "<abbrev>SGML</abbrev>">
]>
<!-- Stolen from manual page for docbook-to-man, DocBook source file
(C) 1999 W. Borgert debacle@debian.org
$Id: docbook-to-man.sgml,v 1.8 2002/04/27 15:28:02 debacle Exp $ -->
<refentry>
<refentryinfo>
<address>
<email>jcm@jonmasters.org</email>
</address>
<author>
<firstname>Jon</firstname>
<surname>Masters</surname>
</author>
<date>2010-03-09</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>modprobe.conf</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>modprobe.d</refname><refname>modprobe.conf</refname> <refpurpose>Configuration directory/file for modprobe</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsect1>
<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para>Because the <command>modprobe</command> 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
<filename>/etc/modprobe.d</filename> directory which end with the
<filename>.conf</filename> extension specify those options as
required. (the <filename>/etc/modprobe.conf</filename> 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
<command>modprobe</command> behavior altogether for those with
special requirements (such as inserting more than one module).
</para>
<para>
Note that module and alias names (like other module names) can
have - or _ in them: both are interchangable throughout all the
module commands as underscore conversion happens automatically.
</para>
<para>
The format of and files under <filename>modprobe.d</filename> and
<filename>/etc/modprobe.conf</filename> 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.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>COMMANDS</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>alias <replaceable>wildcard</replaceable> <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Note that modules can also contain their own aliases,
which you can see using <command>modinfo</command>. These
aliases are used as a last resort (ie. if there is no real
module, <command>install</command>,
<command>remove</command>, or <command>alias</command>
command in the configuration).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>blacklist <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
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
<command>blacklist</command> keyword indicates that all of
that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>install <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This command instructs <command>modprobe</command> 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
<command>modprobe</command> 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 <option>--ignore-install</option>,
which stops the second <command>modprobe</command> from
running the same <command>install</command> command again.
See also <command>remove</command> below.
</para>
<para>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
<command>install</command> 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.
</para>
<para>
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"
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>options <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>option...</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This command allows you to add options to the module
<replaceable>modulename</replaceable> (which might be an
alias) every time it is inserted into the kernel: whether
directly (using <command>modprobe</command>
<replaceable>modulename</replaceable> or because the
module being inserted depends on this module.
</para>
<para>
All options are added together: they can come from an
<command>option</command> for the module itself, for an
alias, and on the command line.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>remove <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> <replaceable>command...</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This is similar to the <command>install</command> command
above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>softdep <replaceable>modulename</replaceable> pre: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable> post: <replaceable>modules...</replaceable>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The <command>softdep</command> command allows you to specify soft,
or optional, module dependencies. <replaceable>modulename</replaceable>
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.
</para>
<para>
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
<replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument.
</para>
<para>
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.
</para>
<para>
Note: if there are <command>install</command> or
<command>remove</command> commands with the same
<replaceable>modulename</replaceable> argument,
<command>softdep</command> takes precedence.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>COMPATIBILITY</title>
<para>
A future version of module-init-tools will come with a strong warning
to avoid use of the <command>install</command> 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.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>COPYRIGHT</title>
<para>
This manual page originally Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM
Corporation. Maintained by Jon Masters and others.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
<title>SEE ALSO</title>
<para><citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>modprobe</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>modules.dep</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
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