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 module 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 insert-
       ing 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 commands.

       The  format  of  and  files under modprobe.d and /etc/modprobe.conf 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).

       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  com-
              mand line.

       install modulename command...
              This  is the most powerful primitive: it tells 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.

              You can also use install to make up modules which don't otherwise  exist.  For  example:  "install  probe-ethernet
              /sbin/modprobe  e100  ||  /sbin/modprobe eepro100", which will first try to load the e100 driver, and if it fails,
              then the eepro100 driver when you do "modprobe probe-ethernet".

              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"

       remove modulename command...
              This  is  similar to the install command above, except it is invoked when "modprobe -r" is run.  The removal coun-
              terparts to the two examples above would be: "remove fred /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove fred && /sbin/modprobe
              -r barney", and "remove probe-ethernet /sbin/modprobe -r eepro100 || /sbin/modprobe -r e100".

       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: the blacklist
              keyword indicates that all of that particular module's internal aliases are to be ignored.

COPYRIGHT
       This manual page Copyright 2004, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.

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



                                                           2005-06-01                                           MODPROBE.CONF(5)