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10 Popular modprobe command examples in Linux/Unix (View, Install and Remove Modules)

In this article, I will take you through 10 Useful Linux/Unix modprobe command examples. modprobe is an open source command line tool used for adding and removing modules in Linux/Unix. Being a Linux professional you must be aware of the tools that can be used to view, install and remove kernel and other system modules. Usually modprobe command is used in combination with lsmod and modinfo commands.

At the System Level, generally you don’t have to load the modules manually, it will loaded on demand by udev (device manager). But there are times when you need to load or remove the modules manually. In those cases, modprobe command can become very handy. We will see all the important examples of modprobe command in Linux/Unix as we go through below.

Syntax

modprobe [-v] [-V] [-C config-file] [-n] [-i] [-q] [-b] [modulename] [module parameters…]

modprobe [-r] [-v] [-n] [-i] [modulename…]

modprobe [-c]

modprobe [–dump-modversions] [filename]

10 Popular modprobe command examples in Linux/Unix (View, Install and Remove Modules) 1

modprobe command examples in Linux/Unix

Also Read: 20 Useful Linux History Command Examples | Bash Command History

Example 1: How to check modprobe command version

If you want to check the modprobe command version, then you need to use modprobe --version command as shown below. As you can see from below output, current version is 20.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe --version
kmod version 20

–version : Show version of program and exit.

Example 2: How to dump all the module Configuration using modprobe command in Linux

If you want to dump all the effective configuration from the config directory then you need to use modprobe -c command as shown below. Please note that output of this command could be little longer so it is always advised to view the output page by page using more command as specified below.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe -c | more
blacklist dccp
blacklist dccp_diag
blacklist dccp_ipv4
install snd_pcm /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-pcm && /sbin/modprobe snd-seq
install nf_conntrack /usr/sbin/modprobe --ignore-install nf_conntrack $CMDLINE_OPTS && /usr/sbin/sysctl --quiet --pattern 'net[.]netfilter[.]nf_conntrack.*' --system
install mlx4_core /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install mlx4_core $CMDLINE_OPTS && (if [ -f /usr/libexec/mlx4-setup.sh -a -f /etc/rdma/mlx4.conf ]; then /usr/libexec/mlx4-set
up.sh < /etc/rdma/mlx4.conf; fi; /sbin/modprobe mlx4_en; if /sbin/modinfo mlx4_ib > /dev/null 2>&1; then /sbin/modprobe mlx4_ib; fi)
install ib_qib modprobe -i ib_qib $CMDLINE_OPTS && /usr/libexec/truescale-serdes.cmds start
options rd lvm.lv=centos/root
options rd lvm.lv=centos/swap

-c : Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.

Example 3: How to remove a module using modprobe command in Linux

First you need to list out and check the module which you want to remove using modprobe command. In this example, we are grepping the module cxgb3i from the output of lsmod command to check the availability of this module.

[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep -i cxgb3i
cxgb3i 32791 0
cxgb3 156307 2 iw_cxgb3,cxgb3i
libcxgbi 58769 1 cxgb3i
libcxgb 15319 2 cxgb3i,libcxgbi
libiscsi_tcp 25146 2 cxgb3i,libcxgbi
libiscsi 57233 4 libiscsi_tcp,cxgb3i,ib_iser,libcxgbi

Now remove the cxgb3i module from System using modprobe -v -r cxgb3i command as shown below.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe -v -r cxgb3i
rmmod cxgb3i
rmmod libcxgbi
rmmod libiscsi_tcp
rmmod libcxgb

-v : Print messages about what the program is doing. More info on modprobe Man Page.

-r : This option causes modprobe to remove rather than insert a module.

If you try to list the modules again and verify then you can see that cxgb3i module is not available anymore and hence removed.

[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep -i cxgb3i

Example 4: How to Insert a module using modprobe command

If you want to install a module then you need to use -i option with modprobe command in Linux. In this example, we are trying to install cxgb3i module in verbose mode using modprobe -v -i cxgb3i command.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe -v -i cxgb3i
insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/libiscsi_tcp.ko.xz
insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/libcxgb/libcxgb.ko.xz
insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/cxgbi/libcxgbi.ko.xz
insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb3i/cxgb3i.ko.xz

-i : Install module in the System.

Example 5: How to search all the modules in Linux

If you want to find the installation path of all your modules installed in the system then you need to use below find command. In this example, we are trying to search all the files which contains .ko from /lib/modules/$(uname -r) file path.

[root@localhost ~]# find /lib/modules/$(uname -r) -type f -name *.ko*

Example 6: How to Find all dependable modules using modinfo command in Linux

If you want to find all the dependent modules of a specific module then you need to use -F option with modinfo command as shown below. In this example, we are trying to find all the dependent modules of cxgb3i modules using modinfo -F depends cxgb3i command.

[root@localhost ~]# modinfo -F depends cxgb3i
libiscsi,libcxgbi,libiscsi_tcp,cxgb3,libcxgb

-F : Only print this field value, one per line.. More can be checked on modinfo Man Page.

Example 7: How to List all Blacklisted modules using modprobe command in Linux

If you want to view all Blacklisted modules then you need to grep blacklist from modprobe --showconfig output using modprobe --showconfig | grep blacklist command as shown below.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe --showconfig | grep blacklist
blacklist dccp
blacklist dccp_diag
blacklist dccp_ipv4
blacklist dccp_ipv6
blacklist i8xx_tco
blacklist aty128fb
blacklist atyfb
blacklist radeonfb
blacklist i810fb
blacklist cirrusfb
blacklist intelfb
blacklist kyrofb
blacklist i2c_matroxfb
blacklist hgafb
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist savagefb
blacklist sstfb
blacklist neofb
blacklist tridentfb
blacklist tdfxfb
blacklist virgefb
blacklist vga16fb
blacklist viafb
blacklist hisax
blacklist hisax_fcpcipnp

--showconfig : Dump out the effective configuration from the config directory and exit.

Example 8: How to Check Complete Information about a Module using modinfo command

If you want to check the complete information of a module then you need to use modinfo command as shown below. In this example we are trying to check all the information about cxgb3i module using modinfo cxgb3i command as specified below.

[root@localhost ~]# modinfo cxgb3i
filename: /lib/modules/3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/cxgbi/cxgb3i/cxgb3i.ko.xz
license: GPL
version: 2.0.1-ko
description: Chelsio T3 iSCSI Driver
author: Chelsio Communications, Inc.
retpoline: Y
rhelversion: 7.8
srcversion: DC3416AB7C42C9138EBF7BA
depends: libiscsi,libcxgbi,libiscsi_tcp,cxgb3,libcxgb
intree: Y
vermagic: 3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64 SMP mod_unload modversions
signer: CentOS Linux kernel signing key
sig_key: 74:65:10:C9:28:48:A8:D6:54:BE:F1:09:D5:44:6F:4B:FE:EC:B7:CA
sig_hashalgo: sha256
parm: dbg_level:debug flag (default=0) (uint)
parm: cxgb3i_rcv_win:TCP receive window in bytes (default=256KB) (int)
parm: cxgb3i_snd_win:TCP send window in bytes (default=128KB) (int)
parm: cxgb3i_rx_credit_thres:int
parm: rx_credit_thres:RX credits return threshold in bytes (default=10KB)
parm: cxgb3i_max_connect:Max. # of connections (default=8092) (uint)
parm: cxgb3i_sport_base:starting port number (default=20000) (uint)

Example 9: How to blacklist a Module in Linux from /etc/modprobe.d/local-blacklist.conf file

You need to create a file under /etc/modprobe.d and add the module as shown below. In this example, we are trying to blacklist cxgb3i module by providing an entry in local-blacklist.conf file.

[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/modprobe.d/local-blacklist.conf
blacklist cxgb3i

After performing the above changes you need to restart your system using init 6 or reboot command to reflect the changes in your system.

[root@localhost ~]# init 6

After restart check again if the module is showing in blacklist by grepping the cxgb3i module from modprobe command output as shown below.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe --showconfig | grep blacklist | grep -i cxgb3i
blacklist cxgb3i

Example 10: How to check all the other options available with modprobe command in Linux

If you want to check all the other options available with modprobe command in Linux then you need to use --help as shown below.

[root@localhost ~]# modprobe --help
Usage:
modprobe [options] [-i] [-b] modulename
modprobe [options] -a [-i] [-b] modulename [modulename...]
modprobe [options] -r [-i] modulename
modprobe [options] -r -a [-i] modulename [modulename...]
modprobe [options] -c
modprobe [options] --dump-modversions filename
Management Options:
-a, --all Consider every non-argument to
be a module name to be inserted
or removed (-r)
-r, --remove Remove modules instead of inserting
--remove-dependencies Also remove modules depending on it
-R, --resolve-alias Only lookup and print alias and exit
--first-time Fail if module already inserted or removed
-i, --ignore-install Ignore install commands
-i, --ignore-remove Ignore remove commands
-b, --use-blacklist Apply blacklist to resolved alias.
-f, --force Force module insertion or removal.
implies --force-modversions and
--force-vermagic
--force-modversion Ignore module's version
--force-vermagic Ignore module's version magic

Query Options:
-D, --show-depends Only print module dependencies and exit
-c, --showconfig Print out known configuration and exit
-c, --show-config Same as --showconfig
--show-modversions Dump module symbol version and exit
--dump-modversions Same as --show-modversions

General Options:
-n, --dry-run Do not execute operations, just print out
-n, --show Same as --dry-run
-C, --config=FILE Use FILE instead of default search paths
-d, --dirname=DIR Use DIR as filesystem root for /lib/modules
-S, --set-version=VERSION Use VERSION instead of `uname -r`
-s, --syslog print to syslog, not stderr
-q, --quiet disable messages
-v, --verbose enables more messages
-V, --version show version
-h, --help show this help

 

 

 

 

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