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



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

DESCRIPTION
       Because the modprobe command can add or remove extra more than one mod
       ule, due to module dependencies, we need a method  of  specifying  what
       options	are to be used with those modules.  /etc/modprobe.conf (or, if
       that does not exist, all files  under  the  /etc/modprobe.d  directory)
       specifies  those  options,  as required.  It can also be used to create
       convenient aliases: alternate names for	a  module.   Finally,  it  can
       override  the  normal modprobe behavior altogether, for those with very
       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.

       The format of modprobe.conf 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.

       The syntax is a simplification of modules.conf, used in 2.4 kernels and
       earlier.

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 cant 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).

       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.

       install modulename command...
	      This is the most powerful primitive in modprobe.conf:  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" worked better with  the
	      module  "barney"	already installed (but it didnt depend on it,
	      so modprobe wont 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 re-running the
	      same install command.  See also remove below.

	      You can also use install to make up modules which  dont  other
	      wise exist.  For example: "install probe-ethernet /sbin/modprobe
	      e100 || /sbin/modprobe eepro100", which will try first the  e100
	      driver,  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 theres 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 counterparts 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".

       include filename
	      Using  this  command, you can include other configuration files,
	      or whole directories, which is occasionally useful.   Note  that
	      aliases  in  the	included file will override aliases previously
	      declared in the current file.

       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:	the  blacklist keyword indicates that all of a
	      particular modules internal aliases are to be ignored.

BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
       There is a generate_modprobe.conf program which should do a  reasonable
       job  of generating modprobe.conf from your current (2.4 or 2.2) modules
       setup.

       Although the syntax is similar to the  older  /etc/modules.conf,  there
       are  many  features  missing.  There are two reasons for this: firstly,
       install and remove commands can do just about anything,	and  secondly,
       the  module-init-tools modprobe is designed to be simple enough that it
       can be easily replaced.

       With the complexity of actual module insertion reduced to three	system
       calls  (open, read, init_module), and the modules.dep file being simple
       and open, producing a more powerful modprobe variant can be done  inde
       pendently if there is a need.

       As  a  Debian-specific  feature, files in /etc/hotplug/blacklist.d/ are
       read and every non-comment line is considered as if it were  the  argu
       ment of the blacklist keyword.

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

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



				09 August 2005		      MODPROBE.CONF(5)




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