modprobe – Automatic handling of loadable modules

The modprobe command is a Linux utility that enables automatic handling of loadable kernel modules. It is used to add or remove modules from the Linux kernel on demand. The modprobe command is used to load kernel modules into the kernel, and it also resolves dependencies between modules.

Overview

The syntax for the modprobe command is as follows:

modprobe [options] module_name

The modprobe command is used to load kernel modules into the kernel. If the module is not already loaded, modprobe will load it. If the module has dependencies, modprobe will load those dependencies as well.

Here are some examples of how to use the modprobe command:

• To load a module: modprobe module_name
• To remove a module: modprobe -r module_name
• To show information about a module: modprobe -c | grep module_name
• To load a module with specific options: modprobe module_name option1=value1 option2=value2

Options

Here are the available options for the modprobe command:

Troubleshooting tips

Here are some common issues that users may encounter when using the modprobe command:

• Module not found: If modprobe cannot find the module, make sure that the correct module name is being used. Use the modinfo command to verify the module name.
• Dependency issues: If modprobe fails to load a module due to missing dependencies, use the depmod command to regenerate the module dependency tree.
• Permission issues: If modprobe fails due to insufficient permissions, run the command as root or with sudo privileges.

Notes

• The modprobe command is typically used during system startup to load required kernel modules.
• The configuration file used by modprobe is located at /etc/modprobe.conf or /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf.
• The modprobe command is often used in conjunction with other commands such as lsmod and insmod.