depmod

DEPMOD(8)                                                            DEPMOD(8)



NAME
       depmod - program to generate modules.dep and map files.

SYNOPSIS
       depmod  [  -b  basedir  ]  [ -e ]  [ -F System.map ]  [ -n ]  [ -v ]  [
       version ]  [ -A ]

       depmod [ -e ]  [ -FSystem.map ]  [ -n ]  [ -v ]  [ version ]   [  file‐
       name... ]

DESCRIPTION
       Linux  kernel modules can provide services (called "symbols") for other
       modules to use (using EXPORT_SYMBOL in the code). If  a  second  module
       uses  this symbol, that second module clearly depends on the first mod‐
       ule. These dependencies can get quite complex.

       depmod creates a list of module dependencies  by  reading  each  module
       under  /lib/modules/version and determining what symbols it exports and
       what symbols it needs. By default, this list is written to  modules.dep
       in the same directory. If filenames are given on the command line, only
       those modules are examined (which is rarely useful unless  all  modules
       are listed).

       If  a  version is provided, then that kernel version's module directory
       is used rather than the current kernel version (as  returned  by  uname
       -r).

       depmod  will  also generate various map files in this directory for use
       by the hotplug infrastructure.

OPTIONS
       -a --all
              Probe all modules. This option is enabled by default if no  file
              names are given in the command-line.

       -A --quick
              This  option scans to see if any modules are newer than the mod‐
              ules.dep file before any work is done: if not, it silently exits
              rather than regenerating the files.

       -b basedir --basedir basedir
              If  your  modules  are  not  currently in the (normal) directory
              /lib/modules/version, but in a staging area, you can  specify  a
              basedir  which  is prepended to the directory name. This basedir
              is stripped from the resulting modules.dep file, so it is  ready
              to be moved into the normal location.

       -C --config file or directory
              This   option   overrides  the  default  configuration  file  at
              /etc/depmod.conf (or the /etc/depmod.d/ directory if that is not
              found).

       -e --errsyms
              When combined with the -F option, this reports any symbols which
              a module needs which are not supplied by other  modules  or  the
              kernel.  Normally,  any  symbols  not  provided  by  modules are
              assumed to be provided by the kernel (which should be true in  a
              perfect world).

       -F --filesyms System.map
              Supplied with the System.map produced when the kernel was built,
              this allows the -e option to report unresolved symbols.

       -h --help
              Print the help message and exit.

       -n --dry-run
              This sends the resulting modules.dep and the various  map  files
              to  standard  output  rather  than  writing them into the module
              directory.

       -v --verbose
              In verbose mode, depmod will print (to stdout) all  the  symbols
              each module depends on and the module's file name which provides
              that symbol.

       -V --version
              Show version of program and exit. See below for caveats when run
              on older kernels.

COPYRIGHT
       This manual page Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation.

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



                                  2007-03-21                         DEPMOD(8)