Linux modinfo command
On Linux operating systems, the modinfo command shows information about a module inserted in the kernel.
Description
The modinfo command extracts information from the Linux kernel modules given on the command line. If module name is not a file name, then the /lib/modules/kernel-version directory is searched — the same directory searched by modprobe when loading kernel modules.
By default, modinfo lists each attribute of the module in the form:
field name : value
The module file name is listed the same way.
modinfo can understand modules of any Linux kernel architecture.
Syntax
modinfo [-0] [-F field] [-k kernel] [module name|file name...]
modinfo -V
modinfo -h
Options
| -V, --version | Print the version of modinfo, and exit. |
| -F, --field field name |
Only print the value of the field named field name. Field names are case-insensitive. Common field names are author, description, license, parm, depends, and alias. There are often multiple fields for a given field name, for instance parm, alias, and depends. Multiple values are printed one per line. The special field name, file name, lists the file name of the module. |
| -k kernel | Provide information about a kernel other than the running one. This switch is particularly useful for distributions needing to extract information from a newly-installed (but not yet running) set of kernel modules. |
| -0, --null | Use the ASCII NULL character to separate field values, instead of a newline. This switch is useful for parsing field data, because a newline might be part of a field's value. |
| -a, -d, -l, -p, -n | These are shortcuts for displaying the fields author, description, license, parm, and file name. |
Examples
modinfo snd
Display all available information about the snd Linux kernel module. Output resembles the following:
file name: /lib/modules/3.2.0-4-686-pae/kernel/sound/core/snd.ko alias: char-major-116-* license: GPL description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture driver for sound cards. author: Jaroslav Kysela <[email protected]> license: GPL description: Jack detection support for ALSA author: Mark Brown <[email protected]> depends: soundcore intree: Y vermagic: 3.2.0-4-686-pae SMP mod_unload modversions 686 parm: slots:Module names assigned to the slots. (array of charp) parm: major:Major # for sound driver. (int) parm: cards_limit:Count of auto-loadable sound cards. (int)
modinfo -F parm snd
Display all parm (parameter) fields for the snd Linux kernel module. Output resembles the following (note that the field name does not prefix the field values):
slots:Module names assigned to the slots. (array of charp) major:Major # for sound driver. (int) cards_limit:Count of auto-loadable sound cards. (int)
Related commands
depmod — Generate a list of kernel module dependencies and associated map files.
insmod — Insert a module into the Linux kernel.
lsmod — Show the status of Linux kernel modules.
modprobe — Add and remove modules from the Linux kernel.
rmmod — Remove a module from the Linux kernel.