depmod(8) - man - phpman

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Generate `modules.dep` and map files for Linux kernel modules.

Generate dependency and map files for the current kernel
depmod
Generate dependency and map files in a specified directory
depmod {{-o|--outdir}} {{path/to/directory}}
Generate dependency and map files for a specific kernel version
depmod {{kernel_version}}
Examine a specific module instead of all modules
depmod {{kernel_version}} /{{path/to/module.ko}}
Use an alternative root filesystem directory
depmod {{-b|--basedir}} {{path/to/root_directory}}
Write dependency information to `stdout` instead of writing to files
depmod {{-n|--dry-run}}

DEPMOD(8)                                      depmod                                      DEPMOD(8)



NAME
       depmod - Generate modules.dep and map files.

SYNOPSIS
       depmod [-b basedir] [-e] [-E Module.symvers] [-F System.map] [-n] [-v] [-A] [-P prefix] [-w]
              [version]

       depmod [-e] [-E Module.symvers] [-F System.map] [-n] [-v] [-P prefix] [-w] [version]
              [filename...]

DESCRIPTION
       Linux kernel modules can provide services (called "symbols") for other modules to use (using
       one of the EXPORT_SYMBOL variants in the code). If a second module uses this symbol, that
       second module clearly depends on the first module. 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, and a binary hashed version named
       modules.dep.bin, 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).  depmod
       also creates a list of symbols provided by modules in the file named modules.symbols and its
       binary hashed version, modules.symbols.bin. Finally, depmod will output a file named
       modules.devname if modules supply special device names (devname) that should be populated in
       /dev on boot (by a utility such as systemd-tmpfiles).

       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).

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 modules.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. Use this option if you are a distribution vendor who needs to
           pre-generate the meta-data files rather than running depmod again later.

       -C, --config file or directory
           This option overrides the default configuration directory at /etc/depmod.d/.

       -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), but this assumption can break especially when additionally updated third party
           drivers are not correctly installed or were built incorrectly.

       -E, --symvers
           When combined with the -e option, this reports any symbol versions supplied by modules
           that do not match with the symbol versions provided by the kernel in its Module.symvers.
           This option is mutually incompatible with -F.

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

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

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

       -P
           Some architectures prefix symbols with an extraneous character. This specifies a prefix
           character (for example '_') to ignore.

       -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.

       -w
           Warn on duplicate dependencies, aliases, symbol versions, etc.

COPYRIGHT
       This manual page originally Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation. Portions
       Copyright Jon Masters, and others.

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

AUTHORS
       Jon Masters <jcm AT jonmasters.org>
           Developer

       Robby Workman <rworkman AT slackware.com>
           Developer

       Lucas De Marchi <lucas.de.marchi AT gmail.com>
           Developer



kmod                                         04/30/2026                                    DEPMOD(8)