1.\" 2.\" Copyright (c) 1997 Doug Rabson 3.\" All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 9.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 12.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 13.\" 14.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 15.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 16.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 17.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 18.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 19.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 20.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 21.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 22.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 23.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 24.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 25.\" 26.Dd December 20, 2023 27.Dt KLDLOAD 8 28.Os 29.Sh NAME 30.Nm kldload 31.Nd load a file into the kernel 32.Sh SYNOPSIS 33.Nm 34.Op Fl nqv 35.Ar 36.Sh DESCRIPTION 37The 38.Nm 39utility loads 40.Ar file Ns Pa .ko 41into the kernel using the kernel linker. 42Note that if multiple modules are specified then an attempt will 43be made to load them all, even if some fail. 44The 45.Pa .ko 46extension name is not mandatory when loading a given module 47using 48.Nm . 49It does not hurt to specify it though. 50.Pp 51If a bare filename is requested it will only be loaded if it is found within 52the module path as defined by the sysctl 53.Va kern.module_path . 54To load a module from the current directory it must be specified as a full or 55relative path. 56The 57.Nm 58utility will warn if a module is requested as a bare filename and is present 59in the current directory. 60.Pp 61The following options are available: 62.Bl -tag -width indent 63.It Fl n 64Do not try to load module if already loaded. 65.It Fl v 66Be more verbose. 67.It Fl q 68Silence any extraneous warnings. 69.El 70.Sh NOTES 71The kernel security level settings may prevent a module from being 72loaded or unloaded by giving 73.Em "Operation not permitted" . 74.Sh FILES 75.Bl -tag -width /boot/kernel -compact 76.It Pa /boot/kernel 77directory containing loadable modules. 78Modules must have an extension of 79.Pa .ko . 80.El 81.Sh EXIT STATUS 82.Ex -std 83.Sh EXAMPLES 84To load by module name: 85.Bd -literal -offset indent 86\*[Gt] kldload foo 87.Ed 88.Pp 89To load by file name within the module path: 90.Bd -literal -offset indent 91\*[Gt] kldload foo.ko 92.Ed 93.Pp 94To load by relative path: 95.Bd -literal -offset indent 96\*[Gt] kldload ./foo.ko 97.Ed 98.Pp 99To load by full path: 100.Bd -literal -offset indent 101\*[Gt] kldload /boot/kernel/foo.ko 102.Ed 103.Sh AUTOMATICALLY LOADING MODULES 104Some modules (pf, ipfw, ipf, etc.) may be automatically loaded at boot 105time when the corresponding 106.Xr rc.conf 5 107statement is used. 108Modules may also be auto-loaded through their addition to 109.Xr loader.conf 5 110or kld_list in 111.Xr rc.conf 5 . 112.Pp 113Only those modules necessary for booting the system, including those 114required for mounting the root filesystem, should be handled by 115.Xr loader.conf 5 . 116.Sh SEE ALSO 117.Xr kenv 1 , 118.Xr kldload 2 , 119.Xr loader.conf 5 , 120.Xr rc.conf 5 , 121.Xr security 7 , 122.Xr kldconfig 8 , 123.Xr kldstat 8 , 124.Xr kldunload 8 , 125.Xr kldxref 8 126.Sh HISTORY 127The 128.Nm 129utility first appeared in 130.Fx 3.0 , 131replacing the 132.Nm lkm 133interface. 134.Sh AUTHORS 135.An Doug Rabson Aq Mt dfr@FreeBSD.org 136