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.\" $FreeBSD$ 27.\" 28.Dd February 11, 2021 29.Dt KLDLOAD 8 30.Os 31.Sh NAME 32.Nm kldload 33.Nd load a file into the kernel 34.Sh SYNOPSIS 35.Nm 36.Op Fl nqv 37.Ar 38.Sh DESCRIPTION 39The 40.Nm 41utility loads 42.Ar file Ns Pa .ko 43into the kernel using the kernel linker. 44Note that if multiple modules are specified then an attempt will 45be made to load them all, even if some fail. 46The 47.Pa .ko 48extension name is not mandatory when loading a given module 49using 50.Nm . 51It does not hurt to specify it though. 52.Pp 53If a bare filename is requested it will only be loaded if it is found within 54the module path as defined by the sysctl 55.Va kern.module_path . 56To load a module from the current directory it must be specified as a full or 57relative path. 58The 59.Nm 60utility will warn if a module is requested as a bare filename and is present 61in the current directory. 62.Pp 63The following options are available: 64.Bl -tag -width indent 65.It Fl n 66Do not try to load module if already loaded. 67.It Fl v 68Be more verbose. 69.It Fl q 70Silence any extraneous warnings. 71.El 72.Sh NOTES 73The kernel security level settings may prevent a module from being 74loaded or unloaded by giving 75.Em "Operation not permitted" . 76.Sh FILES 77.Bl -tag -width /boot/kernel -compact 78.It Pa /boot/kernel 79directory containing loadable modules. 80Modules must have an extension of 81.Pa .ko . 82.El 83.Sh EXIT STATUS 84.Ex -std 85.Sh EXAMPLES 86To load by module name: 87.Bd -literal -offset indent 88\*[Gt] kldload foo 89.Ed 90.Pp 91To load by file name within the module path: 92.Bd -literal -offset indent 93\*[Gt] kldload foo.ko 94.Ed 95.Pp 96To load by relative path: 97.Bd -literal -offset indent 98\*[Gt] kldload ./foo.ko 99.Ed 100.Pp 101To load by full path: 102.Bd -literal -offset indent 103\*[Gt] kldload /boot/kernel/foo.ko 104.Ed 105.Sh AUTOMATICALLY LOADING MODULES 106Some modules (pf, ipfw, ipf, etc.) may be automatically loaded at boot 107time when the corresponding 108.Xr rc.conf 5 109statement is used. 110Modules may also be auto-loaded through their addition to 111.Xr loader.conf 5 112or kld_list in 113.Xr rc.conf 5 . 114.Pp 115Only those modules necessary for booting the system, including those 116required for mounting the root filesystem, should be handled by 117.Xr loader.conf 5 . 118.Sh SEE ALSO 119.Xr kldload 2 , 120.Xr loader.conf 5 , 121.Xr rc.conf 5 , 122.Xr security 7 , 123.Xr kldconfig 8 , 124.Xr kldstat 8 , 125.Xr kldunload 8 , 126.Xr kldxref 8 127.Sh HISTORY 128The 129.Nm 130utility first appeared in 131.Fx 3.0 , 132replacing the 133.Nm lkm 134interface. 135.Sh AUTHORS 136.An Doug Rabson Aq Mt dfr@FreeBSD.org 137