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 June 5, 2009 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 qv 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 v 66Be more verbose. 67.It Fl q 68Silence any extraneous warnings. 69.El 70.Sh NOTES 71.Pp 72The kernel security level settings may prevent a module from being 73loaded or unloaded by giving 74.Em "Operation not permitted" . 75.Sh FILES 76.Bl -tag -width /boot/kernel -compact 77.It Pa /boot/kernel 78directory containing loadable modules. 79Modules must have an extension of 80.Pa .ko . 81.El 82.Sh EXIT STATUS 83.Ex -std 84.Sh EXAMPLES 85To load by module name: 86.Bd -literal -offset indent 87\*[Gt] kldload foo 88.Ed 89.Pp 90To load by file name within the module path: 91.Bd -literal -offset indent 92\*[Gt] kldload foo.ko 93.Ed 94.Pp 95To load by relative path: 96.Bd -literal -offset indent 97\*[Gt] kldload ./foo.ko 98.Ed 99.Pp 100To load by full path: 101.Bd -literal -offset indent 102\*[Gt] kldload /boot/kernel/foo.ko 103.Ed 104.Sh AUTOMATICALLY LOADING MODULES 105Some modules (pf, ipfw, ipf, etc.) may be automatically loaded at boot 106time when the corresponding 107.Xr rc.conf 5 108statement is used. 109Modules may also be auto-loaded through their addition to 110.Xr loader.conf 5 . 111.Sh SEE ALSO 112.Xr kldload 2 , 113.Xr loader.conf 5 , 114.Xr rc.conf 5 , 115.Xr security 7 , 116.Xr kldconfig 8 , 117.Xr kldstat 8 , 118.Xr kldunload 8 119.Sh HISTORY 120The 121.Nm 122utility first appeared in 123.Fx 3.0 , 124replacing the 125.Nm lkm 126interface. 127.Sh AUTHORS 128.An Doug Rabson Aq dfr@FreeBSD.org 129