rmmod

RMMOD(8)                     Linux Module Support                     RMMOD(8)



NAME
       rmmod - unload loadable modules

SYNOPSIS
       rmmod [ -aehrsvV ] module ...

DESCRIPTION
       rmmod unloads loadable modules from the running kernel.

       rmmod  tries  to  unload  a  set  of  modules from the kernel, with the
       restriction that they are not in use and that they are not referred  to
       by other modules.

       If  more than one module is named on the command line, the modules will
       be removed in the given  order.  This  supports  unloading  of  stacked
       modules.

       With the option '-r', a recursive removal of modules will be attempted.
       This means that if a top module in a stack  is  named  on  the  command
       line, all modules that are used by this module will be removed as well,
       if possible.


   OPTIONS
       -a, --all
              Do autoclean: tag unused modules as "to be  cleaned",  and  also
              remove already tagged modules.  Modules stay tagged if they stay
              unused  since  previous  autoclean.   These  two  passes   avoid
              removing transiently unused modules.

       -e, --persist
              Save  persistent  data  for the named modules, without unloading
              any modules.  If no module names  are  specified  then  data  is
              saved  for  all modules that have persistent data.  Data is only
              saved if both the kernel and modutils  support  persistent  data
              and /proc/ksyms contains an entry
              __insmod_modulename_Ppersistent_filename

       -h, --help
              Display a summary of options and immediately exit.

       -r, --stacks
              Remove a module stack.

       -s, --syslog
              Output everything to syslog(3) instead of the terminal.

       -v, --verbose
              Be verbose.

       -V, --version
              Print the version of modutils.

PERSISTENT DATA
       If   a   module   contains   persistent   data   (see   insmod(8)   and
       modules.conf(5)) then removing the module always writes the  persistent
       data  to  the  filename  in the __insmod _P symbol entry.  You can also
       save the persistent data at any time by rmmod -e, this will not  unload
       any modules.

       When  the  persistent  data  is  written  to  file, it is preceded by a
       generated comment line,
       #% kernel_version timestamp
       Generated comment lines start with '#%',  all  generated  comments  are
       stripped  from  the  existing  file, other comments are preserved.  The
       saved data values are written to  the  file,  preserving  the  existing
       order  of comments and assignments.  New values are added at the end of
       the file.  If the file contains values that do not exist in the  module
       then these values are preserved but are preceded by a generated comment
       warning that they are not being used.  The latter  operation  allows  a
       user  to  switch  between  kernels  without  losing persistent data and
       without getting any error messages.

       Note: Comments are only supported when the first non-space character on
       a  line  is  '#'.   Any  non-blank lines that do not start with '#' are
       module options, one per line.  The option  lines  have  leading  spaces
       removed,  the  remainder  of the line is passed to insmod as an option,
       including any trailing characters.

SEE ALSO
       insmod(8), lsmod(8), ksyms(8), modprobe(8).

BUGS
       rmmod [-V | --version] should display version information and then exit
       immediately.  Instead, it prints the version information and behaves as
       if no options were given.

HISTORY
       Module support was first conceived by Anonymous
       Initial Linux version by Bas Laarhoven <bas@vimec.nl>
       Version 0.99.14 by Jon Tombs <jon@gtex02.us.es>
       Extended by Bjorn Ekwall <bj0rn@blox.se>
       Updated for 2.1.17 by Richard Henderson <rth@tamu.edu>
       Updated for 2.2.2 by by Bjorn Ekwall <bj0rn@blox.se>
       Updated for modutils 2.3.20 by by Keith Owens <kaos@ocs.com.au>
       Persistent data for modutils 2.3.22 by by Keith Owens <kaos@ocs.com.au>



Linux                          February 6, 2002                       RMMOD(8)