diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst index 335696d3360d..39c95c0e13d3 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst @@ -446,6 +446,27 @@ Notes: successful IPC object allocation. If an IPC object allocation syscall fails, it is undefined if the value remains unmodified or is reset to -1. +modprobe: +========= + +The path to the usermode helper for autoloading kernel modules, by +default "/sbin/modprobe". This binary is executed when the kernel +requests a module. For example, if userspace passes an unknown +filesystem type to mount(), then the kernel will automatically request +the corresponding filesystem module by executing this usermode helper. +This usermode helper should insert the needed module into the kernel. + +This sysctl only affects module autoloading. It has no effect on the +ability to explicitly insert modules. + +If this sysctl is set to the empty string, then module autoloading is +completely disabled. The kernel will not try to execute a usermode +helper at all, nor will it call the kernel_module_request LSM hook. + +If CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER=y is set in the kernel configuration, +then the configured static usermode helper overrides this sysctl, +except that the empty string is still accepted to completely disable +module autoloading as described above. nmi_watchdog ============