You have a module file for a network driver on disk but the driver is not loaded. Which command reports the module's description, license, its dependencies and the parameters it accepts, without loading it into the kernel?
LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 101. System architecture easy
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The options
Correct modinfo e1000
Correct. modinfo reads the metadata embedded in the .ko file itself, so it works on modules that are not loaded and is how you discover which parameters a driver accepts before setting them.
Not correct lsmod e1000
Wrong. lsmod takes no module argument at all; it simply formats /proc/modules, which lists only the modules that are currently loaded, with their size and use count.
Not correct modprobe -v e1000
Wrong. modprobe loads the module (-v just makes it print the insmod commands it runs). That is the opposite of inspecting it without loading.
Not correct depmod -a
Wrong. depmod -a scans every module under /lib/modules/$(uname -r) and rebuilds the dependency map modules.dep that modprobe later consults. It prints nothing about a module's description or parameters.
Why
modinfo works on the module file, so no loading is required: it prints filename, description, author, license, alias lines, depends, and one parm: line per accepted parameter. lsmod shows what is loaded, modprobe loads, depmod builds the dependency index. Remember the split as: modinfo describes, lsmod lists, modprobe loads, depmod indexes.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- LPI exam objective 101.1
- What it says
- Inspecting and managing kernel modules with the tools that report hardware and driver information.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 101 and space the ones you get wrong.