On 2021-07-03 at 12:06, mick crane wrote: > hello, > If I type "lsmod" there is a big list of modules with many followed by a > "0" > which I guess means they are not needed in the kernel ?
That depends what you mean by "needed". As I understand matters, what that number being nonzero means is that there's something else the kernel knows about (usually another module) which won't work if this module isn't loaded. In order to unload this module, you'll want to unload the other one first. If the module is zero, that means that the kernel doesn't know of anything other than that module which won't work unless the module is present. That doesn't mean that the module itself isn't needed, however. There might be some functionality which you need which is provided directly by that module, rather than by something which the kernel knows about and considers to be "something else", but which won't work if the module isn't loaded. For example, if the driver for your network card is contained in a module, then even if no other modules depend on that one, unloading the module would mean your network card would stop functioning. If you need your network to be functioning, that would mean that you still need the module, even though there aren't any other modules (etc.) which depends on it. > Does lsmod know about all installed software and if a module is > needed or does software have to be run first ? As Reco suggested, you'll have to clarify this. Most of the time, software does not require loading modules; it's most often hardware that requires that. > If I don't need them can somebody remind me how I can remove modules > ? The command to run is 'modprobe -r MODULE_NAME'. You can also do it with 'rmmod MODULE_NAME', but that's not usually the best way; IIRC, modprobe includes smarts which rmmod doesn't. Both of those commands need to be run as root in order to work. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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