suse-module-tools

This package contains a collection of tools and configuration files for handling kernel modules and setting module parameters. The configuration files represent a carefully engineered, recommended default configuration. In certain cases, it may be necessary to modify or revert some of these settings. It's ok to do so, but make sure you know what you're doing if you do.

Please don't edit any of the configuration files shipped in this package. Instead, copy the files from /lib/modprobe.d to /etc/modprobe.d, preserving the file name, and edit the copy under /etc/modprobe.d. Likewise for /lib/depmod.d vs. /etc/depmod.d and /usr/lib/modules-load.d vs. /etc/modules-load.d.

To completely mask the directives in a configuration file, it's recommended to create a symlink to /dev/null with the same name as the file to be masked in the respective directory under /etc. E.g. to mask /lib/modprobe.d/20-foo.conf, run

ln -s /dev/null /etc/modprobe.d/20-foo.conf

Blacklisted file systems

In the Linux kernel, file system types are implemented as kernel modules. While many of these file systems are well maintained, some of the older and less frequently used ones are not. Others are actively maintained upstream but SUSE kernel developers do not not actively review and include fixes for them in the kernel sources released in openSUSE and SUSE Enterprise Linux. This poses a security risk, because maliciously crafted file system images might open security holes when mounted either automatically or by an inadvertent user.

Filesystems not actively maintained by SUSE kernel developers are therefore blacklisted by default under openSUSE and SUSE Enterprise Linux. This means that the on-demand loading of file system modules at mount time is disabled. Blacklisting is accomplished by placing configuration files called 60-blacklist_fs-$SOME_FS.conf under /lib/modprobe.d. The current list of blacklisted filesystems is:

@FS_BLACKLIST@ # will be filled from spec file during package build

CAVEAT

In the very unlikely case that one of the blacklisted file systems is necessary for your system to boot, make sure you un-blacklist your file system before rebooting.

Un-blacklisting a file system

If a user tries to mount(8) a device with a blacklisted file system, the mount command prints an error message like this:

mount: /mnt/mx: unknown filesystem type 'minix' (hint: possibly blacklisted, see mount(8)).

(mount(8) can't distinguish between a file system for which no kernel module exists at all, and a file system for which a module exists which is blacklisted).

Users who need the blacklisted file systems and therefore want to override the blacklisting can load the blacklisted module directly using modprobe $SOME_FS in a terminal. This will call a script that offers to "un-blacklist" the module for future use.

# modprobe minix
unblacklist: *** NOTE: minix will be loaded even if you answer "n" below. ***
unblacklist: minix is currently blacklisted, do you want to un-blacklist it (y/n)? y
unblacklist: minix un-blacklisted by creating /etc/modprobe.d/60-blacklist_fs-minix.conf

If the user selects y, the module is un-blacklisted by creating a symlink to /dev/null (see above). Future attempts to mount minix file systems will work with no issue, even after reboot, because the kernel's auto-loading mechanism works for this file system again. If the user selects n, the module remains blacklisted. Regardless of the user's answer, the module will be loaded for the time being; i.e. subsequent mount commands for devices with this file system will succeed until the module is unloaded or the system is rebooted.

For security reasons, it's recommended that you only un-blacklist file system modules that you know you'll use on a regular basis, and just enable them temporarily otherwise.

Weak modules

This package contains the script weak-modules2 which is necessary to make 3rd party kernel modules installed for one kernel available to KABI-compatible kernels. SUSE ensures KABI compatibility over the life time of a service pack in SUSE Enterprise Linux. See the SUSE SolidDriver Program for details.

Capturing log output from weak_modules2

Use the following environment variables:

WM2_VERBOSE: value from 0 (default, no logging) - 3 (tracing). the -v/--verbose option increases log level by one.
WM2_DEBUG: 0 (default) or 1. Enables verbose output of certain commands called by weak-modules2. Equivalent to --debug.
WM2_LOGFILE: redirect the output to the given file.

Kernel scriptlet files

The scripts in kernel-scriptlets directory are used internally by kernel packages.

Capturing log output from kernel scripts

KERNEL_PACKAGE_SCRIPT_DEBUG when non-empty enables some extra output to kernel log.

Kernel-specific sysctl settings

This package installs the file 50-kernel-uname_r.conf which makes sure that sysctl settings which are recommended for the currently running kernel are applied by systemd-sysctl.service at boot time. These settings are shipped in the file /boot/sysctl.conf-$(uname -r), which is part of the kernel package.

hramrach / suse-module-tools