[28/35] docs: admin-guide: document the kernel.modprobe sysctl

Commit Message

Andrew Morton April 10, 2020, 9:33 p.m. UTC

From: Eric Biggers <[e-mail]>
Subject: docs: admin-guide: document the kernel.modprobe sysctl

Document the kernel.modprobe sysctl in the same place that all the other
kernel.* sysctls are documented.  Make sure to mention how to use this
sysctl to completely disable module autoloading, and how this sysctl
relates to CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER.

[[e-mail]: v5]
  Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/[e-mail]
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/[e-mail]
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <[e-mail]>
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <[e-mail]>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <[e-mail]>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <[e-mail]>
Cc: Jessica Yu <[e-mail]>
Cc: Kees Cook <[e-mail]>
Cc: Luis Chamberlain <[e-mail]>
Cc: NeilBrown <[e-mail]>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <[e-mail]>
---

 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst |   21 ++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+)

Patch

--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst~docs-admin-guide-document-the-kernelmodprobe-sysctl
+++ a/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
 ============