MODULES.DEP(5)

✨ modules.dep, modules.dep.bin — Module dependency information ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about the little files that make your kernel modules actually know about each other 💅 this is MODULES.DEP(5), the manual page for modules.dep and modules.dep.bin, and yes it's short but it's important, okay?

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

/lib/modules/modules.dep

/lib/modules/modules.dep.bin

that's it. those are the paths. no flags, no nothing, they just exist there living their lives 🌸

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so modules.dep.bin is a binary file that gets generated by depmod, and it lists out the dependencies for every single module in the directories under /lib/modules/version. the kmod tools use it — think modprobe and libkmod — they be reading this thing constantly. it's giving main character energy tbh 👑

its text counterpart sits in the same directory and is literally just named modules.dep. and here's the tea, bestie: the text version is maintained only so that humans can read it with their eyeballs. like, it's there for the vibes and for your comprehension. it is in no way used by any kmod tool. none of them. zero. not a single one. the binary one does all the actual work 🙈

okay now the serious part, and I mean it fr fr:

these files are not intended for editing and they're not intended for use by any additional utilities, because their format is subject to change in the future. like, it will change on you, no cap. so if you want information about modules, use the modinfo(8) command instead — that's the future proof, compatible, correct way to do it. do not be out here touching these files with your bare hands, I'm begging you 😭

---

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

this manual page was originally Copyright 2002, Rusty Russell, IBM Corporation. shoutout to the OGs 🫶

---

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• depmod(8)
• modprobe(8)

go read those too, iykyk 💜

---

💀 BUGS 💀

found a bug? bestie, please direct any bug reports to kmod's issue tracker at

https://github.com/kmod-project/kmod/issues/

and when you do, bring receipts: the version you used, the steps to reproduce the problem, and the expected outcome. all three. not two, not one. all three. the maintainers will love you for it ✨

---

👑 AUTHORS 👑

so many contributions have come from the linux-modules mailing list <linux-modules@vger.kernel.org> and from Github — it's a whole community effort, iconic behavior honestly 🌸

if you have a clone of kmod.git itself, you can run the output of git-shortlog(1) and git-blame(1) to see exactly who wrote which specific parts of the project. detective work, but make it git 🕵️♀️

and Lucas De Marchi <lucas.de.marchi@gmail.com> is the current maintainer of the project. protect him at all costs 💖

---

aaaand that's the whole page, bestie! this was kmod version 2026-10-30, from the MODULES.DEP(5) manual. slay, stay modular, and don't edit the binary file 💅✨🌸