MODULE_DEPEND(9)

✨ MODULE_DEPEND 💅

okay bestie, so this one is literally called MODULE_DEPEND and it's from the Kernel Developer's Manual, section 9 (iykyk, that's the kernel interface girlies 🎀). it does exactly one thing and it does it iconically: it sets up kernel module dependencies. let's get into it 🦋

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📚 SYNOPSIS

first you gotta pull in the vibes:

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/module.h>

then you hit 'em with:

MODULE_DEPEND(name, moddepend, int minversion, int prefversion,
    int maxversion);

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🌸 DESCRIPTION

so the MODULE_DEPEND() macro sets a dependency on another kernel module, and that other module is called moddepend, and it has to have registered its version already with MODULE_VERSION(). no version registration, no dependency, that's the deal 🙈

what MODULE_DEPEND() actually does is give hints to the kernel loader(8) and to the kernel linker — it's basically sliding into their DMs like "hey bestie, pls make sure this named dependency gets loaded before the existing module, mwah 💖". and that's it. it does not change or dictate the order in which modules are initialized at runtime. like, loading order ≠ init order, don't get it twisted 👑

you have to specify three versions for moddepend, and here's the breakdown:

• minversion — the minimum version the current module can depend on. the floor. the bare minimum. periodt.
• maxversion — the maximum version the current module can depend on. the ceiling, no cap fr.
• prefversion — the preferred version the current module can depend on. the one you'd pick if you could pick 💅

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🍓 EXAMPLES

look at this little cutie go:

MODULE_DEPEND(foo, bar, 1, 3, 4);

so foo is depending on bar, and it'll accept versions 1 through 4, but it'd prefer 3. main character energy tbh 🌟

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👀 SEE ALSO

• DECLARE_MODULE(9)
• module(9)
• MODULE_VERSION(9)

go read those too, they're all in the same friend group 🫶

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👑 AUTHORS

this manual page was written by Alexander Langer <alex@FreeBSD.org> — absolute icon, we stan 🌈

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💀 reminder bestie: this macro is a hint, not a runtime scheduling command. don't go telling people it orders your init, because it literally does not. fr fr.

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and that's the whole page, we ate and left no crumbs 🎀 this was Debian's version, dated January 11, 2005 — vintage but still slaying ✨ bye bestie, go write some kernel modules 💜🦋