How do you check the version of a *.ko kernel module in Linux?

Question

I know you can do:

sudo modprobe -v some_module

to check the version of /lib/modules/.../some_module.ko, but I'd still like to be able to check the version of any arbitrary kernel module that's not necessarily going to be loaded by modprobe.

score 21 · Accepted Answer · answered May 20 '09 at 16:45

21

modinfo(8)
modinfo - program to show information about a Linux Kernel module

Simply,

modinfo module-file

General tip: At the bottom of a manpage and there is a section called "See Also". For modprobe, it lists modinfo. That section can be extremely useful.

answered May 20 '09 at 16:45

Ian Kelling

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Hm, better than strings ;) +1 – Node May 20 '09 at 16:49
Curious why this doesn't work for me. It complains it can't find the file even though I checked it exists. – Pavel Šimerda Aug 20 '18 at 11:52

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

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Try:

strings some_module.ko | grep vermagic

Or use as mentioned by Ian Kelling modinfo.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered May 20 '09 at 16:47

Node

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I need this on a system without 'modinfo', so this was a good tip. For me, the command 'strings some_module.ko | grep version' actually returned the version of my module. – noisygecko Nov 06 '15 at 20:08

How do you check the version of a *.ko kernel module in Linux?

2 Answers2