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Why does lsmod report a use count of -1 for some modules? Is this a bug?

April 26, 2017bug modules report

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Why does lsmod report a use count of -1 for some modules? Is this a bug?

1 Answer

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Posted

• (REW) There are several possibilities. First: • (DW) No, this is not necessarily a bug. A module may report a use count of -1 if it has a can_unload function, which is called when necessary by the system to determine if it is safe to unload the module. • (REW) But then again, it could be a bug anyway. In that case, you’d normally see the usage count at 0 (or more when it’s actually used), and when “something” happens, the usage may drop below zero. If you can repeat this, please drop the driver maintainer an Email. Some modules lack the code to unload. They will deliberately set their usage count to -1 to prevent unloading.