While troubleshooting a custom driver, you attempt to remove the module with rmmod but receive the error message "Module in use". Before forcing the removal, you decide to run lsmod to understand why the kernel will not unload the driver. Which piece of information shown by lsmod is most useful for deciding whether the module can be safely unloaded?
The module author's e-mail address displayed alongside the module name
A list of filesystems or user-space processes currently interacting with the module
The default parameter values that were passed to the module at load time
The reference count and dependency list shown in the Used by column
The Used by field in lsmod tells you how many active references the kernel currently holds to the module and lists the names of any other modules that depend on it. If the reference count is greater than zero or other modules appear in that list, unloading the module risks breaking those dependencies and will fail unless they are first unloaded. By contrast, lsmod does not display an author e-mail (that comes from modinfo), does not list module parameters, and does not indicate which filesystems or user-space processes are using the module-so those fields are not helpful for determining unload safety.
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What is the significance of the reference count in the `Used by` column of `lsmod`?
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How can you identify module dependencies in `lsmod`?
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What is the difference between `lsmod` and `modinfo` when troubleshooting kernel modules?
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CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8)
System Management
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