KEXTLOAD(8) System Manager's Manual KEXTLOAD(8)

kextload — load kernel extensions (kexts) into the kernel

kextload [options] [--] [kext ...]

The kextload utility has been deprecated. Please use the kmutil(8) equivalent: kmutil load.

The kextload program is used to explicitly load kernel extensions (kexts). For most kexts, kextload must run as the superuser (root). Kexts installed under /System/ with an OSBundleAllowUserLoad property set to true may be loaded via kextload by non-root users.

On Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), the developer functionality of kextload has moved to the new program kextutil(8); all developer-related options have been removed from kextload and are no longer recognized. On Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), kextload simply forwards a load request to kextd(8), which performs all communication with the kernel.

kextload is a formal interface for kext loading in all versions of Darwin OS and macOS. Software and installers can rely on its presence and invoke it in order to load kexts. Note that long options are present as of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) introduces C functions for loading kexts: KextManagerLoadKextWithIdentifier() and KextManagerLoadKextWithURL(), which are described in Apple's developer documentation.

kext
The pathname of a kext bundle to load. The kext's plugins are available for dependency resolution. Kexts can also be specified by CFBundleIdentifier with the -bundle-id option.
identifier, -bundle-id identifier
Look up the kext whose CFBundleIdentifier is identifier within the set of known kexts and load it. The kext of the highest CFBundleVersion with the given identifier is used; in the case of version ties, the last such kext specified on the command line is used. See the -dependency and -repository options for more information.
kext, -dependency kext
Add kext and its plugins to the set of known kexts for resolving dependencies. This is useful for adding a single kext from a directory while excluding the others. See the -repository option for more information.
, -help
Print a help message describing each option flag and exit with a success result, regardless of any other options on the command line.
, -quiet
Quiet mode; print no informational or error messages.
directory, -repository directory
Use directory as a repository of kexts. This adds to the set of known kexts for resolving dependencies or looking up by CFBundleIdentifier when using the -bundle-id option. This is not recursive; only kexts directly within the directory, and their plugins, are scanned. See also the -dependency option.
[0-6 | ], -verbose [0-6 | ]
Verbose mode; print information about program operation. Higher levels of verbosity include all lower levels. You can specify a level from 0-6, or a bitmask of flags as a hexadecimal number prefixed with 0x (as described in kext_logging(8)). Because kextload messages kextd(8), to perform the actual work of loading, the decimal levels 1-6 generally have little effect. You may wish to use kextutil(8) if you want verbose output about the kext loading operation.
--
End of all options. Only kext names follow.

To load a kext, run kextload and supply a kext bundle name; no options are required:

kextload TabletDriver.kext

Alternatively, you can use the -bundle-id (-b) option to specify a kext by its CFBundleIdentifier:

kextload -bundle-id com.mycompany.driver.TabletDriver

With no additional options kextload looks in the extensions directories (/System/Library/Extensions/ and /Library/Extensions/) for a kext with the given CFBundleIdentifier. Adding repository directories with the -repository option or individual kexts with the -dependency option expands the set of kexts that kextload looks among for dependency resolution and for loading by bundle identifier:

kextload -repository /Applications/MyApp.app/Contents/Resources \
    TabletDriver.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/
The standard system repository of kernel extensions
/Library/Extensions/
The standard repository of non Apple kernel extensions

kextload exits with a zero status if all kexts specified load successfully (or are already loaded). If any kext fails to load, kextload prints an error message for that kext, continues trying to load any remaining kexts, then exits with a nonzero status.

For a kext to be loadable, it must be valid, authenticated, and all dependencies of the kext must be available and loadable. A valid kext has a well formed bundle, info dictionary, and an executable built for the running kernel's architecture. An authentic kext's component files, not including plugins, are owned by root:wheel, with permissions nonwritable by group and other. If your kext fails to load, try using kextutil(8) to examine the kext for problems.

kmutil(8), kernelmanagerd(8), kextcache(8), kextd(8), kextstat(8), kextunload(8), kextutil(8), kext_logging(8)

November 14, 2012 Darwin