Simple video driver question

If my /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf contains the lines…


blacklist nouveau
blacklist fbdev
blacklist vesa

…why does my /var/log/Xorg.0.log tell me…

    18.820] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
    18.821] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so
    18.836] (II) Module nouveau: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    18.836]    compiled for 1.10.4, module version = 0.0.16
    18.836]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
    18.836]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
    18.836] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
    18.838] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
    18.846] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    18.846]    compiled for 1.10.4, module version = 0.4.2
    18.846]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
    18.846] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
    18.847] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
    18.848] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
    18.848]    compiled for 1.10.4, module version = 2.3.0
    18.848]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
    18.848]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0

Or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks.

Yes, you are missing something. The list in /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf are read by the kernel’s modprobe function at boot, and they are kernel modules. Furthermore, as the comments in the file explain, this list only applies to files loaded via modalias. It’s important to note that modules in the list in this particular file can be specifically loaded at a later point in time, e.g., for some modules, the issue is one of sequencing relative to other modules.

What you see in the X log is the server looking for and evaluating possible drivers as it automagically determines which one to use.

If you want to blacklist nouveau, that is usually done in the file nvidia.conf. Generally the proper file for user selected modules not to be loaded is 99-local.conf.