OS X kexts knowhow

I have some Mac OS Xs around me (Intel and PPC ones as well), and usually I find the opportunity to create a nice kernel panic :] But I always forget how to list the already loaded kernel extensions:

kextstat

To load a kernel extension, type:

kextload /System/Library/SomeCool.kext

to unload a kext, type:

kextunload /System/Library/SomeCool.kext

If you want to replace any kexts, just simply copy over as root (i usually do it in midnight commander) and after say:

chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/SomeCool.kext

chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/SomeCool.kext

and clear the kernel cache:

kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions/

Comments

május 18. 2009 15:10

BTW this commands will not work - kext is not ordinary file, it is a bundle. So you need to set permissions not to kext itself, but also to files inside it.

The most simple way to do this is just run Disk Utility and make "Repair permissions" on your boot volume.

Hrissan

június 1. 2009 14:24

Of course it is not working. Please RTFM for what -R means, dude.

Bálint

szeptember 5. 2013 22:22

"make “Repair permissions” on your boot volume."

This wont actually help unless the kext was installed politely and a receipt file was left for Disk Utility to reference when repairing permissions.

It''s not likely that you would need to manually chown/chmod a kext that was installed via a proper pkg installer that left a valid receipts. If on the other hand...

davedave