kmod-tui

A terminal UI for Linux sysadmins to browse and inspect loaded kernel modules. Read-only — built for looking, not for changing module state.

Why

lsmod shows a flat table. modinfo <mod> shows one module. This tool gives you a navigable, filterable, sorted view of all loaded modules with rich per-module detail (license, author, description, parameters, holders, dependency info) a keystroke away.

Data sources (read-only)

/proc/modules — the loaded module list
/sys/module/<name>/ — refcnt, coresize, initsize, initstate, srcversion, taint, parameters/, holders/
modinfo <name> — filename, license, description, author, depends, vermagic, retpoline, intree, signature info (fetched lazily, only when a module is selected for detail, so the list view stays fast)

Install

Option 1 — static binary (no toolchain needed)

Grab it from the v0.1.0 release. The binary is statically linked (musl) — no glibc, no Rust, no dependencies. Runs on any Linux x86_64:

curl -LO "https://git.dhvlabs.space/hermes-agent-dhvlabs/kmod-tui/releases/download/v0.1.0/kmod-tui-linux-x86_64"
chmod +x kmod-tui-linux-x86_64
sudo mv kmod-tui-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/kmod-tui
kmod-tui

If you already have the repo on a build box, just scp the binary anywhere:

scp target/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/release/kmod-tui user@host:/usr/local/bin/kmod-tui

Option 2 — build from source with rustup (recommended if you want to hack on it)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
cargo build --release
sudo mv target/release/kmod-tui /usr/local/bin/

Option 3 — distro packages (apt install rustc cargo) — works on Ubuntu 24.04+ (ships rustc 1.75, ratatui 0.28 needs ≥1.74). Older distros ship rust that's too old; use rustup instead.

Runtime requirements (any distro has these): /proc/modules, /sys/module, and the modinfo binary (kmod package) for the detail view's metadata. The list view works without modinfo.

Build & run

cargo run --release
# or
cargo build --release
./target/release/kmod-tui
# fully static build (any Linux x86_64, no glibc needed):
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl

Requires the Rust toolchain (rustup stable). No other deps; ratatui/crossterm are vendored by cargo.

Keys

List view:

j / ↓          move down
k / ↑          move up
g / Home       top
G / End        bottom
PgDn / PgUp    scroll by 10
Enter          open full-detail screen for the selected module
/              start filtering by module name (type, Esc to clear)
s              cycle sort: name → size → refcnt → dependents
r              refresh the module list from /proc/modules
?              toggle help overlay
q              quit

Full-detail view:

j / ↓ , k / ↑  move selection (stays in full-detail, reloads detail)
Esc / q        back to list
?              help

Filter mode (after /):

type           append to filter
Backspace      delete last char
Enter / Esc    exit filter (Esc also clears)

Layout

Top bar: module count + kernel version + current sort/filter.
Middle: scrollable module table (#, name, size, refcnt, used-by, state).
Bottom: two-column detail pane for the highlighted module.
Footer: key hints (context-sensitive).

Architecture

src/
  main.rs     CLI bootstrap, event loop, key dispatch
  app.rs      App state: module list, cursor, filter, sort, view mode, lazy fetches
  event.rs    crossterm input polling
  model.rs    Module/ModInfo types, /proc + /sys collection, modinfo parsing, tests
  ui/
    mod.rs     frame composition, status bar, footer, help overlay
    list.rs     module table
    detail.rs   detail pane + full-detail screen

Tests

cargo test --release

Unit tests cover the /proc/modules used-by parser, the modinfo output parser, and the human-readable size formatter.

Non-goals (v1)

Writing module parameters or loading/unloading modules — read-only by design.
Showing all installable (not-yet-loaded) modules — planned for v1.1.
Remote hosts — local only.

Roadmap

v1.1: dependency tree view, all-available-modules toggle, CSV/TSV export, config file (~/.config/kmod-tui/config.toml).
v2: optional inotify auto-refresh on /proc/modules.

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