Find kernel extensions (kexts) based on a variety of criteria and print information.
Syntax:
kextfind [options] [--] [kext_or_directory ...] [query]
[-report [-no-header] report_predicate ...]
Options
-h, -help
Print a help message describing each option flag and exit with a
success result, regardless of any other options on the command
line.
-set-arch arch
Set the architecture used for such things as architecture-spe-
cific properties to arch. You can only perform a query with one
such architecture; searches for multiple executable architectures
are possible, for example, but you can’t search for two architec-
ture-specific values of a single property.
-i, -case-insensitive
Perform case-insensitive comparisons for all property, match
property, and bundle identifier query predicates when values are
strings. Has no effect when property values are numbers or
booleans. You can also use this option with individual property
query predicates.
-s, -substring
Perform substring searches for all property, match property, and
bundle identifier query predicates when values are strings. Has
no effect when property values are numbers or booleans. You can
also use this option with individual property query predicates.
-no-paths
Print no paths for kexts, just their bundle names, and for info
dictionary and executable files, their paths relative to the kext
itself. This can be ambiguous with plugins of the same name and
when searching multiple repositories.
-relative-paths
Print pathnames relative to kexts' repositories (which can be
ambiguous if multiple repositories are being searched).
-0, -nul
Make the -echo and all -print... command predicates except for
-print-diagnostics emit an ASCII NUL character (character code 0)
in place of any newlines. This is useful when sending the output
to xargs(1). You can also use this flag individually with those
command predicates.
-f kext_or_directory, -search-item kext_or_directory
Specifies a kext or directory of kexts to search. Can be speci-
fied multiple times. While you can normally just list them with-
out an option flag, these are provided to prevent ambiguity with
the query expression.
-e, -system-extensions
Adds the system extensions folder to the list of directory to
search. If you don’t specify any directories or kexts, this is
used by default.
-- End of options.
Descriptions of all available search criteria and commands follow, grouped by general category.
Search by Bundle Name, or Info Dictionary or Match (Personality) Properties Most of these predicates take the -case-insensitive (-i) and -substring (-s) options as described above.
-b [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] identifier
-bundle-id [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] identifier
True if the kext’s bundle identifier matches identifier.
This is equivalent to -property CFBundleIdentifier identifier.
-dup
-duplicate-id
True if any other kext has the same bundle identifier as the current kext.
-B [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name
-bundle-name [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name
True if the kext’s bundle name matches name.
-m [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name value
-match-property [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name value
True if the kext has at least one personality that contains value
as a string, number, or boolean value (expressible as 'true',
'yes', '1' or 'false', 'no', '0') for the named property.
-me name
-match-property-exists name
True if the kext has at least one personality containing any
value for the named property.
-p [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name value
-property [-i|-case-insensitive] [-s|-substring] name value
True if the kext’s info dictionary contains value as a string,
number, or boolean value (expressible as 'true', 'yes', '1'
or 'false', 'no', '0') for the named property.
-pe name
-property-exists name
True if the kext’s info dictionary contains any value for the
named property.
Search by Loaded/Loadable
-a, -authentic
True if the kext is owned by root:wheel and has proper permissions.
-d, -dependencies-met
True if the kext has all its dependencies met.
-nd, -dependencies-missing
True if the kext is missing dependencies (or can't have its
dependencies resolved).
-na, -inauthentic
True if the kext is not owned by root:wheel or has improper per-
missions (or can't be so authenticated).
-nv, -invalid
True if the kext is not valid.
-l, -loadable
True if the kext appears to be loadable. (It can still fail to
load due to link errors.)
-loaded
True if the kext is currently loaded (if its bundle identifier,
version, and executable UUID match a kext loaded in the kernel).
-nl, -nonloadable
True if the kext can’t be loaded because it is invalid, inauthentic,
or missing dependencies.
-v, -valid
True if the kext is valid.
-w, -warnings
True if any warnings are noted while validating the kext.
Search by Executable, Architecture, or Symbol
-arch arch1[,arch2...]
True if the kext contains all of the named CPU architectures
(separated by commas only with no spaces), and possibly others,
in its executable.
-ax arch1[,arch2...], -arch-exact arch1[,arch2...]
True if the kext contains all of the named CPU architectures
(separated by commas only with no spaces), and no others, in its
executable.
-dsym symbol, -defines-symbol symbol
True if the kext defines the named symbol in any of its architectures.
The name must match exactly with the (possibly mangled) symbol
in the kext’s executable. Such names typically begin with
at least one underscore; see nm(1). A kext must also be a
library for others to link against it (see -library).
-x, -executable
True if the kext declares an executable via the CFBundleExe-
cutable property (whether it actually has one or not; that is, if
the kext declares one but it’s missing, this predicate is true
even though the kext is invalid).
-nx, -no-executable
True if the kext does not declare an executable via the CFBundle-
Executable property.
-rsym symbol, -references-symbol symbol
True if the kext has an undefined reference to the named symbol
in any of its architectures. The name must match exactly with
the (possibly mangled) symbol in the kext’s executable. Such
names typically begin with at lease one underscore; see nm(1).
Search by Miscellaneous Attribute
-debug True if the kext has a top-level OSBundleEnableKextLogging prop-
erty set to true, or if any of its personalities has an IOKitDe-
bug property other than zero. (Note: As of macOS 10.6 (Snow
Leopard), the property OSBundleDebugLevel is no longer used.)
-has-plugins
True if the kext contains plugins.
-integrity { correct|modified|no-receipt|not-apple|unknown }
OBSOLETE. As of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), kext integrity is
not used and this predicate always evaluates to false.
-kernel-resource
True if the kext represents a resource built into the kernel.
-lib, -library
True if the kext is a library that other kexts can link against.
-plugin
True if the kext is a plugin of another kext.
Search by Startup Requirement
These options find kexts that are used at startup or allowed to load during safe boot. They should be combined with the -or operator. (The standard system mkext file contains console, local-root, and root kexts, so you would specify '\( -console -or -local-root -or -root \)'.
-C, -console
True if the kext is potentially required for console-mode startup
(same as -p OSBundleRequired Console but always case-sensitive).
-L, -local-root
True if the kext is potentially required for local-root startup
(same as -p OSBundleRequired Local-Root but always case-sensitive).
-N, -network-root
True if the kext is potentially required for network-root startup
(same as -p OSBundleRequired Network-Root but always case-sensitive).
-R, -root
True if the kext is potentially required for root startup (same
as -p OSBundleRequired Root but always case-sensitive).
-S, -safe-boot
True if the kext is potentially allowed to load during safe boot
(same as -p OSBundleRequired 'Safe Boot' but always case-sensitive).
Search by Version
-compatible-with-version version
True if the kext is a library kext compatible with the given version.
-V [ne|gt|ge|lt|le]version[-version]
-version [ne|gt|ge|lt|le]version[-version]
True if the kext’s version matches the version expression. You
can either specify an operator before a single version, or a
range of versions. Remember that nonfinal versions such as
1.0d21 compare as less than final versions (in this case 1.0);
construct your version expression accordingly. See also -library.
These predicates print information about kexts that match the query, or run a utility on the kext bundle directory, its info dictionary file, or its executable. Execpt for -exec, these all have a true result for purposes of query evaluation.
The -echo and all -print... command predicates except for -print-diagnostics accept a -nul (-0) option to emit an ASCII NUL character (character code 0) in place of any newlines. This is useful when sending the output to xargs(1).
-echo [-n|-no-newline] [-0|-nul] string
Prints string followed by a newline. You can specify -n or
-no-newline to omit the newline. If you specify both -n and
-nul, string is not followed by either a newline or an ASCII NUL
character.
-exec utility [argument ...] ;
True if the program named utility returns a zero value as its
exit status. Optional arguments can be passed to the utility.
The expression must be terminated by a semicolon (';'). If you
invoke kextfind from a shell you might need to quote the semicolon
if the shell would otherwise treat it as a control operator. The
strings '{}', '{info-dictionary}', and '{executable}',
appearing anywhere in the utility name or the arguments are
replaced by the pathname of the current kext, its info dictionary,
or its executable, respectively. utility will be executed
from the directory from which kextfind was executed. utility and
arguments are not subject to the further expansion of shell patterns
and constructs.
-print [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathname of the kext. If no command predicate is
specified, the query as a whole becomes equivalent to ( query )
-and -print.
-print0
Equivalent to -print -nul, for all you find(1) users out there.
-pa [-0|-nul]
-print-arches [-0|-nul]
Prints the names of all the architectures in the kext executable
(if it has one), separated by commas.
-print-dependencies [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathnames of all direct and indirect dependencies of
the kext.
-print-dependents [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathnames of all direct and indirect dependents of the kext.
-pdiag
-print-diagnostics
Prints validation and authentication failures, missing dependencies,
and warnings for the kext.
-px [-0|-nul]
-print-executable [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathname to the kext’s executable file.
-pid [-0|-nul]
-print-info-dictionary [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathname to the kext’s info dictionary file. (You can
use '-exec cat {info-dictionary} \;' or '-exec pl -input
{info-dictionary} \;' to print the contents of the file.)
-print-integrity [-0|-nul]
OBSOLETE. As of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), kext integrity is
not used and this command prints 'n/a' for 'not applicable'.
-print-plugins [-0|-nul]
Prints the pathnames of all plugins of the kext.
-pm [-0|-nul] name
-print-match-property [-0|-nul] name
For each matching personality in the kext, if the named property
exists, prints the personality’s name, a colon, then name followed
by an equals sign and the property’s value. Results in true even
if the property does not exist for any personality.
-pp [-0|-nul] name
-print-property [-0|-nul] name
If the top-level property exists, prints name followed by an
equals sign and its value. Results in true even if the property
does not exist.
The query primaries can be combined using the following operators. The operators are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
( expression )
This evaluates to true if the parenthesized expression evaluates
to true. Note that in many shells parentheses are special char-
acters and must be escaped or quoted.
! expression
-not expression
This is the unary NOT operator. It evaluates to true if
expression is false, to false if expression is true. Note that
in many shells '!' is a special character and must be escaped
or quoted.
expression -and expression
expression expression
The and operator is the logical AND operator. It is implied by
the juxtaposition of two expressions and therefore need not be
specified. It evaluates to true if both expressions are true.
If the first expression is false, the second expression is not
evaluated.
expression -or expression
The -or operator is the logical OR operator. It evaluates to
true if either expression is true. If the first expression is
true, the second expression is not evaluated.
Use the following predicates in a report expression to generate a tabdelimited format, one kext per line, suitable for further processing (or immediate edification). The report normally starts with a header line labeling each column; you can skip this by following -report directly with -no-header.
The report predicate keywords are almost all the same as query predicates, but have different purposes (and arguments in several cases). In general, where a query predicate is looking for a value, a report predicate is retrieving it. Thus, the property predicates only take the name of the property, and print the value of that property for the kext being examined. Report predicates based on attributes with multiple values, such as -print-dependencies, print the number of values rather than the values themselves. Finally, report predicates for yes/no questions print 'yes' or 'no'.
Note that many shorthands for inverted meanings, such as -invalid, are not available for reports (they would only be confusing). Others, such as -match-property, could generate multiple values that would be impossible to embed meaningfully in plain tab-delimited text (and knowing how many of them there are is not useful).
-b, -bundle-id
Prints the kext’s bundle identifier.
-B, -bundle-name
Prints the kext’s bundle name.
-integrity, -print-integrity
OBSOLETE. As of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), kext integrity is
not used and this command prints 'n/a' for 'not applicable'.
-V, -version
Prints the kext’s version.
-print Prints the kext’s pathname.
-pa, -print-arches
Prints the names of the architectures, if any, in the kext exe-
cutable.
-print-dependencies
Prints the number of dependencies found for the kext.
-print-dependents
Prints the number of kexts found that depend on the kext.
-px, -print-executable
Prints the pathname of the kext’s executable (if it has one).
-pid, -print-info-dictionary
Prints the pathname of the kext’s info dictionary.
-print-plugins
Prints the number of plugin kexts the kext has.
-p name, -property name
-pp name, -print-property name
Prints the value for the top-level info dictionary property with
key name. If the key is not defined, prints 'null'.
-sym symbol, -symbol symbol
Prints 'references' or 'defines' if the kext references or
defines symbol. (This is the only report predicate that is not
also a query predicate.)
-arch arch1[,arch2...]
'yes' if the kexts contains all the named architectures (and
possibly others), 'no' otherwise.
-ax arch1[,arch2...], -arch-exact arch1[,arch2...]
'yes' if the kexts contains exactly the named architectures
(and no others), 'no' otherwise.
-a, -authentic
-debug
-d, -dependencies-met
-dup, -duplicate-identifier
-x, -executable
-has-plugins
-kernel-resource
-lib, -library
-l, -loadable
-loaded
-plugin
-w, -warnings
-v, -valid
The kextfind utility locates and prints information, or generates reports, about kernel extensions (kexts) matching the search criteria in query from among those in the named directory and extension arguments.
If no directories or extensions are specified, kextfind searches the system extensions folder. Searches are performed via kext management logic as used by kextload(8) and kextd(8), by which only kexts directly in the repository directory or kexts explicitly named (and their immediate plugins) are eligible; this is specifically not an exhaustive, recursive filesystem search.
Construct your search using any of the query and command predicates listed above.
You can combine predicates with the logical operators -and, -or, and -not, and group them with parentheses.
Query command predicates generally print some bit of information about a kext, such as its pathname or bundle identifier, followed by either a newline or an ASCII NUL. You can also generate a tab-delimited report using the -report keyword after the query expression; if you do, you must not specify any of the command predicates described below.
If no command predicate or report is specified, kextfind implicitly executes a -print command predicate for each kext matching the query.
The kextfind utility exits with a status of 0 on completion (whether or not any kexts are found),
or with a nonzero status if an error occurs.
The following examples are shown as given to the shell:
Print a list of all non-Apple kexts:
kextfind -case-insensitive -not -bundle-id -substring 'com.apple.' -print
Print a list of all kexts that aren’t loadable or that have any warnings, along with what’s wrong with each:
kextfind \( -nonloadable -or -warnings \) -print -print-diagnostics
Print a list of all kexts that can’t be loaded because of problems with their dependencies:
kextfind -nonloadable -print-dependents | sort | uniq
Print a list of all kexts that define the symbol __ZTV14IONetworkStack:
kextfind -defines-symbol __ZTV14IONetworkStack
Print a list of all kexts kexts that contain only ppc and i386 code:
kextfind -relative-paths -arch-exact ppc,i386
Print a list of all kexts that have debug options set, along with the values of the debug options:
kextfind -debug -print -pp OSBundleDebugLevel -pm IOKitDebug
Print a list of all kexts that match on IOMedia, along with their info dictionaries:
kextfind -m IOProviderClass IOMedia -print -exec pl -input {info-dictionary} ;
Print a report of kexts that can’t be loaded, with hints as to the problems:
kextfind -no-paths -nl -report -print -v -a -d
“My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who i am” ~ Joan Jett
kextstat - Display status of loaded kernel extensions.
kextunload - Terminate driver instances and unload kernel extensions.
kextutil - Load, diagnose problems with, and generate symbols for kernel extensions.
find - Search for files that meet a desired criteria.
xargs - Execute utility - passing arguments.