---
name: "genl"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "iproute2"
version: "7.3.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/genl/8"
---

# genl(8)

generic netlink utility frontend

## NAME

genl - generic netlink utility frontend

## SYNOPSIS

**genl**\[ **OPTIONS** \] **OBJECT** **genl** { **-V**\[**ersion**\] \| **-h**\[**elp**\] }

*OPTIONS* := {  **-s**\[*tatistics*\] \| **-d**\[*etails*\] \| **-j**\[son\] \| **-p**\[retty\] }

*OBJECT* := {  **ctrl** *CTRL\_OPTS* }

*CTRL\_OPTS* := {  **help** \| **list** \| **monitor** \| **get** *PARMS* }

*PARMS* := {  **name** *NAME* \|  **id** *ID* }

## DESCRIPTION

The **genl** utility provides a simple frontend to the generic netlink library. Although it's designed to support multiple *OBJECT*s, for now only the **ctrl** object is available, which is used to query the generic netlink controller.

### ctrl

The generic netlink controller can be queried in various ways:

- **help**

  This command just prints a help text for the **ctrl** object.

- **list**

  Show the registered netlink users.

- **monitor**

  Listen for generic netlink notifications.

- **get**

  Query the controller for a given user, identified either by **name** or **id**.

## OPTIONS

genl supports the following options.

- **-h, -help**

  Show summary of options.

- **-V, -Version**

  Show version of program.

- **-s, -stats, -statistics**

  Show object statistics.

- **-d, -details**

  Show object details.

- **-j, -json**

  Output results in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).

- **-p, -pretty**

  Add indentation for readability.

- **-r, -raw**

  Dump raw output only.

## SEE ALSO

[**ip**(8)](/ip/8.md)\

## AUTHOR

genl was written by Jamal Hadi Salim \<hadi@cyberus.ca\>.

This manual page was written by Petr Sabata \<contyk@redhat.com\>.