Compiling sunlance as a module

Compiling sunlance as a module

[Art Haas]

Hi.

I'm still fiddling around with my configuration for my SS20, and I found
that compiling the sunlance.c file as a module has problems. When
booting up and the various init scripts are running, the eth0 interface
fails to start correctly. By doing 'modprobe sunlance' after I log in I
am able to start eth0 and things move smoothly, but I'm an curious to
find out why having this code as a module fails. Searching via Google
brought me to the following link regarding Suse-Linux:

http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-sparc/2002-Feb/0103.html

The original poster had a problem due to compiling sunlance as a module,
and the response was "you can't do that". So, after looking around a bit
more and not finding any more info on exactly why that is true, or even
if it is still true, I seek enlightenment from the list.

The machine is now running 2.6.5-rc3 thanks to the help I've received
here, btw.

Art Haas
-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Jason Wever]

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On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 17:44:12 -0600
"Art Haas" <ahaas@airmail.net> wrote:

> I'm still fiddling around with my configuration for my SS20, and I found
> that compiling the sunlance.c file as a module has problems. When
> booting up and the various init scripts are running, the eth0 interface
> fails to start correctly. By doing 'modprobe sunlance' after I log in I
> am able to start eth0 and things move smoothly, but I'm an curious to
> find out why having this code as a module fails

I'm currently doing this on a ss4 and my first guess would be is that
nothing is loading the module before the init scripts try to make use of
the network device.  As long as I have the module loaded *before* the
network dependent init scripts run, everything is fine.  Not sure which
distribution you are using or I'd make a suggestion as to where to setup
the module to load.

Additionally network drives don't seem to fall under the drivers the
kernel will auto-load as needed (since it probably can't determine what
you may have or in the case of multiple NICs, which one you want to use).

-- 
Jason Wever
Gentoo/Sparc Team Co-Lead

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Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Art Haas]

On Tue, Mar 30, 2004 at 05:00:25PM -0700, Jason Wever wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 17:44:12 -0600
> "Art Haas" <ahaas@airmail.net> wrote:
> 
> > I'm still fiddling around with my configuration for my SS20, and I found
> > that compiling the sunlance.c file as a module has problems. When
> > booting up and the various init scripts are running, the eth0 interface
> > fails to start correctly. By doing 'modprobe sunlance' after I log in I
> > am able to start eth0 and things move smoothly, but I'm an curious to
> > find out why having this code as a module fails
> 
> I'm currently doing this on a ss4 and my first guess would be is that
> nothing is loading the module before the init scripts try to make use of
> the network device.  As long as I have the module loaded *before* the
> network dependent init scripts run, everything is fine.  Not sure which
> distribution you are using or I'd make a suggestion as to where to setup
> the module to load.
> 
> Additionally network drives don't seem to fall under the drivers the
> kernel will auto-load as needed (since it probably can't determine what
> you may have or in the case of multiple NICs, which one you want to use).
> 

My main computer is an old Pentium computer, and I have an ethernet card
using the 8139too driver, and this machine doesn't have any problem
loading the module, and I haven't (knowingly) done anything special to
load it prior to the machine bringing up the eth0 interface. It would
not be surprising if my problem is a configuration error, but when I
compare my sparc-configuration to the i386-configuration, things look
similiar in the networking type areas.

Art Haas

-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Jason Wever]

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On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 18:09:24 -0600
"Art Haas" <ahaas@airmail.net> wrote:

> My main computer is an old Pentium computer, and I have an ethernet card
> using the 8139too driver, and this machine doesn't have any problem
> loading the module, and I haven't (knowingly) done anything special to
> load it prior to the machine bringing up the eth0 interface. It would
> not be surprising if my problem is a configuration error, but when I
> compare my sparc-configuration to the i386-configuration, things look
> similiar in the networking type areas.

Are you running hotplug on the i386 box?  That can result in the module
being auto-loaded as well as any other automatic hardware detection
software.

If the kernel is auto-loading the module without outside assistance, I'd
be interested to know how that works.

-- 
Jason Wever
Gentoo/Sparc Team Co-Lead

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Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[C.Newport]

On Wednesday 31 March 2004 12:44 am, Art Haas wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I'm still fiddling around with my configuration for my SS20, and I found
> that compiling the sunlance.c file as a module has problems. 
[snip]
> I seek enlightenment from the list.

All supported 32bit sparc machines come with a sunlance NIC, so
why would you want this as a module ?. You are always going to
need it.

There is a slightly more obscure issue here - Not all Sun machines
have a working CD drive so the ability to boot from the network for
both installations and troubleshooting is highly desireable. 
Booting from a device which needs a module is not a good idea.

  

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Ciaran McCreesh]

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On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:25:25 +0000 "C.Newport" <crn@netunix.com> wrote:
| All supported 32bit sparc machines come with a sunlance NIC, so
| why would you want this as a module ?. You are always going to
| need it.

Not at all. The JavaStation JK comes with hme and no lance.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh
Mail:    ciaranm at gentoo.org
Web:     http://dev.gentoo.org/~ciaranm


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Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Art Haas]

On Wed, Mar 31, 2004 at 12:25:25AM +0000, C.Newport wrote:
> On Wednesday 31 March 2004 12:44 am, Art Haas wrote:
> > Hi.
> >
> > I'm still fiddling around with my configuration for my SS20, and I found
> > that compiling the sunlance.c file as a module has problems. 
> [snip]
> > I seek enlightenment from the list.
> 
> All supported 32bit sparc machines come with a sunlance NIC, so
> why would you want this as a module ?. You are always going to
> need it.
> 
> There is a slightly more obscure issue here - Not all Sun machines
> have a working CD drive so the ability to boot from the network for
> both installations and troubleshooting is highly desireable. 
> Booting from a device which needs a module is not a good idea.
> 

I try to make the kernel as modular as I can, so that's why I'm trying
to build this driver as a module. It's just how I tend to configure
things ...

Art Haas

-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Art Haas]

On Tue, Mar 30, 2004 at 05:21:08PM -0700, Jason Wever wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 18:09:24 -0600
> "Art Haas" <ahaas@airmail.net> wrote:
> 
> > My main computer is an old Pentium computer, and I have an ethernet card
> > using the 8139too driver, and this machine doesn't have any problem
> > loading the module, and I haven't (knowingly) done anything special to
> > load it prior to the machine bringing up the eth0 interface. It would
> > not be surprising if my problem is a configuration error, but when I
> > compare my sparc-configuration to the i386-configuration, things look
> > similiar in the networking type areas.
> 
> Are you running hotplug on the i386 box?  That can result in the module
> being auto-loaded as well as any other automatic hardware detection
> software.

The machine is configured for hotplug; as I was curious to fiddle around
with the 'udev' stuff in development. I'm still using a static '/dev'
directory, though.

> If the kernel is auto-loading the module without outside assistance, I'd
> be interested to know how that works.

I'm certain that my ethernet driver was being successfully loaded as a
module long before I'd begun to configure the kernel with hotplug
capabilities. I should add a few 'lsmod' statements here and there in
the initscripts and see if I can find just where and when this module is
getting loaded.

Art Haas

-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Pete Zaitcev]

On Wed, Mar 31, 2004 at 12:25:25AM +0000, C.Newport wrote:

> All supported 32bit sparc machines come with a sunlance NIC, so
> why would you want this as a module ?. You are always going to
> need it.

JavaStation-NC, JavaEngine-1, CP-1200 all have HME. Solaris never
supported those, but Linux is better.

> There is a slightly more obscure issue here - Not all Sun machines
> have a working CD drive so the ability to boot from the network for
> both installations and troubleshooting is highly desireable. 
> Booting from a device which needs a module is not a good idea.

On sparc, initrd is easy to piggyback onto the kernel, so it should
pose no problem to netboot over a modular sunlance.
Please refer to arch/sparc/boot/piggyback.c.

-- Pete

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Keith M Wesolowski]

On Tue, Mar 30, 2004 at 07:38:32PM -0600, Art Haas wrote:

> I try to make the kernel as modular as I can, so that's why I'm trying
> to build this driver as a module. It's just how I tend to configure
> things ...

alias eth0 sunlance

SEE ALSO

modules.conf(5), modprobe(8)

I guess hotplug is the pocket calculator of system configuration.

-- 
Keith M Wesolowski

Re: Compiling sunlance as a module

[Art Haas]

WHACK!!!! That clue-stick on the side of my head hurts! :-)

Here I am thinking that there is some deep Sparc-magic that I'm missing,
and if I'd looked at my own '/etc/modprobe.conf' file I would have saved
much time and effort. I think I'll go back and hide in a cave for a
little while ...

Art Haas
-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822