Re: [docs] [PATCH 1/1] ref-manual: document KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES variable

Re: [docs] [PATCH 1/1] ref-manual: document KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES variable

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Thu, 5 Jun 2025, Dixit Parmar via lists.yoctoproject.org wrote:

> This variable controls the kernel module spliting.
>
> Signed-off-by: Dixit Parmar <dixitparmar19@gmail.com>
> ---
>  documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst | 9 +++++++++
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> index 9768d8f5b..592401eb6 100644
> --- a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> +++ b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> @@ -5359,6 +5359,15 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
>        the :term:`KERNEL_PATH` variable. Both variables are common variables
>        used by external Makefiles to point to the kernel source directory.
>
> +   :term:`KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES`
> +      Allow opt-out of split kernel modules. For some use cases, a monolithic
> +      kernel-modules package containing all modules built from the kernel
> +      sources may be preferred. For one, download time is shorter and
> +      installation time is faster.
> +      Default set to 1, one subpackage per module. Setting it 0 will generate
                                                                ^to

> +      a monolithic kernel-modules package containing all modules built from
> +      the source.
> +
>     :term:`KERNEL_SRC`
>        The location of the kernel sources. This variable is set to the value
>        of the :term:`STAGING_KERNEL_DIR` within the :ref:`ref-classes-module`
> --
> 2.43.0
>
>

[PATCH 1/1] ref-manual: document KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES variable

[Dixit Parmar]

This variable controls the kernel module spliting.

Signed-off-by: Dixit Parmar <dixitparmar19@gmail.com>
---
 documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst | 9 +++++++++
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
index 9768d8f5b..2c23b6864 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
@@ -5359,6 +5359,15 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
       the :term:`KERNEL_PATH` variable. Both variables are common variables
       used by external Makefiles to point to the kernel source directory.
 
+   :term:`KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES`
+      Allow opt-out of split kernel modules. For some use cases, a monolithic
+      kernel-modules package containing all modules built from the kernel
+      sources may be preferred. For one, download time is shorter and
+      installation time is faster.
+      Default set to 1, one subpackage per module. Setting it to 0 will
+      generate a monolithic kernel-modules package containing all modules
+      built from the source.
+
    :term:`KERNEL_SRC`
       The location of the kernel sources. This variable is set to the value
       of the :term:`STAGING_KERNEL_DIR` within the :ref:`ref-classes-module`
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [docs] [PATCH 1/1] ref-manual: document KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES variable

[Quentin Schulz]

Hi Dixit,

Thanks for the patch!

Please wait a bit (a day at least) between versions to let other people 
the time to review, otherwise it'll be difficult to keep up with what 
the latest version is and what we should review :)

On that topic, this is missing the version number (you typically add it 
with -v2 when using git-format-patch or git-send-email if I remember 
correctly).

On 6/5/25 4:03 PM, Dixit Parmar via lists.yoctoproject.org wrote:
> This variable controls the kernel module spliting.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Dixit Parmar <dixitparmar19@gmail.com>
> ---
>   documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst | 9 +++++++++
>   1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> index 9768d8f5b..2c23b6864 100644
> --- a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> +++ b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
> @@ -5359,6 +5359,15 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
>         the :term:`KERNEL_PATH` variable. Both variables are common variables
>         used by external Makefiles to point to the kernel source directory.
>   
> +   :term:`KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES`

This variable can only be used if inheriting kernel-module-split, so we 
should say that, we typically use this wording in the glossary:

When inheriting the :ref:`ref-classes-kernel-module-split` class,

> +      Allow opt-out of split kernel modules. For some use cases, a monolithic

I suggest to reword to

"""
Allows to skip splitting kernel modules into separate packages and 
instead have all in one big package.
"""

Or something along those lines.

> +      kernel-modules package containing all modules built from the kernel

It's not necessarily called kernel-modules as far as I could tell?

If it comes from the Linux kernel recipe, yes because 
KERNEL_PACKAGE_NAME is set to kernel by default.

But otherwise, for recipe for out-of-tree kernel modules, it will likely 
be something different.

> +      sources may be preferred. For one, download time is shorter and

What download time? I assume you're talking about this from the 
perspective of running the package manager from the target and not the 
fetch task in BitBake.

> +      installation time is faster.
> +      Default set to 1, one subpackage per module. Setting it to 0 will

s/subpackage/package/

Yes, setting to 0 will do that, but so will do any other value. So say 
that :), e.g.:

"""
Setting it to any other value will
"""

> +      generate a monolithic kernel-modules package containing all modules

Not necessarily called kernel-modules.

It's likely most often going to be the case so we can make a 
note/example specific to a kernel recipe and/or also for out-of-tree 
kernel module recipes.

Cheers,
Quentin

Re: [docs] [PATCH 1/1] ref-manual: document KERNEL_SPLIT_MODULES variable

[Antonin Godard]

On Thu Jun 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM CEST, Quentin Schulz via lists.yoctoproject.org wrote:
> Hi Dixit,
>
> Thanks for the patch!
>
> Please wait a bit (a day at least) between versions to let other people 
> the time to review, otherwise it'll be difficult to keep up with what 
> the latest version is and what we should review :)
>
> On that topic, this is missing the version number (you typically add it 
> with -v2 when using git-format-patch or git-send-email if I remember 
> correctly).

Also, you can read https://docs.yoctoproject.org/contributor-guide/submit-changes.html
which goes over the process of contributing patches.

Thanks,
Antonin

-- 
Antonin Godard, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com