RE: Driver Model 2 Proposal - Linux Kernel Performance v Usability

Chad Kitching
2003-09-05T20:54:53Z

From: Mike Fedyk [mailto:mfedyk@matchmail.com]
> Here is one thing we don't have standardized across the entire Linux
> distribution landscape.
>
> What you need is a project that will take the top 10
> distributions, and do
> this however each distribution does their thing:
>
> o identify the current kernel running (you're going to use the kernel
> you're running, right?)

Not to mention on boot-up check to make sure the module still loads
without warnings on the current kernel (or make sure the module exists
in the current /lib/modules directory.

> o download the kernel source for the running kernel

Problem: Most distributors modify their kernel somewhat. Some enough
to cause binary module incompatibility with the 'stock' kernel.
Matching running kernel and source code kernel would be tricky, to
say the least.

> o install the source in some temporary location

Why not just make the includes directory get installed somewhere.
Somewhere like /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/includes (especially since
make install puts a symlink at /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build anyway)
You also need to prep the extracted kernel with the proper .config, etc.
which isn't always in the source package from some distributors.

> o compile against the downloaded kernel source
>
> o install the module under /lib/modules
>
> o load the module (with the corect optional parameters)

The biggest problem is people not having installed the C compiler, and
related tools. Or having not installed the kernel headers matching
their version of the kernel.