From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1759493AbZBYTpj (ORCPT ); Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:45:39 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1756955AbZBYTp2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:45:28 -0500 Received: from kroah.org ([198.145.64.141]:49205 "EHLO coco.kroah.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756855AbZBYTp2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:45:28 -0500 Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:28:10 -0800 From: Greg KH To: Alex Buell Cc: "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" Subject: Re: Unused modules in 2.6.x Message-ID: <20090225192810.GA6150@kroah.com> References: <20090225175249.30e47b85@lithium.local.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20090225175249.30e47b85@lithium.local.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 05:52:49PM +0000, Alex Buell wrote: > Hi, > > Perhaps I missed something when the 2.6.x kernels got started a few > years back, but why is it not possible for unused modules to be > automatically unloaded anymore i.e with rmmod -a? I remember being able > to do that with the 2.2.x and 2.4.x series a long time ago. Because if you do that, lots of modules that were being "used" by the system would get unloaded (usb host controllers, network drivers, etc.) So it makes sense not to do that anymore. See the linux-kernel archives about 6 years ago for details if you are curious about this historical issue (hint, it could burn you very badly even in 2.2 and 2.4...) good luck, greg k-h