Linux Debian support - 2.4 to 2.6 kernel modules nightmare

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Author 2.4 to 2.6 kernel modules nightmare
Roberto Scardovi

2005-01-03, 7:45 am

I did not really understand how kernel modules can be configured
for 2.6 kernel based debian systems.

I have a DELL laptop, and decided to try 2.6.10 kernel while
keeping a 2.4.28 lilo boot option alive.
After compiled and have mostly running the 2.6.10 kernel,
I discovered that new version of modutils /init-module-tools
need to be installed to get modprobe, lsmod and similar working...

Later, this lead me to some questions:

In 2.4 and debian a file named /etc/modules.conf maintains
module/device aliases and is merged from /etc/modutils/* files
through a script named update-modules.
Also a file named /etc/modules specifies the modules loaded
at boot time.

Apparently in 2.6 a file named /etc/modprobe.conf is used
instead of /etc/modules.conf and can be INITIALLY (but later?) made up
through a generate-modprobe.conf script (in package module-init-tools).
Also, I guess /etc/modprobe.conf be obtained from /etc/modprobe.d files
in debian...

Who is responsible for updating /etc/modprobe.conf ? (my update-modules
script still produces /etc/modules.conf even if 2.6 kernel is started) ?

Is there a single /etc/modules specifying boot time loaded
modules for both 2.4 and 2.6 kernel ? This would be an issue, I suppose,
for systems running both 2.4 and 2.6 kernels !?

Any help, paper, howto will be appreciated

Thanks to all
Roberto
I suppose kernel 2.6 uses /etc/modprobe.conf instead of
/etc/modules.
Andreas Janssen

2005-01-03, 7:45 am

Hello

Roberto Scardovi (<roberto@occhiostanco.com> ) wrote:

> I did not really understand how kernel modules can be configured
> for 2.6 kernel based debian systems.
>
> I have a DELL laptop, and decided to try 2.6.10 kernel while
> keeping a 2.4.28 lilo boot option alive.
> After compiled and have mostly running the 2.6.10 kernel,
> I discovered that new version of modutils /init-module-tools
> need to be installed to get modprobe, lsmod and similar working...
>
> Later, this lead me to some questions:
>
> In 2.4 and debian a file named /etc/modules.conf maintains
> module/device aliases and is merged from /etc/modutils/* files
> through a script named update-modules.
> Also a file named /etc/modules specifies the modules loaded
> at boot time.


Correct so far, at least on Debian systems.

> Apparently in 2.6 a file named /etc/modprobe.conf is used
> instead of /etc/modules.conf


Wrong. The Debian module init tools read the contents of /etc/modprobe.d
directly, unless you have a modprobe.conf, in which
case /etc/modprobe.d is ignored. Please remove your modprobe.conf and
make your changes in /etc/modprobe.d/.

> and can be INITIALLY (but later?) made up
> through a generate-modprobe.conf script (in package
> module-init-tools). Also, I guess /etc/modprobe.conf be obtained from
> /etc/modprobe.d files in debian...


Actually this is how things worked until some time ago, but not anymore.

> Is there a single /etc/modules specifying boot time loaded
> modules for both 2.4 and 2.6 kernel ? This would be an issue, I
> suppose, for systems running both 2.4 and 2.6 kernels !?


Yes, /etc/modules is used for both kernel 2.6 and 2.4. If this is a
problem because names of drivers loaded through /etc/modules are
different, you can either create an alias in the module configuration
(e.g. alias usb-uhci uhci-hcd for kernel 2.6 in /etc/modprobe.d) or
create /etc/modules-2.6 for kernel 2.6 only. In that case if you boot
with 2.6, only modules-2.6 will be read and modules will be ignored.

> I suppose kernel 2.6 uses /etc/modprobe.conf instead of /etc/modules.


No.

best regards
Andreas Janssen

--
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen@bigfoot.com>
PGP-Key-ID: 0xDC801674 ICQ #17079270
Registered Linux User #267976
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps-sarge.html
Andrew Schulman

2005-01-03, 5:45 pm

> I did not really understand how kernel modules can be configured
> for 2.6 kernel based debian systems.


Everything Andreas said is right. I would just add a few things:

It's not surprising that you were confused, because a lot of things
changed between 2.4 and 2.6. See http://kerneltrap.org/node/799 and
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/docs/p...lloween-2.6.txt for details.

Most of what Andreas said is in the man pages, but it's scattered, and
some of the man pages are out of date and misleading. modprobe(1)
mentions /etc/modprobe.conf and /etc/modprobe.d, but it doesn't mention
that /etc/modprobe.d will be *ignored* if /etc/modprobe.conf exists.
Only in update-modules(1) will you find that information, even though
update-modules is correctly described as obsolete. modprobe.conf(5) is
accurate, except that it doesn't mention that modprobe.conf shouldn't
exist-- everything described there should go into files in
/etc/modprobe.d instead.

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