Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: [PATCH 2.6.11-rc2] modules: add version and srcversion to sysfs | From | Andreas Gruenbacher <> | Date | Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:38:51 +0100 |
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On Wed, 2005-01-26 at 15:09, Matt Domsch wrote: > On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 10:22:29AM +0100, Andreas Gruenbacher wrote: > > On Wednesday 26 January 2005 07:05, Matt Domsch wrote: > > > Module: Add module version and srcversion to the sysfs tree > > > > why do you need this? > > a) Tools like DKMS, which deal with changing out individual kernel > modules without replacing the whole kernel, can behave smarter if they > can tell the version of a given module.
They can look at the modules in /lib/modules/$(uname -r).
> The autoinstaller feature, > for example, which determines if your system has a "good" version of a > driver (i.e. if the one provided by DKMS has a newer verson than that > provided by the kernel package installed), and to automatically > compile and install a newer version if DKMS has it but your kernel > doesn't yet have that version.
I find the autoinstaller feature quite scary.
> b) Because tools like DKMS can switch out modules, you can't count on > 'modinfo foo.ko', which looks at > /lib/modules/${kernelver}/... actually matching what is loaded into > the kernel already. Hence asking sysfs for this.
DKMS doesn't manage loading modules, does it? If it does, then at least it shouldn't; that's even more scary than the autoinstaller. From the point of view of the kernel, the modules relevant for the running kernel are those below /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/. If DKMS replaces things there, it'd better keep proper track of what it did.
I never want to see DKMS try to remove a module from the running kernel or insmod a new one.
> c) as the unbind-driver-from-device work takes shape, it will be > possible to rebind a driver that's built-in (no .ko to modinfo for the > version) to a newly loaded module. sysfs will have the > currently-built-in version info, for comparison. > > d) tech support scripts can then easily grab the version info for > what's running presently - a question I get often.
That's something you can do entirely in userspace by looking at the *.ko files.
Regards, -- Andreas Gruenbacher <agruen@suse.de> SUSE Labs, SUSE LINUX GMBH
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