Re: Kernel Modules in Fedora -x

[Matt Domsch <Matt_Domsch dell com>]

On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 12:12:39PM -0400, Kelly wrote:
> On Friday, August 03, 2007 10:46 pm Jesse Keating wrote:
> > On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 20:55:48 -0500
> >
> > Josh Boyer <jwboyer jdub homelinux org> wrote:
> > > And I am more and more starting to think this might be a _good_ idea.
> > > Users that want modules we aren't willing to carry upstream can
> > > install the dkms "payload" (as you described it) for the module,
> > > build and install.
> > >
> > > Some might think this is too technical a hurdle for users to clear,
> > > but I think it might be worth examining.  Care to draft a proposal for
> > > FESCo?  We could evaluate it at the same time we do dwmw2/f13's.
> >
> > I'm not totally opposed to the idea, if the dkms system takes care of
> > the logic of building the module when new kernels land and such.
> 
> That was what Dell developed DKMS to handle; situations where people are 
> installing outside modules while updating the kernel frequently.  Every time 
> a new kernel is booted, the autoinstalled automatically builds all installed 
> DKMS modules for the new kernel before it starts.  It takes care of the 
> problem of having to create new packages for all the modules when the kernel 
> is updated.

I've got a bugzilla request in (#250337) to add hooks to the kernel
packages, which dkms can hook into.  In this way, on kernel package
upgrade/remove but before reboot, DKMS can do its thing.  I'm doing
this with hooks on Ubuntu/Debian kernel packages now, and it works
great.  That would make this even more seamless.

-- 
Matt Domsch
Linux Technology Strategist, Dell Office of the CTO
linux.dell.com & www.dell.com/linux