Re: vplay

[Daniel Martin <martind@math.jhu.edu>]

On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, David Densmore wrote:

> Thanks to all who answered my question about vplay.  I have a.out
> compiled as a module, and I added binfmt_aout.o to /etc/modules
> and rebooted.  vplay now runs fine, so I guess vplay is a.out.
> 
> Strangely enough I had a.out as a module in my previous kernel
> (I started with the same config file this time and didn't change
> the status of a.out from before) and vplay ran without the entry
> in /etc/modules.  I don't understand exactly how modules load.
> Perhaps I accidently changed something else pertaining to modules
> when I compiled 2.0.31, but at least my favorite sound player is
> working now.
> 
What I suspect may have happened is that you didn't compile your 2.0.31
kernel for kerneld support - for some strange reason the default answer to
the question "Compile in kerneld support?" is "N"; I suppose this is for
memory space issues - I still think it would make more sense for the
default to be "Y", but that's just me.

Anyway, the reason I mention kerneld is because kerneld is a program that
will auto-load modules as they're needed, and remove them after they
haven't been used for a while.  As I recall, the default debian kernel
comes with kerneld support, and I kerneld is by default started at
boottime - therefore, with a default debian kernel the a.out module would
have been loaded as needed, and wouldn't have to be in /etc/modules.conf. 

So, if you really feel a need to put your /etc/modules.conf back the way
it was (the memory you save by having the a.out module unload when not
needed is piddlingly small), you can recompile your 2.0.31 kernel for
kerneld support.

DANIEL MARTIN


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