configuring ISA PnP devices with kernel 2.4 & isapnptools

["Steve M. Robbins" <steven.robbins@videotron.ca>]

Hi,

I've recently adopted the isapnptools package.  This package is most
useful for 2.2 kernels.  However, one of the bug reports (#71007) has
a proposal for making it useful with the 2.4 kernel.

In kernel 2.4, ISA PnP configuration can be done using the kernel.
When enabled, this kernel option provides a /proc/isapnp interface to
which one can simply write the configuration info, in text format.

The proposal (in Russell Howe's bug report, #71007) is to simply copy
the file /etc/isapnp.kernel to /proc/isapnp (if the files exist) in
the isapnptools init script.  This seems reasonable enough to me.

My questions: is there some other package in debian already doing
this?  Is there a standard way to configure PnP at boot time?  What do
you folks do?

To complicate matters, the configuration logic may be compiled as a 
kernel module, meaning the module needs to be loaded before cards
may be configured.  However, the modutils init script runs AFTER
isapnptools.  One suggestion is to simply load the isa-pnp.o module
in the isapnptools init script.  Any problems with that approach?

Thanks,
-Steve