Kernel Drivers in PPC build: where are they?

[Laurent de Segur <ldesegur@mac.com>]

Hi,

Sorry if this questions looks strange, even stupid. I tried digging the
FAQ/Installation to get some answers for that, but it would seem that
PowerPC specific materials don't come out easily from the docs, at least
that is how I feel coming from the x86 side. I still like the machine better
though, so it's worse the extra efforts ;-)

Is the loading mechanism for kernel modules supported on the PPC platform?
Can I compile my kernel without a specific module then compile the driver
and store it in /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/ or am I better off compiling
as a big monolithic kernel? My problem is understanding where the kernel
image stored on the bootstrap partition (vmlinux) kicks in the root
partition and can see the drivers if it can see them at all on it.

I was looking at the PowerPC installation disk for debian. I noticed that
there is a file in there called drivers.tar.gz. What am I supposed to do
with this file? Should I leave it in the bootstrap dir uncompressed next to
yaboot and vmlinux files? Decompress it and move it in the /lib/modules/ dir
in my root partition? Puzzled.

Thanks for your help in advance.


Laurent