Re: Kernel Drivers in PPC build: where are they?
Laurent de Segur <ldesegur@mac.com> writes:
> Is the loading mechanism for kernel modules supported on the PPC platform?
Of course.
> 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?
You can compile modules separately after building the kernel, yes.
The best way to build kernels is to use kernel-package. Do "apt-get
install fakeroot kernel-package", then view the file
/usr/share/doc/kernel-package/README.gz.
> 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.
By "bootstrap partition", I'm assuming you mean a separate /boot
filesystem. Kernels shouldn't be stored on the Apple_Bootstrap
partition, AIUI. The answer to what I think your question is: you
can't compile your filesystem or disk drivers as modules¹; they need
to be part of the kernel so it can mount the root file system
(containing /lib) and get the rest of the modules.
> 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?
drivers.tar.gz is for the debian boot-floppies. During the
installation, you'll be prompted for the path to it. Unless you're
doing some sort of manual installation, you shouldn't need to do
anything with it yourself.
¹Without an initrd, anyways...
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