Re: Modules and Debian
John Spence <jspence@lynx.net.au> writes:
JS> Here's what I think I understand so far.
JS>
JS> /etc/init.d/modutils
JS> ====================
JS> says it "loads the appropriate modules in 'boot'". I suppose this
JS> means /etc/init.d/boot which seems to load modules in
JS> /etc/init.d/modutils. Which one is doing what? I think this
JS> couple of files are for the loading of modules needed before
JS> kerneld? Like modules to mount file-systems in fstab ?
Will, /etc/init.d/boot disappeared from hamm a while ago. I'm not
sure _what_ this comment means. But this script does four things:
-- Check that modules exist.
-- If the modules exist but there's no dependency file (i.e. new
kernel), build the dependency file.
-- Load the modules listed in /etc/modules.
-- Load any modules symlinked into /lib/modules/boot.
The other script worth (briefly) staring at is /etc/init.d/kerneld,
which starts kerneld if it hasn't already been started. These two
scripts take care of everything dealing with boot-time module
configuration.
JS> /etc/modules
JS> ============
JS> I like this one. Nice and uncomplicated (spot the non-shell
JS> programmer)
JS>
JS> Contains the comment # /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at
JS> boot time. (I thought that was what the previously mentioned file
JS> did)
/etc/init.d/modutils actually loads the modules listed here.
JS> I have "auto" commented out in this file so this means: kerneld
JS> will load these modules as I need them?
Right; but kerneld gets started after sysklogd and watchdog. Look in
/etc/rc2.d to see what the order of these things is. kerneld will
_always_ get started unless you have "noauto" in /etc/modules.
JS> If I had "auto" uncommented it would mean: kerneld would load them
JS> all at boot time (but not in time for things like file-systems in
JS> fstab) ?
It would start kerneld before running any of the scripts linked to
/etc/rc2.d. For me, this is important because I need to be able to
load modules before starting either syslogd (unix) or watchdog
(softdog). I could also load these modules by putting entries in
/etc/modules and letting kerneld start later.
At system start time, things happen in the order listed in
/etc/rcS.d. So modutils happens before mountall, and loading kerneld
here (as opposed to later, in /etc/rc2.d/S12kerneld) would let you
dynamically load modules for filesystems you need to mount things.
JS> /etc/conf.modules
JS> =================
JS> Contains only aliases for modules and options to load them?
JS>
JS> I added an option line in this file specifying my net card settings to
JS> prevent auto-probing at boot.
Yup. Absolutely correct.
Good luck...
--
_____________________________
/ \ "The cat's been in the box for over
| David Maze | 20 years. Nobody's feeding it. The
| dmaze@mit.edu | cat is dead."
| http://donut.mit.edu/dmaze/ | -- Grant, on Schroedinger's Cat
\_____________________________/
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