Re: Primer needed on modconf and friends.
On 10 Mar 2002, Bill Moseley wrote:
> Is there a good summary document that explains modconf and /etc/modules.conf
> in Debian?
>
> I'm trying to get my sound working, but figured it would be a good reason to
> get a better understanding of modules. I'm going to sound clueless here, so
> you might as well assume that I am. ;)
>
> With that said, I think I understand insmod, depmod, and modpropbe, and that
> on boot the /etc/init.d/modutils calls modprobe for all the modules listed in
> /etc/modules.
>
> But I don't understand how /etc/modules.conf fits into the system, and how to
> use modconf. Or why it's needed over just adding module names to
> /etc/modules.
>
> I hope with a better understanding of modules I see why I'm getting:
>
> modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module char-major-10-135
>
> I'm just trying to understand how all the parts fit together, and why.
>
> In an attempt to get sound working I installed the alsa package, but it's
> looking for the "snd" module.
>
> Starting ALSA sound driver (version none):modprobe: Can't locate module snd
> failed.
>
> This is what modules I have available:
>
> # ls -l /lib/modules/2.4.17/kernel/drivers/sound
> total 140
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15156 Mar 8 13:16 ac97_codec.o
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 8 13:18 emu10k1
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 83574 Mar 8 13:16 sound.o
Hi, Bill. You may want to look at the Linux Loadable Kernel Module Howto
at the Linux Documentation Project. Google Web gave this with a search of
"loadable kernel howto". In any case, a URL for this is
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Module-HOWTO/ The idea of /etc/modules.conf
is to try to enable the following functions as I understand them.
1) Loading modules on demand (as the kernel asks for them), and unloading
them if necessary. In particular:
a) Loading modules in a particular order.
b) Unloading some modules and then loading a different set because some
modules can't be loaded into the kernel at the same time as others.
Having said this, I am still as unclear on the details as you are.
Understanding this better is on my TODO list. And I find the whole topic
of sound modules particularly vexing (and badly documented).
Faheem.
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