XPost: comp.os.linux.development.system   
      
   In comp.os.linux.development.system Aragorn    
   wrote:   
   | On Thursday 29 January 2009 09:48, someone identifying as   
   | *phil-news-nospam@ipal.net* wrote in /alt.os.linux.gentoo:/   
   |   
   |> In comp.os.linux.development.system Nate Eldredge  wrote:   
   |>   
   |> | [...]   
   |> | I honestly can't understand why you think it is practical or desirable   
   |> | to automatically create a kernel with the "right" set of drivers   
   |> | compiled in.  The whole point of the module system is that this is hard   
   |> | to do at compile time, and is better left to run time.   
   |>   
   |> Install time *IS* a run time of the installer system.  So it can be seen   
   |> at that time what the target machine needs.  If for some reason that is a   
   |> problem then perhaps some distribution might defer the kernel rebuild   
   |> until after the first boot.  Then it can see what modules got loaded (e.g.   
   |> what was "right" at run time), and configure a kernel that differs from   
   |> the currently running one by making just these drivers static.   
   |>   
   |> [...]   
   |   
   | But you can't rely on which modules are loaded to determine what drivers to   
   | build into a kernel.  For instance, in my Tyan/Opteron machine, there are   
   | no PCMCIA adapters, and still the Gentoo install kernel loads the PCMCIA   
   | module.   
      
   So you are saying that Gentoo loads a module that is not needed?  What kind   
   of defect would do that?  I presume you've filed a bug report.   
      
      
   | The kernel doesn't just load the modules for the hardware it needs; it also   
   | loads the modules which it is told to load, and you can't afford to skip   
   | this as there are some drivers you may need for hardware that the kernel   
   | doesn't recognize on its own account.  That's why you've got something like   
   | the *modprobe.preload* file.   
      
   Modules can unload themselves if the device is not present.  Or at least they   
   should do so.   
      
   But these kinds of things _are_ genuine issues that, had a distribution I was   
   asked for existed, would likely be addressed there, and perhaps with some kind   
   of innovative solution.  Again, it is a good reason to have at least tried to   
   find such a distribution.   
      
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