lfs-book/chapter06/kmod.xml

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<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>

<sect1 id="ch-system-kmod" role="wrap">
  <?dbhtml filename="kmod.html"?>

  <sect1info condition="script">
    <productname>kmod</productname>
    <productnumber>&kmod-version;</productnumber>
    <address>&kmod-url;</address>
  </sect1info>

  <title>Kmod-&kmod-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod">
    <primary sortas="a-Kmod">Kmod</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title/>

    <para>The Kmod package contains libraries and utilities for loading kernel
    modules</para>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
      <segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>&kmod-ch6-sbu;</seg>
        <seg>&kmod-ch6-du;</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Kmod</title>

    <para>Apply a patch to fix a testsuite issue on 32-bit machines:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="pre">patch -Np1 -i ../&kmod-test_fix-patch;</userinput></screen>

    <para>Prepare Kmod for compilation:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="configure">./configure --prefix=/usr       \
            --bindir=/bin       \
            --libdir=/lib       \
            --sysconfdir=/etc   \
            --with-xz           \
            --with-zlib</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist>
      <title>The meaning of the configure options:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>lib* and --with-*</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>These options enable Kmod to handle compressed kernel modules.
          The shell variables are required in order for the xz and zlib headers
          and libraries to be found in the absence of pkg-config.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="make">make</userinput></screen>

    <para>To test the results, issue:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="test">make check</userinput></screen>

    <para>Install the package, and create symlinks for compatibility with
    Module-Init-Tools, the package that previously handled Linux kernel modules:
    </para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">make pkgconfigdir=/usr/lib/pkgconfig install

for target in depmod insmod modinfo modprobe rmmod; do
  ln -sv ../bin/kmod /sbin/$target
done

ln -sv kmod /bin/lsmod</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="contents-kmod" role="content">
    <title>Contents of Kmod</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed libraries</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>depmod (link to kmod), insmod (link to kmod), kmod, kmod-nolib,
        lsmod (link to kmod), modinfo (link to kmod), modprobe (link to kmod),
        and rmmod (link to kmod)</seg>
        <seg>/lib/kmod.so</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="depmod">
        <term><command>depmod</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Creates a dependency file based on the symbols it finds in the
          existing set of modules; this dependency file is used by
          <command>modprobe</command> to automatically load the required
          modules</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod depmod">
            <primary sortas="b-depmod">depmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="insmod">
        <term><command>insmod</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Installs a loadable module in the running kernel</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod insmod">
            <primary sortas="b-insmod">insmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="kmod">
        <term><command>kmod</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Loads and unloads kernel modules</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod kmod">
            <primary sortas="b-kmod">kmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libkmod">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libkmod</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This library is used by other programs to load and unload kernel
           modules</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod">
            <primary sortas="c-libkmod">libkmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="lsmod">
        <term><command>lsmod</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Lists currently loaded modules</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod lsmod">
            <primary sortas="b-lsmod">lsmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="modinfo">
        <term><command>modinfo</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Examines an object file associated with a kernel module and
          displays any information that it can glean</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod modinfo">
            <primary sortas="b-modinfo">modinfo</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="modprobe">
        <term><command>modprobe</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Uses a dependency file, created by
          <command>depmod</command>, to automatically load relevant modules</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod modprobe">
            <primary sortas="b-modprobe">modprobe</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="rmmod">
        <term><command>rmmod</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Unloads modules from the running kernel</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-kmod rmmod">
            <primary sortas="b-rmmod">rmmod</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>