Re: [TCLUG:14187] compile problems: net-pf-1 module?

[Mike Hicks <hick0088@tc.umn.edu>]

Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom wrote:
> 
> how much does module support add to your kernel? would it be sensible to
> build all this stuff into a monolithic kernel, and do without the module
> support?

I think I probably build a little less into the kernel and a whole lot
more stuff as modules..  One never knows when they'll come across a
color quickcam or something else fun ;-)

Generally speaking, I build what I know is necessary into my kernel
(This is from a fair bit of experience, mind you).  The root filesystem,
IPv4 and Unix domain sockets networking, IDE hard disk support, keyboard
support, things like that.

For modules, I do IDE CDROMs (Sometimes it is useful to do SCSI
emulation, so I want the driver for my CD drive to be loadable and
un-loadable..), some networking stuff (like IPv6, IPX, Appletalk, blah,
maybe some interesting firewalling stuff).  I also build any parallel
port-related drivers as modules, since I may need to plug in a Zip drive
or other piece of hardware at some point.  My SCSI card is another
notable module, along with most of the filesystems I come across (except
Ext2 -- I want to be able to boot the system ;-)

I have also found that unloading and then reloading modules can be good
for resetting hardware.  The PS/2 mouse driver used to be a module (it
is now built into the keyboard driver, as the keyboard and mouse use the
same controller on PS/2-ish systems).  I remember once swapping mice,
reloading the ps2 driver, and it worked perfectly (usually, you have to
reboot to get a PS/2 mouse going again..)  Needless to say, it's a bit
tricky to unload and reload the keyboard module ;-)

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 [ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088@umn.edu ]