Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Daniel Campbell <zlg@g.o>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] rfc: openrc using modprobe directly to load kernel modules
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 06:23:26
Message-Id: 7c381eea-586e-d5d2-ccce-b751127bc2ac@gentoo.org
In Reply to: [gentoo-dev] rfc: openrc using modprobe directly to load kernel modules by William Hubbs
1 On 08/17/2016 09:54 AM, William Hubbs wrote:
2 > All,
3 >
4 > I'm starting this thread because of the bug I'm citing below [1].
5 >
6 > The issue is that some systems do not use kernel modules, and do not
7 > have kmod installed at all. Since we run modprobe unconditionally in a
8 > few places in OpenRC, we always generate "modprobe: command not found"
9 > errors on systems which are set up like this.
10 >
11 > If you read the bug, the proposed fixes have been a bit controversial in
12 > the past. Since we have the "want" dependency now, I would like to
13 > propose a different fix.
14 >
15 > 1. all of the current openrc services that use modprobe should have
16 > "want modules" in their dependencies.
17 > 2. After this is done, these services should still attempt to load the
18 > modules if necessary, but they should complain to the user about it and
19 > recommend either building these modules in or using /etc/conf.d/modules
20 > to configure them so they are loaded by the modules service.
21 > 3. Then, at some point in the future, OpenRC could remove the modprobe
22 > commands.
23 >
24 > Thoughts?
25 >
26 > William
27 >
28 > [1] https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=342313
29 >
30 Is there a reliable way to test for kernel functionality _before_
31 calling modprobe? I think if a service needs certain kernel
32 functionality then it should complain -- loudly, if needed -- so the
33 admin knows what to do, be it building the feature into the kernel or
34 facilitating a module. But I don't think modules should be required. I
35 generally don't enable things with M unless some technical situation
36 requires it. The only real module I have is the nvidia-drivers module
37 which takes care of itself. Everything else is built into my kernels.
38
39 lsmod and modprobe can handle modules -- what can be used to target
40 kernels that have functionality built-in? Not every system will have
41 /proc/config.gz support (though honestly I don't know why you wouldn't
42 want that).
43
44 Hiding error or warning messages seems irresponsible to me and could
45 lead to confusion. So I guess I'm in favor overall, but don't want to
46 see lightweight installs lose anything or become forced to install
47 things as modules, as it complicates the kernel configuring process
48 needlessly.
49 --
50 Daniel Campbell - Gentoo Developer
51 OpenPGP Key: 0x1EA055D6 @ hkp://keys.gnupg.net
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