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Tamas Sarga posted <Pine.LNX.4.58.0411161734520.18945@××××.hu>, excerpted |
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below, on Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:42:17 +0100: |
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> On Tue, 16 Nov 2004, Douglas Pollock wrote: |
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> |
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> |
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>> On Tuesday November 16 2004 10:13 am, Daniel Drake wrote: |
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>> > I personally did not anticipate it affecting many people (if you are |
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>> > going to load a module on every boot up, why not just build it |
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>> > directly into the kernel). |
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>> |
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>> Another possibility is that it is a driver for a pluggable device. If |
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>> the device is not plugged in, then there is no need for the module to |
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>> be loaded. |
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>> |
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> [That] possibility [doesn't] count at this case. This function will work |
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> with the new hotplug, only the startup won't. Hotplug will listen for |
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> *plug-in* events, and load approproate moduls, but when a device is |
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> attached to your computer when you boot, there won't be *plug-in* event. |
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> The main advantage of this that the boot procedure will be shorter, |
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> 'cause hotplug won't search for devices on all port/bus/etc. |
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I appreciate the distinction between hotplug/coldplug/unplugged that I |
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believe you are trying to make, but the possibility does indeed still |
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count. |
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What happens if a situationally critical pluggable device is plugged in at |
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boot? I don't have a laptop so this particular usual example doesn't |
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affect me personally, but I understand it's a big deal for a significant |
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segment of the user base. Some laptop users may use pluggable NICs (wired |
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or wireless) and expect the machine to boot to network if they are in at |
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boot (coldplugged), yet want the flexibility of booting no-net if it's not |
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plugged at boot. That requires modules and a "coldplug" solution, or it |
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won't support either the unplugged at boot option (if the module is |
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built-in or loaded unconditionally using modules.autoload) or the plugged |
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at boot (coldplug) option (if it's loaded only with hotplug, no coldplug |
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script existing). |
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Personally, I prefer as small a "core" kernel as possible, with only |
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keyboard/input and my IDE and fs modules being built-in, to avoid initrd, |
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and everything else possible being modularized, including rtc and a few |
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other modules I load using modules.autoload and never unload. Other |
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modules (alsa and sound hardware, mainly) get loaded at boot either by |
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coldplug or by autoload, but I like the flexibility of being able to |
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reload them or simply unload them if need be. |
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That's one of the good things about Linux and open source in general -- it |
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maintains far more admin level choice than typical commercial products, so |
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those that want it all built-in can have it that way, while those that |
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like slimmed down systems or load all the modules at boot but like the |
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flexibility can have it that way as well. Typical commercial products |
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choose one or the other for supportability reasons, regardless of the |
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needs or desires of an individual installation/admin. |
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However, I suppose this is getting off topic for the thread.. |
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little |
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temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- |
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Benjamin Franklin |
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-- |
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