Modules Standard, extended to kernel code

[Noah Romer]

On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, Pedro Bueno wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I think that enabling the linux kernel option CONFIG_MODVERSIONS, in some kind,
> helps to deals with some modules since it makes the modules less dependent on
> the kernel version. And there is another aspect that should be observed, that
> is in user side. Planning a standard to kernel modules, we could have a
> execellent choice to developers, as well to users, since, nowadays each module
> developer create his own way to provide it, some uses rpm, some tar.gz, bz2,
> with pure .c files with inside instructions to compile, or with Makefiles
> files...
> So , if there is no plan to create a standard for this issue, we really should
> have a effort to create a propousal to it here in LSB.
> 
> Pedro Bueno

It seems like the two of you are talking about separate things. If I'm not
mistaken, Pedro, you're talking about a standard for how to distribute and
install modules that aren't in the kernel source code tarballs and David,
you're talking about a standard interface in the kernel for driver writers
to hook into. I don't know much about Pedro's suggestion, although it
seems like it would fit w/in the concept of the LSB. 

As far as the kernel interface standard, David, have you taken a look at
the linux-kernel mailing list archives? 
http://kt.linuxcare.com/kernel-traffic/index.epl provides summaries of the
major threads each week and well as links to the actuall messages. This is
a subject that comes up w/ some frequency on linux-kernel (and certainly
seems beyond the scope of the LSB). If this is what you're talking about,
you might find the discussions that have already taken place enlightening.

> "Howell, David P" wrote:
> 
> > To add in my 2 cents, specifically is there a standard planned or in the
> > works
> > for loadable or statically linked in kernel drivers and subsystems? I'm new
> > here
> > but come from a System 5/SVR4 background where there was a DDI/DKI standard
> > for
> > drivers that defined a set of kernel interfaces that a driver writer could
> > assume
> > was always going to be there in a kernel, with the same semantics across
> > different
> > architectures. This permitted VARs with kernel components in their
> > applications
> > to code their drivers and subsystems once and not have to recode for each
> > release.
> >
> > Linux has application standards moving ahead for LSB, but I'm told that
> > there is
> > no such plan for a kernel driver/subsystem/module standard in LSB, and this
> > seems
> > contradictory. Here at Intel we ran into an issue with a driver that is
> > produced
> > by an Intel group being useful for only one release of a distribution (i.e.
> > Red
> > Hat 6.2) but could not be used with the previous point release (6.1) due to
> > module
> > versioning. I can't say for sure that there weren't internal kernel changes
> > that
> > make this necessary, but it calls out for a driver/subsystem/module standard
> > that
> > would at least allow a driver to work between point releases, as well as
> > possibly
> > extending compatibility to multiple vendor distributions running the same
> > kernel
> > major/minor version.
> >
> > Seems that if Linux is to capture more applications, part of this will have
> > to
> > include applications with kernel code in them. To not extend LSB to include
> > this
> > seems like an obvious mistake. Are their plans for this type of standard, or
> > could
> > there be?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Pedro Bueno [mailto:bueno at ieee.org]
> > Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 2:03 PM
> > To: lsb-discuss at lists.linuxbase.org
> > Subject: Modules Standard.
> >
> > Hello,
> > does anyone know if there is any kind of work in specification proposal
> > to create Linux Modules. I mean, items like, for example, just rpm
> > files, or Makefiles, or pre-compiled binaries...
> > Thank you,
> > Pedro Bueno
> >
> > --
> > Mr. Pedro Bueno        pb at bestlinux.net         http://www.bestlinux.net
> > SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd.           http://www.sot.com
> > Narva mnt. 7A, 10117, TALLINN ,  ESTONIA         GSM: +372 53946419
> >
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> --
> Mr. Pedro Bueno        pb at bestlinux.net          http://www.bestlinux.net
> SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd.            http://www.sot.com
> Narva mnt. 7A, 10117, TALLINN ,  ESTONIA         GSM: +372 53946419
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Noah Romer              |"Everyone is more or less mad on one point."
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