[Wlug] kernel driver vs module

[Theo Van Dinter]

On Mon, Jul 10, 2006 at 08:13:36AM -0700, Mike Leo wrote:
> My foggy'ness comes from a few things.
> 1.  if the driver is built into the kernel, will it show up in lsmod?

No, because it's not a module.

> 2.  if the driver does not show up in lsmod, how do i know if its loaded?

That largely depends on what it is, though generally you'll see related
entries under /proc.  If it's a filesystem for instance, you will see
it listed under /proc/filesystems.

> 3.  weather it's a built in driver or a module, how do i associate the driver (or module) with a
> particular device?

That depends on the driver.  Most drivers are able to find their devices
automatically.  Others require kernel/module parameters to specify port, etc.

> 4.  if the device does not have a driver in the kernel, I cannot build a custom kernel to include
> it, nor can I build it as a module from the kernel source.  So:
> 5.  if I get the driver from the vendor, it will build a module for me, based on my kernel-source
> or kernel-headers???  Then what?  again, see #3:  how do i associate the module with my device?

It will definitely need kernel-source or kernel-headers, whichever
your distro uses.  You'll end up with a compiled module (name.o).
I haven't actually dealt with adding modules in ages, but as I recall
you put the resulting module file under /lib/modules/... appropriately
(/lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc ?) and run "depmod -a".  At this point
the module should be all set.

There's probably docs from the vendor as well.

> This is a general linux quandry, but this time i have a debian stable install and have inserted a
> QLogic HBA.  lsmod does show qla2xxx, but it doesn't seem to be functioning as it isn't logging
> into the fiber switch.

Does the card show up in dmesg output / if you rmmod and then modprobe
the module, do you see the card information?  I never had to do anything
special to get the HBA module (also Qlogic) loaded up and logged into
the fabric as far as I can recall anyway.

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