loading modules in Fedora 6

[Al Graziano]

Hello,

can anybody point me to some reading to better understand how Fedora 
loads modules, in which order and from which directories etc., 
especially with regards to Fedora 6. I've read a lot around but nothing 
that gives me a firm idea

I am trying to understand how I can install certain modules at boot up 
and conversely how I can  change a  module from  being installed 
automatically to manually using modprobe. In order to do that I need to 
know more about modules that installed at bootup

Thanks in advance
Al

[Antonio Olivares]

--- Al Graziano  wrote:
> Hello,
>
> can anybody point me to some reading to better
> understand how Fedora 
> loads modules, in which order and from which
> directories etc., 
> especially with regards to Fedora 6. I've read a lot
> around but nothing 
> that gives me a firm idea
>
> I am trying to understand how I can install certain
> modules at boot up 
> and conversely how I can  change a  module from 
> being installed 
> automatically to manually using modprobe. In order
> to do that I need to 
> know more about modules that installed at bootup
>
> Thanks in advance
> Al
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe:
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

If you want to add some modules at bootup, you need to
add them to /etc/modprobe.conf with a particular line
for them.  For instance, I have a smartlink modem,
which gets loaded automatically with the line added to
modprobe.conf.

[olivares@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf
alias eth0 3c59x
alias snd-card-0 snd-ali5451
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-ali5451 index=0
remove snd-ali5451 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0
> /dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r

--ignore-remove snd-ali5451
install slamr modprobe --ignore-install
ungrab-winmodem ;  modprobe --ignore-install slamr;
test -e /dev/slamr0 || (/bin/mknod -m 660 /dev/slamr0
c 242 0 2>/dev/null && chgrp uucp /dev/slamr0)

To not automatically load them at bootime, there is a
file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist which lists the one
that you do not want loaded at bootup time,

[olivares@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
#
# Listing a module here prevents the hotplug scripts
from loading it.
# Usually that'd be so that some other driver will
bind it instead,
# no matter which driver happens to get probed first. 
Sometimes user
# mode tools can also control driver binding.
#
# Syntax:  driver name alone (without any spaces) on a
line. Other
# lines are ignored.
#

# watchdog drivers
blacklist i8xx_tco

# framebuffer drivers
blacklist aty128fb
blacklist atyfb
blacklist radeonfb
blacklist i810fb
blacklist cirrusfb
blacklist intelfb
blacklist kyrofb
blacklist i2c-matroxfb
blacklist hgafb
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist savagefb
blacklist sstfb
blacklist neofb
blacklist tridentfb
blacklist tdfxfb
blacklist virgefb
blacklist vga16fb

# ISDN - see bugs 154799, 159068
blacklist hisax
blacklist hisax_fcpcipnp

Hope this helps,

Antonio

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[Al Graziano]

Thank you. I was already doing that but my problem at the moment is that 
I have a driver for my wireless card, ipw3945 and that gets loaded even 
if I don't specify it in the modprobe.conf

I installed the driver through rpm so it must have have copied itself to 
a directory where modules are read at boot time. As far as I know 
modules to be loaded are contained in /lib/modules/'uname -r'/... or 
/etc/rc.modules

but when I searched for the ipw3945 driver it, I found it in the 
following directory

/proc/irq/17/ipw3945
/sys/module/ipw3945
/sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945

I cannot find any of the above directories in the init boot scripts ( I 
may not have looked good enough) and that's why I was trying to 
understand how Fedora 6 loads modules at boot time

Thanks again
Al

Antonio Olivares wrote:
> --- Al Graziano  wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > can anybody point me to some reading to better
> > understand how Fedora 
> > loads modules, in which order and from which
> > directories etc., 
> > especially with regards to Fedora 6. I've read a lot
> > around but nothing 
> > that gives me a firm idea
> >
> > I am trying to understand how I can install certain
> > modules at boot up 
> > and conversely how I can  change a  module from 
> > being installed 
> > automatically to manually using modprobe. In order
> > to do that I need to 
> > know more about modules that installed at bootup
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> > Al
> >
> > -- 
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe:
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>
> If you want to add some modules at bootup, you need to
> add them to /etc/modprobe.conf with a particular line
> for them.  For instance, I have a smartlink modem,
> which gets loaded automatically with the line added to
> modprobe.conf.
>
> [olivares@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf
> alias eth0 3c59x
> alias snd-card-0 snd-ali5451
> options snd-card-0 index=0
> options snd-ali5451 index=0
> remove snd-ali5451 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0
> > /dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r
>
> --ignore-remove snd-ali5451
> install slamr modprobe --ignore-install
> ungrab-winmodem ;  modprobe --ignore-install slamr;
> test -e /dev/slamr0 || (/bin/mknod -m 660 /dev/slamr0
> c 242 0 2>/dev/null && chgrp uucp /dev/slamr0)
>
> To not automatically load them at bootime, there is a
> file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist which lists the one
> that you do not want loaded at bootup time,
>
> [olivares@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
> #
> # Listing a module here prevents the hotplug scripts
> from loading it.
> # Usually that'd be so that some other driver will
> bind it instead,
> # no matter which driver happens to get probed first. 
> Sometimes user
> # mode tools can also control driver binding.
> #
> # Syntax:  driver name alone (without any spaces) on a
> line. Other
> # lines are ignored.
> #
>
> # watchdog drivers
> blacklist i8xx_tco
>
> # framebuffer drivers
> blacklist aty128fb
> blacklist atyfb
> blacklist radeonfb
> blacklist i810fb
> blacklist cirrusfb
> blacklist intelfb
> blacklist kyrofb
> blacklist i2c-matroxfb
> blacklist hgafb
> blacklist nvidiafb
> blacklist rivafb
> blacklist savagefb
> blacklist sstfb
> blacklist neofb
> blacklist tridentfb
> blacklist tdfxfb
> blacklist virgefb
> blacklist vga16fb
>
> # ISDN - see bugs 154799, 159068
> blacklist hisax
> blacklist hisax_fcpcipnp
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Antonio
>
> 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time 
> with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut.
> http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

[Todd Zullinger]

Al Graziano wrote:
> Thank you. I was already doing that but my problem at the moment is that 
> I have a driver for my wireless card, ipw3945 and that gets loaded even 
> if I don't specify it in the modprobe.conf
>
> I installed the driver through rpm so it must have have copied itself to 
> a directory where modules are read at boot time.

What rpm did you install it from?  I've been using the package kindly
provided by ATrpms.  You can see the list of files included in the rpm
by using the -ql (query, list) option to rpm:

$ rpm -ql ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6 
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko

You may need to use another query first to determine what the package
name is.  ATrpms uses the $(module)-kmdl-$(kernel-version) scheme.
You could find all the rpms with ipw3945 in the name via:

$ rpm -qa '*ipw3945*'
ipw3945-1.2.0-18.2.fc6.at.i386
ipw3945d-1.7.22-4.at.i386
...
ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6-1.2.0-18.2.fc6.at.i686
ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2-4.at.noarch

Alternatively, you can query the rpm file directly by adding the -p
option:

$ rpm -qpl /path/to/ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6.rpm
...
> but when I searched for the ipw3945 driver it, I found it in the 
> following directory
>
> /proc/irq/17/ipw3945
> /sys/module/ipw3945
> /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945

How did you do the search?  I'd use find or locate.  Using find:

$ find /lib/modules/ -name '*ipw3945*'
...
/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko

Incidentally, I don't know if it will come together well before the
release, but the current F7 kernels include the newer iwlwifi drivers
for the ipw3945 cards.  It doesn't require the regulatory daemon any
longer and thus has a good chance of making into the upstream kernel
sources.  So hopefully it will just work out of the box.

[Al Graziano]

Thanks Todd,

as it turns out I was doing my search looking for ipw3945, which of 
course didn't return the .ko which is the driver, and that was in the 
/lib/modules/.. directory, hence loaded by the OS at boot time

I got the exact same packages from ATrpms, and I have noticed that 
putting the required dependencis int he modprobe.con file to launch the 
regulatory daemon is enough. So you don't have to add anything to 
rc.local. There was an issue with modprobe that it was executed while 
the file systems was still in ro mode and did not allow the daemon to 
write the PID, but somehow the modprobe configuration is enough (unless 
I am getting confused after a day on my laptop!)

Incidentally, do you know how to replace the driver associated to a 
PCMCIA card and where that association is maintained. It used to be in 
the /etc/pcmcia.conf but it doens't seem to work anymore.

Ciao
Al
Todd Zullinger wrote:
> Al Graziano wrote:
> > Thank you. I was already doing that but my problem at the moment is that 
> > I have a driver for my wireless card, ipw3945 and that gets loaded even 
> > if I don't specify it in the modprobe.conf
> >
> > I installed the driver through rpm so it must have have copied itself to 
> > a directory where modules are read at boot time.
>
> What rpm did you install it from?  I've been using the package kindly
> provided by ATrpms.  You can see the list of files included in the rpm
> by using the -ql (query, list) option to rpm:
>
> $ rpm -ql ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6 
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko
>
> You may need to use another query first to determine what the package
> name is.  ATrpms uses the $(module)-kmdl-$(kernel-version) scheme.
> You could find all the rpms with ipw3945 in the name via:
>
> $ rpm -qa '*ipw3945*'
> ipw3945-1.2.0-18.2.fc6.at.i386
> ipw3945d-1.7.22-4.at.i386
> ...
> ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6-1.2.0-18.2.fc6.at.i686
> ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2-4.at.noarch
>
> Alternatively, you can query the rpm file directly by adding the -p
> option:
>
> $ rpm -qpl /path/to/ipw3945-kmdl-2.6.20-1.2933.fc6.rpm
> ...
> > but when I searched for the ipw3945 driver it, I found it in the 
> > following directory
> >
> > /proc/irq/17/ipw3945
> > /sys/module/ipw3945
> > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945
>
> How did you do the search?  I'd use find or locate.  Using find:
>
> $ find /lib/modules/ -name '*ipw3945*'
> ...
> /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2933.fc6/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko
>
> Incidentally, I don't know if it will come together well before the
> release, but the current F7 kernels include the newer iwlwifi drivers
> for the ipw3945 cards.  It doesn't require the regulatory daemon any
> longer and thus has a good chance of making into the upstream kernel
> sources.  So hopefully it will just work out of the box.

[Todd Zullinger]

Al Graziano wrote:
> Thanks Todd,

No problem.
> I got the exact same packages from ATrpms, and I have noticed that
> putting the required dependencis int he modprobe.con file to launch
> the regulatory daemon is enough.

At some point in the past that was giving me grief at boot time and I
ended up creating an init script to start the daemon (taken from the
FreshRPMS package).  But if it's working, don't mess with it. :)
> Incidentally, do you know how to replace the driver associated to a
> PCMCIA card and where that association is maintained. It used to be
> in the /etc/pcmcia.conf but it doens't seem to work anymore.

Sorry, I don't.  I don't have any experience with pcmcia cards at all.

[Mikkel]

Al Graziano wrote:
> Thank you. I was already doing that but my problem at the moment is that
> I have a driver for my wireless card, ipw3945 and that gets loaded even
> if I don't specify it in the modprobe.conf
>
> I installed the driver through rpm so it must have have copied itself to
> a directory where modules are read at boot time. As far as I know
> modules to be loaded are contained in /lib/modules/'uname -r'/... or
> /etc/rc.modules

The /lib/modules/'uname -r' directory tree contains the actual
modules that get loaded. /etc/modprobe.conf and the /etc/modprobe.d
directory contain information that helps deside what module gets
loaded. The blacklist files are used to prevent modules from being
loaded. From /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:

# Listing a module here prevents the hotplug scripts from loading it.
# Usually that'd be so that some other driver will bind it instead,
# no matter which driver happens to get probed first.  Sometimes user
# mode tools can also control driver binding.
#
#
> but when I searched for the ipw3945 driver it, I found it in the
> following directory
>
> /proc/irq/17/ipw3945
> /sys/module/ipw3945
> /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945
>
> I cannot find any of the above directories in the init boot scripts ( I
> may not have looked good enough) and that's why I was trying to
> understand how Fedora 6 loads modules at boot time

These directories are system directories - the /proc directory
reflects the state of the running system. The sys directory entries
are created when you

With the ipw3945 driver, you have more then just the kernel module
getting loaded. There is also a firmware file, and a daemon that
gets run. You probably have a script in /etc/rc.d/init.d that takes
care of that. (I have it on my laptop, but I don't remember the name
right now.)

Mikkel