How to compile kernel module for a new kernel before reboot?

[Sam Sharpe]

On 3 April 2010 20:04, Andrew Junev <a-j at a-j.ru> wrote:
> I have a vt6656 WiFi adapter that needs a separate driver to work in
> Linux. The driver is neither in "native" Fedora repos, nor in
> rpmfusion (at least I don't know how to search for it, so I think it's
> not there).
>
> So whenever I do a 'yum update' and get a new kernel, I have to
> compile a new kernel module as well. Currently, I first reboot to a
> new kernel, then compile a module and then do another reboot just to
> check everything is loading properly on bootup.
>
> How do I compile my driver for a new kernel _before_ actually booting
> into that new kernel, so that I could be prepared with the new kernel
> module already on first reboot?

My advice is to investigate whether you can package it to work with DKMS:

http://linux.dell.com/dkms/
http://linux.dell.com/dkms/manpage.html

You can write infrastructure yourself, you can probably use akmods,
but I have done exactly what you require for other kernel modules
using DKMS as the infrastructure.

FWIW, DKMS doesn't normally pre-build the module, it builds it on
first boot into the kernel - so it's not exactly what you want.

--
Sam