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#1 2004-06-29 16:25:41

neok
Member
From: Cyprus
Registered: 2003-12-14
Posts: 190
Website

modprobe problem: bug?

Hi all,

I have been trying to configure autoloading of modules but I seem to have come to a dead end with modprobe configuration: With devfsd in use, when a non-existent device is opened, modprobe is invoked as:
modprobe -k -C /etc/modules.devfs <req. device>

/etc/modules.devfs includes /etc/modules.conf so I placed - alias /dev/radio0 bttv - in this file. Normally this should have resulted in bttv.ko being loaded but this is not the case. I tried some tests but I get confusing results: If I give the manual command - modprobe -k -C /etc/modules.conf /dev/radio0 - I have no error message but bttv is not loaded. If I try the same command BUT with modules.conf completely empty I still have no error message (as if its finding a module called /dev/radio0). Then if I do a modprobe -k -C /etc/modules.conf /dev I get an error message: FATAL: Module /dev not found.

If I do a - modprobe -k /dev/radio0 - I get the expected error message: FATAL: Module /dev/radio0 not found. Also if I try - modprobe -C /etc/modules.conf /xxx/radio0 I get FATAL: Module /xxx/radio0 not found.

It seems that specifying a completely empty config file makes modprobe recognize "/dev/*" as a valid module name but "/dev" as invalid. I am confused!

I am running kernel 2.6.7 custom-compiled from vanilla sources and have done pacman -Syu today.

My thanks in advance and apologies if I am making some silly mistake here.


Regards

Neoklis ... Ham Radio Call: 5B4AZ

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#2 2004-06-29 16:31:59

iotc247
Member
From: Florida
Registered: 2004-05-31
Posts: 177
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

I lost here.. Why dont you just do modprobe modulename ? Wouldnt that just be easier?

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#3 2004-06-29 18:20:28

neok
Member
From: Cyprus
Registered: 2003-12-14
Posts: 190
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

iotc247 wrote:

I lost here.. Why dont you just do modprobe modulename ? Wouldnt that just be easier?

Hi,

Well, yes. I could also load the modules via /etc/rc.conf but I am trying to learn how to make a compact kernel with the required modules auto-loaded as needed, since I am experimenting with booting a compact installation from a USB  gadget (a pen knife with 64Mb flash). Its also remotely possible that there is something wrong with modprobe when used in this way.


Regards

Neoklis ... Ham Radio Call: 5B4AZ

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#4 2004-06-30 02:43:53

sarah31
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From: Middle of Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 2,975
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

i thought the default module file for 2.6.x modprobe.conf? Maybe take at how the init files are loading modules.


AKA uknowme

I am not your friend

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#5 2004-06-30 04:48:07

neok
Member
From: Cyprus
Registered: 2003-12-14
Posts: 190
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

sarah31 wrote:

i thought the default module file for 2.6.x modprobe.conf? Maybe take at how the init files are loading modules.

Hi,

Actually I first put config entries in modprobe.config but the only thing that worked was "alias eth0 de4x5". Other entries seemed to make no difference, including the usual "alias char-major-  etc". I then thought I better have a direct look at how modprobe is invoked and made the following simple script:
#!/bin/sh
echo $@ > /var/tmp/log
modprobe.1 $@

I called the script modeprobe and renamed modeprobe to modeprobe.1 so I could log calls to it. This is how I verified that it was invoked with -k -C /etc/modules.devfs <device name> when a missing device was opened blind. /etc/modules.devfs includes modules.conf rather than modprobe.conf.

I guess I should buy a USB gadget with a bigger flash and try a more conventional install ;-)


Regards

Neoklis ... Ham Radio Call: 5B4AZ

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#6 2004-06-30 05:10:38

neok
Member
From: Cyprus
Registered: 2003-12-14
Posts: 190
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

sarah31 wrote:

i thought the default module file for 2.6.x modprobe.conf? Maybe take at how the init files are loading modules.

Actually it now looks like it is a bug. This is from modprobe source v3.1pre4 (latest):

/* This is a horrible hack to allow devfsd, which calls modprobe with
   -C /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modules.devfs, to work.  FIXME. */
/* Modern devfsd or variants should use -q explicitly in 2.6. */
static int is_devfs_call(char *argv[])
{
    unsigned int i;

    /* Look for "/dev" arg */
    for (i = 1; argv[i]; i++) {
        if (strncmp(argv[i], "/dev/", 5) == 0)
            return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}

I guess this should now go into the hands of more qualified people for consideration.


Regards

Neoklis ... Ham Radio Call: 5B4AZ

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#7 2004-06-30 19:23:28

neok
Member
From: Cyprus
Registered: 2003-12-14
Posts: 190
Website

Re: modprobe problem: bug?

neok wrote:
sarah31 wrote:

i thought the default module file for 2.6.x modprobe.conf? Maybe take at how the init files are loading modules.

Actually it now looks like it is a bug. This is from modprobe source v3.1pre4 (latest):

<snip>

Correcting myself: I configured/compiled downloaded source of module-init-tools 3.1pre4 and installed only modprobe. Autoload now works well but modprobe requires modprobe.devfs as its config file. I guess I had problems with the original since I installed with kernel 2.4 and module-init-tools 0.9.14-4 which I suppose were configured/compiled for that kernel.

My apologies for wasted bandwidth.


Regards

Neoklis ... Ham Radio Call: 5B4AZ

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