On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:28:40 +0100 Sam Ravnborg <sam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 09:42:09PM +0000, Steve Brokenshire wrote: > > Hi, > > > > (I've sent this to the linux-kbuild and linux-kernel lists as this > > patch modifies the Makefile.modinst file. I also don't subscribe to the > > linux-kbuild and linux-kernel mailing lists so can I have any replies > > CC'ed to me please) > > > > This patch allows kernel modules to be compressed when 'make > > modules_install' is run after being copied to > > the /lib/module/<version>/<...> directory which is useful if you have > > module-init-tools installed with --enable-zlib. This patch adds an > > option (MODULE_COMPRESS) to the kernel configuration file (specifically > > init/Kconfig) so that the kernel modules will compressed if > > MODULE_COMPRESS is set. > > > > When MODULE_COMPRESS is set the output of 'make modules_install' will > > go as the following: > > > > INSTALL drivers/fs/xfs/xfs.ko > > COMPRESS drivers/fs/xfs/xfs.ko > > INSTALL drivers/fs/fat/fat.ko > > COMPRESS drivers/fs/fat/fat.ko > > ... > > > > I've tested my patch on kernel versions 2.6.24.2, 2.6.24-git12, 2.6.23.14 and > > 2.6.19 and they compile, install and compress into the respective > > module directories without any errors. > > > > I've also tested this with the uvcvideo (linux-uvc) kernel module (from > > the SVN branch and with kernel versions 2.6.24.2, 2.6.24-git12, 2.6.23.14 and > > 2.6.19) as that uses Kbuild properly when installing the module and > > after installing the uvcvideo the module is then compressed. > > Unfortunately, I couldn't find any other kernel modules which used the > > Kbuild system for installing their kernel modules. :( > > > > I've included include/config/auto.conf in Makefile.modinst so that it > > can check if MODULE_COMPRESS is set when installing the kernel modules. > > Should we mention this possibility in Documentation/kbuild/modules.txt also? > > Otherwise from a quick scan it looks OK. > As module-init-tols are our userspae counterpart we should align the > functionality with that tool. > I assume this gives us a simple choice of compression method and naming. > > Sam (Sorry for my lazy replying...) I think it should be mentioned in Documentation/kbuild/modules.txt at Chapter 2.2. The following should be added to the modules_install target part: If MODULES_COMPRESS is set when the modules_install target is run then the module is compressed after it has been copied to /lib/modules/<kernel-version>. Compressed modules require module-init-tools installed with --zlib-enabled. Does that sound right? Anyway, as it currently is with the patch, MODULE_COMPRESS isn't as scalable as it perhaps could be and I've been thinking I should try and make a better version of the patch which is scalable (So depending on how module-init-tools is updated in the future each option would also give which version of module-init-tools is required to use that compression method in the init/KConfig file) Steve -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kbuild" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
