> There are several kernel options needed for firewalling, wich must be > selected while compiling the kernel, such as : > CONFIG_NETFILTER, CONFIG_PACKET, CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK, etc. > I want to now that what is the differnce between the kernel > options and > loadable modules such as ip_nat_ftp, ip_tables, ... ? Are > they the same in The kernel options are meant to : - if you want to include them, if yes : - if you want to compile them into your kernel, - if you want to compile them as modules so you can load them later. If you compiled an option, it is either a module or in the kernel. There is no importance difference between the two as they are mutual exclusive. (AFAIK you can't compile an option into the kernel and as a module.) The modules you need to load at runtime depend on what options you compiled as module and want to use. If you don't want to use a module, you don't load it . If you compiled an option into the kernel and want to use it, you don't have to load the module as there is no module. If you didn't compile an option at all, obviously you can't use it. Hope this answers your question. Rob
