Hi, I asked the same question previously, and Mr. Ed Vance gave a simple explaination which basically illustrates what happened there. PCI devices have unique numbers for identification, so the PCI subsystem can match devices to drivers by asking the drivers if a detected device's class and ID numbers are known to them. This applies to modules as well as drivers built into the kernel. It's really a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea. Drivers identify their own devices when asked. Hope it is helpful. Good luck, On Tue, 19 Nov 2002, Greg KH wrote: > On Tue, Nov 19, 2002 at 09:47:49AM -0800, Ravi wrote: > > > I have a very simple question . How does > > > Linux know that it has to load driver 'x' for > > > device 'y'. > > > > It doesn't :) > > Um, yes, it can know this :) > > See the hotplug documentation at http://linux-hotplug.sf.net/ which > shows how the kernel can automatically load modules when it sees devices > of different types. The PCI, USB, and a few other subsystems already do > this. > > thanks, > > greg k-h > -- > Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. > Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ > FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/ > > -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/
