Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 10:36:51 +0200 From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl> To: ravikm@us.ibm.com Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Loadable drivers in FreeBSD and NetBSD Message-ID: <19991008103651.R11071@daemon.ninth-circle.org> In-Reply-To: <85256803.0076AFC5.00@d54mta07.raleigh.ibm.com> References: <85256803.0076AFC5.00@d54mta07.raleigh.ibm.com>
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On [19991008 00:00], ravikm@us.ibm.com (ravikm@us.ibm.com) wrote: >We are trying to see if we can convert the drivers in our NetBSD >implementation into loadable drivers so that we can reduce the size of >the kernel. I know that in Linux, we can achieve this by adding the >entry and exit points - init_module() and cleanup_module(), and adding >the MODULE flag to the compiles for the driver code. Then we should be >able to add and remove them dynamically using the commands "insmod" and >"rmmod". Linux drivers overcomplicate the problem by requiring module code in every single driver, thus bloating and obfuscating the code. >How does it work on the NetBSD and FreeBSD. Do we need to add the same >routines in the drivers and compile them with the MODULE flag? Also, >would the kernel then not have these drivers statically linked? >Is the dynamic loadability feature supported in the NetBSD 1.4/1.5 kernels? Thank god, not at all =) We write a driver, add DRIVER_MODULE() to the main .c of a driver and then add the appropriate stuff to /usr/src/sys/modules At least that's what I do for the NIC driver I am writing. I cannot answer the NetBSD questions. Please re-ask those on the appropriate NetBSD list, since I have no idea. >Can these drivers be hot-loaded at runtime, or do they need to be >explicitly loaded using some commands such as "insmod" or so. They can be hot-loaded at boottime, but they can also be loaded in the fly by kldload and kldunload. -- Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven/Asmodai asmodai(at)wxs.nl The BSD Programmer's Documentation Project <http://home.wxs.nl/~asmodai>; Network/Security Specialist BSD: Technical excellence at its best Whispering winds in moonlit wood, a totem oak once golden stood... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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