From rfunk Mon Nov 23 11:21:52 1998
Subject: Re: [COLUG] LILO question
In-Reply-To: <3657361C.1D72C57@osu.edu> from Jeremy Kuhnash at "Nov 21, 98 09:52:28 pm"
To: colug@bopper.wcbe.org
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:21:52 -0500 (EST)

Jeremy Kuhnash wrote:
>A good suggestion here is something that I took in heed from a few
>colleagues -- always build the drivers *into* the kern, -- not modules.
>And the point is valid -- is there a time when you DONT want the ether card
>driver laoded?? The sound driver?? I cant think of any.

I disagree.  Yes, build the essential things in -- particularly
whatever you need to get system disk access.  But anything you aren't
using constantly belongs in a module, so that the memory can be
reclaimed.  Remember that kernel memory doesn't get swapped out like
application memory does.

I like to modulize ethernet and scsi drivers so that it's easy to swap
the cards out for a different kind.  (And of course there are SO many
different kinds.)  That becomes tricky when the drivers are required
for boot, however; initrd is a pain to deal with, and I'd rather
compile a driver into the kernel than use initrd.  Since I boot from
an IDE drive I can get away with putting the scsi driver in a module.
I'd only compile the ethernet driver in if it were impossible to
replace the ethernet hardware, or if I were building something close
to an embedded system.

Sound particularly belongs in a module, since it has so many
parameters compiled into it rather than selectable at load time, and
it is kinda big and not exactly essential for basic operation.

All parallel devices should be modules since (currently) only one can
be loaded at a time.  For example, if you ever want to use plip or a
parallel port zip or tape drive, you can't if you have lp support
compiled into the kernel.  (On my main machine I load the lp module on
bootup, then unload it if I need the port for something else.  If I
let it load/unload automatically the printer resets every time the
module loads.)