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unixroute
03-18-2001, 10:15 PM
Howdy folks, If I want to add support for something in my kernel, do I just re-compile after changing my config with make (x)config ? It seems the sensible, but somewhat drawn out way of achieving things ? I'm still coming to terms with modules, and figure if I have it all built in (monolithic?)I'm better off ... but does that increase the size of my kernel by much ? is a modularised? kernel better ?
Any thoughts are appreciated,
al.
Yes, normally to add hardware support you would configure your kernel, build a new kernel and modules, then reboot. You might also, depending on the hardware, simply build the modules for that particular item, and load the module by hand. A modularized kernel is highly desireable, especially with 'kmod' which is available in the 2.4.x series. This will load the necessary modules when called upon, thereby reducing your kernel size and overall system bloat.
If you simply add modules to the existing kernel, you just need to do a "make dep modules modules_install".
You don't need a complete recompile for changing modules.