On 08/17/2016 09:54 AM, William Hubbs wrote:
> All,
> 
> I'm starting this thread because of the bug I'm citing below [1].
> 
> The issue is that some systems do not use kernel modules, and do not
> have kmod installed at all. Since we run modprobe unconditionally in a
> few places in OpenRC, we always generate "modprobe: command not found"
> errors on systems which are set up like this.
> 
> If you read the bug, the proposed fixes have been a bit controversial in
> the past. Since we have the "want" dependency now, I would like to
> propose a different fix.
> 
> 1. all of the current openrc services that use modprobe should have
> "want modules" in their dependencies.
> 2. After this is done, these services should still attempt to load the
> modules if necessary, but they should complain to the user about it and
> recommend either building these modules in or using /etc/conf.d/modules
> to configure them so they are loaded by the modules service.
> 3. Then, at some point in the future, OpenRC could remove the modprobe
> commands.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> William
> 
> [1] https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=342313
> 
Is there a reliable way to test for kernel functionality _before_
calling modprobe? I think if a service needs certain kernel
functionality then it should complain -- loudly, if needed -- so the
admin knows what to do, be it building the feature into the kernel or
facilitating a module. But I don't think modules should be required. I
generally don't enable things with M unless some technical situation
requires it. The only real module I have is the nvidia-drivers module
which takes care of itself. Everything else is built into my kernels.

lsmod and modprobe can handle modules -- what can be used to target
kernels that have functionality built-in? Not every system will have
/proc/config.gz support (though honestly I don't know why you wouldn't
want that).

Hiding error or warning messages seems irresponsible to me and could
lead to confusion. So I guess I'm in favor overall, but don't want to
see lightweight installs lose anything or become forced to install
things as modules, as it complicates the kernel configuring process
needlessly.
-- 
Daniel Campbell - Gentoo Developer
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