Kernel module packages, the dkms approach

[Matthias Saou]

Hi,

For the very few kernel module packages I've released over the past
years, I've gotten quickly tired of having to rebuild a whole bunch of
binary rpms each time an updated kernel was released.

I've been wanting to try dkms for a while, since it has an approach of
kernel module packaging that makes a packager's life much simpler, and
an impatient end user's life easier too, as it recompiles kernel modules
automatically (at boot time usually, can be before for initrd required
modules, but it can usually be kept quite simple).

I don't really like the idea of having to install a whole bunch of
development files for regular systems, but I think I actually prefer
that to having to keep packaging up with kernel updates, keep older
kernels handy for people who can't reboot etc. Since the kernel-devel
packages have replaced the full kernel sources, and since kernel
building "outside of the kernel tree" is nowadays trivial, I think I've
actually come to like the dkms approach.

But normal people shouldn't need separate kernel modules anyway ;-)

So... Richard Hughes posted to the fedora-devel list a couple of days
ago, writing that he had a proof of concept package of the nvidia binary
driver that uses dkms for the kernel blob part. He was kind enough to
share it with me, and I took a stab at it, and am actually really
pleased with the result :

http://ftp.es6.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrpms/fedora/linux/6/nvidia-x11-drv/

Since it's all binary stuff, it should install on FC5 and others as-is
I think. Note that because there is no longer any "Modules" section by
default in the FC6 xorg.conf file, the included python script that does
all that is needed to enable the module doesn't work on FC6 (credit
goes to Peter Backlund for that script btw).

Feel free to let the list know what you think about this approach. Any
bug reports, fixes, enhancements or comments regarding this package are
also very welcome.

I'm already thinking of doing a dkms aware package of the lirc kernel
module I use on my living room computer, as well as a madwifi one, as
tracking Rawhide updates and keeping the remote and the network working
is a waste of time!

Matthias

-- 
Clean custom Red Hat Linux rpm packages : http://freshrpms.net/
Fedora Core release 5.92 (FC6 Test3) - Linux kernel 2.6.18-1.2726.fc6
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