On 10 Mar 2002, Bill Moseley wrote:
> Is there a good summary document that explains modconf and /etc/modules.conf > in Debian? > > I'm trying to get my sound working, but figured it would be a good reason to > get a better understanding of modules. I'm going to sound clueless here, so > you might as well assume that I am. ;) > > With that said, I think I understand insmod, depmod, and modpropbe, and that > on boot the /etc/init.d/modutils calls modprobe for all the modules listed in > /etc/modules. > > But I don't understand how /etc/modules.conf fits into the system, and how to > use modconf. Or why it's needed over just adding module names to > /etc/modules. > > I hope with a better understanding of modules I see why I'm getting: > > modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module char-major-10-135 > > I'm just trying to understand how all the parts fit together, and why. > > In an attempt to get sound working I installed the alsa package, but it's > looking for the "snd" module. > > Starting ALSA sound driver (version none):modprobe: Can't locate module snd > failed. > > This is what modules I have available: > > # ls -l /lib/modules/2.4.17/kernel/drivers/sound > total 140 > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15156 Mar 8 13:16 ac97_codec.o > drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 8 13:18 emu10k1 > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 83574 Mar 8 13:16 sound.o Hi, Bill. You may want to look at the Linux Loadable Kernel Module Howto at the Linux Documentation Project. Google Web gave this with a search of "loadable kernel howto". In any case, a URL for this is http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Module-HOWTO/ The idea of /etc/modules.conf is to try to enable the following functions as I understand them. 1) Loading modules on demand (as the kernel asks for them), and unloading them if necessary. In particular: a) Loading modules in a particular order. b) Unloading some modules and then loading a different set because some modules can't be loaded into the kernel at the same time as others. Having said this, I am still as unclear on the details as you are. Understanding this better is on my TODO list. And I find the whole topic of sound modules particularly vexing (and badly documented). Faheem.
