> > > There is for example "dell_smm_hwmon" followed "0" which you'd think was > to be used by software for monitoring the PC hardware. >
You have this device (SMM BIOS), so ``udev`` loaded this module. It creates `` /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon..`` for hardware monitoring. Remove this module, and this file will disappear. Do you need this file? We do not know, it is up to you to decide if you want to monitor the fan and temperature of your laptop or not https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/hwmon/dell-smm-hwmon.html I was thinking then to remove the unwanted modules to make the kernels > smaller. > I don't think it will make a real difference unless you have 16MB of RAM > There is for example a few filesystem modules like msdos which would be > needed if I wanted to mount an msdos filesystem. > Yes. Almost any code that runs in kernel module may be installed as module: there are netfilter modules, hardware drivers, bpf filter etc > Seem to remember "insmod" a module if and when needed. > Use ``modprobe``: it loads module dependencies > > If remove modules from kernel are the gone or are they still on disk and > could be put back ? > They are in /lib/modules/$(uname -r) "remove" module means unload it from the memory, not remove it from the disk >
