[coLinux-devel] Modules?

[Jaroslaw K. <ja...@zd...>]

Hi guys!

Recently a patch has been introduced that makes additional kernel features
available as modules.

This is good because we have new functionality available in coLinux, some
very useful (a firewall), but at the same time it introduced a dependency
between the root images and the running kernel.

You're no longer able to use just any root image - you have to use the one
that has the appropriate modules. I was wondering what can be done to
improve this.

Here are some ideas:

1. Compile everything statically.

2. Provide a way to automatically install "vmlinux-modules.tar.gz" under
"/lib/modules/kernel-version". This would require some smart script on the
linux side, but I think it's doable. The only problem I see is passing the
vmlinux-modules.tar.gz down to the linux guest. I think we'd need something
like /dev/cocd (character device as opposed to /dev/cobd).

3. Provide a mini-partition that would contain the modules instead of the
tar.gz. This can could be mounted in fstab under "/lib/modules".

Out of the above ideas, I find "1" to be the easiest to implement and most
trouble-free. What do you think? Is there anything that MUST be installed as
a module and cannot be compiled-in?

What do you think?

Jarek