Re: [PATCH] Remove module reference counting.

From: Rusty Russell (rusty@rustcorp.com.au)
Date: Mon Jul 28 2003 - 18:13:55 EST


In message <3F250E3A.60305@genebrew.com> you write:
> Rusty Russell wrote:
>
> > If module removal is to be a rare and unusual event, it
> > doesn't seem so sensible to go to great lengths in the code to handle
> > just that case. In fact, it's easier to leave the module memory in
> > place, and not have the concept of parts of the kernel text (and some
> > types of kernel data) vanishing.
>
> Rusty and others,
>
> Module removal is *not* a rare event. One common case it is used is on
> laptops during suspend.

Yes, but that cuts both ways: noone fixes these broken drivers, but
work around them using module removal, leaving newbies with broken
laptops 8(

> Last but not least weren't we moving towards a more modular kernel with
> early userspace loading things from initrd as needed? Removing existing
> module functionality, however broken it may be, seems to me a step
> backward in this regard.

Not really. Adding modules is required. Removing them is a more
dubious goal, and if we didn't already have it, I know we'd balk at
doing it.

Hope that clarifies!
Rusty.

--
  Anyone who quotes me in their sig is an idiot. -- Rusty Russell.
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