Linux From Scratch - Version 6.1.1

Chapter 6. Installing Basic System Software

6.50. Module-Init-Tools-3.1

The Module-Init-Tools package contains programs for handling kernel modules in Linux kernels greater than or equal to version 2.5.47.

Approximate build time: 0.1 SBU
Required disk space: 4.9 MB
Installation depends on: Bash, Binutils, Bison, Coreutils, Diffutils, Flex, GCC, Glibc, Grep, M4, Make, and Sed

6.50.1. Installation of Module-Init-Tools

Module-Init-Tools attempts to rewrite its modprobe.conf man page during the build process. This is unnecessary and also relies on docbook2man — which is not installed in LFS. Run the following command to avoid this: 

touch modprobe.conf.5

If you wish to run the test suite for Module-Init-Tools, you will need to download the separate testsuite tarball. Issue the following commands to perform the tests (note that the make distclean command is required to clean up the source tree, as the source gets recompiled as part of the testing process): 

tar -xvf ../module-init-tools-testsuite-3.1.tar.bz2 --strip-path=1 &&
./configure &&
make check &&
make distclean

Prepare Module-Init-Tools for compilation: 

./configure --prefix="" --enable-zlib

The meaning of the configure options:

--enable-zlib

This allows the Module-Init-Tools package to handle compressed kernel modules.

Compile the package: 

make

Install the package: 

make install

6.50.2. Contents of Module-Init-Tools

Installed programs: depmod, insmod, insmod.static, lsmod (link to insmod), modinfo, modprobe (link to insmod), and rmmod (link to insmod)

Short Descriptions

depmod

Creates a dependency file based on the symbols it finds in the existing set of modules; this dependency file is used by modprobe to automatically load the required modules

insmod

Installs a loadable module in the running kernel

insmod.static

A statically compiled version of insmod

lsmod

Lists currently loaded modules

modinfo

Examines an object file associated with a kernel module and displays any information that it can glean

modprobe

Uses a dependency file, created by depmod, to automatically load relevant modules

rmmod

Unloads modules from the running kernel