Re: Automatically build and install kernel-modules

2008-06-25 Thread Hans-J. Ullrich
Am Mittwoch, 25. Juni 2008 schrieb Dean Hamstead:
 ideally the nvidia module should come precompiled

 if the nvidia build fails (normal with new kernels) newbies will be
 stumped regardless of where it happens

 Dean

 Lennart Sorensen wrote:
  On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 05:03:51PM +0200, Hans-J. Ullrich wrote:
  althoug this is not quite debian-amd-related, I am looking fo a way, to
  automatically build and install kernel-modules, which must normally
  build by hand and, which got sources in the repository. These are i.e.
  madwifi, nvidia-kernel and some other.
 
  Why not manually ? Well, the problem is, when a new kernel-version was
  installed, and the required modules are not build, it might make the
  system unusable (i.e. wireless networking will not work any more, or
  Xwon't start)
 
  This is a problem for newbies (and other users with less technical
  knowledge).
 
  So my idea: Change the kernel-installer scripts, so that they build and
  install the modules at a new kernel (the script might compare between
  before update and installation version)  and then build the required
  modules out of a list using module-assistant commandline-tool (or m-a
  -i).
 
  Or miss I something and this is already working at another way ? So let
  me know.
 
  So you want Ubuntu's dkms system?
 
  I tried to do it with a startup script calling m-a if a certain module
  didn't load, but that didn't always work so well so I went back to doing
  it manually, although I only have to do it for the nvidia driver now.
  lirc I use the ubuntu version which uses dkms and is hence automatic,
  and for ivtv it is now in the kernel and hence no longer a problem.

 --
 http://fragfest.com.au

It is not only the nvidia modules, which might be the easiest way to update. 
There are often prebuilt packages in the repository. 


There are a lot of other modules.

There are other cases. For example, if you use cron-apt on laptops (which is 
required as the documentation says), it might be, that a customer/user cannot 
get a wireless access any more, because the new kernel is missing the 
madwifi-module.

This should not happpen. In this case the user even will get no chance, to 
install the missing sources.

You might say, cron-apt on laptops is no good choice. Yes, you might be right, 
because the update process was interrupted , because the user shut down the 
laptop before finish. Shutting down shut be avoided, during an upgrade 
(Windows does it that way, as far as I know).

Anyway, what I want to say is this: These things make the system for normal 
users difficult to handle and can cause problems. I am no coder, but I got 
the hope, those who create packages or are good coders might be able to easy 
change the preinstall or postinstall scripts.

If not, it is o.k., too. Thank you for your patience  and your attention !


Best regards

Hans


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Re: Automatically build and install kernel-modules

2008-06-25 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 09:11:39AM +1000, Dean Hamstead wrote:
 ideally the nvidia module should come precompiled

Yeah, we are trying to get that working.

 if the nvidia build fails (normal with new kernels) newbies will be 
 stumped regardless of where it happens

Yep, always an annoying problem with out of kernel drivers.

Really though every new stable release should include all the modules
precompiled for that kernel, which would hopefully help new users a lot.
New users ought not be running testing or unstable of course.

-- 
Len Sorensen


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Re: Automatically build and install kernel-modules

2008-06-24 Thread Lennart Sorensen
On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 05:03:51PM +0200, Hans-J. Ullrich wrote:
 althoug this is not quite debian-amd-related, I am looking fo a way, to 
 automatically build and install kernel-modules, which must normally build by 
 hand and, which got sources in the repository. These are i.e. madwifi, 
 nvidia-kernel and some other. 
 
 Why not manually ? Well, the problem is, when a new kernel-version was 
 installed, and the required modules are not build, it might make the system 
 unusable (i.e. wireless networking will not work any more, or Xwon't start)
 
 This is a problem for newbies (and other users with less technical knowledge).
 
 So my idea: Change the kernel-installer scripts, so that they build and 
 install the modules at a new kernel (the script might compare between before 
 update and installation version)  and then build the required modules out 
 of a list using module-assistant commandline-tool (or m-a -i).
 
 Or miss I something and this is already working at another way ? So let me 
 know.

So you want Ubuntu's dkms system?

I tried to do it with a startup script calling m-a if a certain module
didn't load, but that didn't always work so well so I went back to doing
it manually, although I only have to do it for the nvidia driver now.
lirc I use the ubuntu version which uses dkms and is hence automatic,
and for ivtv it is now in the kernel and hence no longer a problem.

-- 
Len Sorensen


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Re: Automatically build and install kernel-modules

2008-06-24 Thread Dean Hamstead

ideally the nvidia module should come precompiled

if the nvidia build fails (normal with new kernels) newbies will be 
stumped regardless of where it happens


Dean

Lennart Sorensen wrote:

On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 05:03:51PM +0200, Hans-J. Ullrich wrote:
althoug this is not quite debian-amd-related, I am looking fo a way, to 
automatically build and install kernel-modules, which must normally build by 
hand and, which got sources in the repository. These are i.e. madwifi, 
nvidia-kernel and some other. 

Why not manually ? Well, the problem is, when a new kernel-version was 
installed, and the required modules are not build, it might make the system 
unusable (i.e. wireless networking will not work any more, or Xwon't start)


This is a problem for newbies (and other users with less technical knowledge).

So my idea: Change the kernel-installer scripts, so that they build and 
install the modules at a new kernel (the script might compare between before 
update and installation version)  and then build the required modules out 
of a list using module-assistant commandline-tool (or m-a -i).


Or miss I something and this is already working at another way ? So let me 
know.


So you want Ubuntu's dkms system?

I tried to do it with a startup script calling m-a if a certain module
didn't load, but that didn't always work so well so I went back to doing
it manually, although I only have to do it for the nvidia driver now.
lirc I use the ubuntu version which uses dkms and is hence automatic,
and for ivtv it is now in the kernel and hence no longer a problem.



--
http://fragfest.com.au


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