How to find needed modules for rebuilding kernel
In rebuilding a kernel, how do you know exactly what modules you need? The Handbook is a good start, and a lot of them are obvious (i.e. if I have no SCSI disks, disable all SCSI modules). Others aren't so easy, particularly serial devices, and the pseudo devices. How can I find out exactly what I need to enable, so I can make the kernel as tight as possible? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: How to find needed modules for rebuilding kernel
On Thursday 31 March 2005 19:43, Pat Maddox wrote: In rebuilding a kernel, how do you know exactly what modules you need? The Handbook is a good start, and a lot of them are obvious (i.e. if I have no SCSI disks, disable all SCSI modules). Others aren't so easy, particularly serial devices, and the pseudo devices. How can I find out exactly what I need to enable, so I can make the kernel as tight as possible? Modules are not your concern, they get built anyway (or mostly .. not sure but probably not each and every possible module gets built). The idea is that if you for example need support for a new soundcard, you can just load the module (loader.conf) without needing to recompile the kernel. On an IDE/ATA system I generally turn down the scsi delay (I always do) and remove: - all scsi raid cards and support - all ethernet cards, both pci/isa and usb except the one(s) I have (most can be loaded as a module also); beware whether it needs mii too - from the pseudo devices ppp/tun/slip as I'm connected via ethernet (cable) sometimes I disable ipv6 and gif/faith, sometimes I don't - all CPUs except the one you actually have (performance!) I also remove most scsi support but beware that cdrecord (atapicam) requires the basic scsi devices, as does umass (camera's, cf fards, usb scanners, ..). Generally unless you need to _add_ something to your kernel you don't really need to stray from GENERIC at all. If you want to have a kernel at least tuned for your CPU and without a lot of stuff you don't have anyway, do the above). But depending on the purpose of the box you can strip out quite a lot. Check NOTES, both in /usr/src/sys/conf and /usr/src/sys/yourarch/conf. (on FreeBSD4 that is LINT). Also most if not all drivers and devices have manual pages and from the synopsis you can see which other devices or options come with them. HTH, Dan ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: How to find needed modules for rebuilding kernel
Thanks for the info. My terminology is off...apparently what I really meant is I'm wondering what drivers I need to compile into the kernel. I've done what you've suggested - removed SCSI support, all of the NIC drivers besides the one I need, etc. I'm just wondering how I can find out EXACTLY what I need in there, so I can have as little as possible. It's a server, so it has a pretty narrow purpose, and I'd like to keep the kernel as small and fast as I can. On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 00:31:36 +0200, Danny Pansters [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Thursday 31 March 2005 19:43, Pat Maddox wrote: In rebuilding a kernel, how do you know exactly what modules you need? The Handbook is a good start, and a lot of them are obvious (i.e. if I have no SCSI disks, disable all SCSI modules). Others aren't so easy, particularly serial devices, and the pseudo devices. How can I find out exactly what I need to enable, so I can make the kernel as tight as possible? Modules are not your concern, they get built anyway (or mostly .. not sure but probably not each and every possible module gets built). The idea is that if you for example need support for a new soundcard, you can just load the module (loader.conf) without needing to recompile the kernel. On an IDE/ATA system I generally turn down the scsi delay (I always do) and remove: - all scsi raid cards and support - all ethernet cards, both pci/isa and usb except the one(s) I have (most can be loaded as a module also); beware whether it needs mii too - from the pseudo devices ppp/tun/slip as I'm connected via ethernet (cable) sometimes I disable ipv6 and gif/faith, sometimes I don't - all CPUs except the one you actually have (performance!) I also remove most scsi support but beware that cdrecord (atapicam) requires the basic scsi devices, as does umass (camera's, cf fards, usb scanners, ..). Generally unless you need to _add_ something to your kernel you don't really need to stray from GENERIC at all. If you want to have a kernel at least tuned for your CPU and without a lot of stuff you don't have anyway, do the above). But depending on the purpose of the box you can strip out quite a lot. Check NOTES, both in /usr/src/sys/conf and /usr/src/sys/yourarch/conf. (on FreeBSD4 that is LINT). Also most if not all drivers and devices have manual pages and from the synopsis you can see which other devices or options come with them. HTH, Dan ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: How to find needed modules for rebuilding kernel
On Friday 01 April 2005 00:45, Pat Maddox wrote: Thanks for the info. My terminology is off...apparently what I really meant is I'm wondering what drivers I need to compile into the kernel. I've done what you've suggested - removed SCSI support, all of the NIC drivers besides the one I need, etc. I'm just wondering how I can find out EXACTLY what I need in there, so I can have as little as possible. It's a server, so it has a pretty narrow purpose, and I'd like to keep the kernel as small and fast as I can. Surely it's not going to run out of memory or disk space any time soon with a few kB more or less for the kernel. Like I said there _is_ documentation ranging from abundant to sparce to terse to the plain source. The latter is to be taken literally... some things are only documented in the sources, if you're lucky in a line of normal text in a header file (e.g. with device drivers). Reading NOTES would be a start. But I'd like to caution you not to put too much efford in this. The point is you only need to go that far if really needed, and I'm quite sure it's not. It would hardly matter. If you want to do it the hard way, well then see the above for the hard way :) You might be more interested in tuning(7) and the various device.hints to get the most out of your hardware. The smallest size/footprint kernel used to be a common issue when people had small drives, little RAM and had to use floppies. Also, if you want a server that runs well, invest some time into the configuration of your services. Things like maximum files, maximum forks, timeouts, ... Much more likely to appear as troublemakers than a somewhat overweight kernel. Dan ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
