[Gllug] Module vs compiled in...

[Adrian McMenamin]

On Friday 18 July 2003 19:51, Doug Winter wrote:
> On Fri 18 Jul Dylan wrote:
> > I'm currently tinkering with LinuxFromScratch to get a good handle on
> > how the system hangs together. Now, on a box with onboard devices
> > (which will necessarily not be swapped out, therefore) such as NIC and
> > graphics card, what are the opinions on the swings and roundabouts of
> > compiling the drivers as modules or compiling them into the kernel?
>
> As far as I can tell, the only reason to build something as a module is
> because you haven't bought the device in question yet.
>
There are other reasons too, in different circumstances.

If you are booting a device where the root filesystem is (say) on NFS then 
generally you want the smallest kernel possible (especially if you have a 
very thin initial connection to the device) - everything else can be loaded 
off the filesystem as when required.

I admit that this isn't likely with most desktops, but then again, it does 
happen...

Of course, if you are making your own kernel then you can do what you like 
with it.

Adrian

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