Driver Update Disk discussion

[M. Warner Losh]

[[ don't cc freebsd-hackers@ and hackers@ ]]

In message: <200502251348.06818.doconnor at gsoft.com.au>
            "Daniel O'Connor" <doconnor at gsoft.com.au> writes:
: On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:39, M. Warner Losh wrote:
: > One does not need to patch the source tree at to pick up ports modules
: > for a kernel rebuild.  One can build the ports modules as part of the
: > kernel by simply defining PORTS_MODULES in a kernel config file.  In
: > addition, one can specify absolute paths with MODULES_OVERRIDE.  One
: > can also build modules outside the tree against a specific kernel (if
: > they somehow depend on the config files).
: 
: I think PORTS_MODULES is a little suboptimal..

How so?

: I have a patch set which allows a port to install KLD source in a directory 
: and have it picked up during a build/install kernel. This has a few 
: advantages over calling the ports tree from those makefiles. The prime one 
: being that your source code does not change between upgrades without you 
: saying so. This is matters since (for example) the newer nvidia driver does 
: not work on some hardware the old driver does (eg Fx5200 Go). It also means 
: that the kernel build/install does not result in non kernel things being 
: altered.

How do your patches work?  Do they work with multiple kernel trees?

: The disadvantage is that the KLD ports need to be modified to install the 
: source code in the right place (not hard) and that you will need to upgrade 
: your ports tree to keep up with ABI changes if you update your source but 
: IMHO it's better to make this sort of action explicit - otherwise the end 
: user is in the position of not knowing what has changed on their system.

I guess I'm a little unclear why this is better or worse than
PORTS_MODULES.  I guess I'm missing the explicit step, since I only
ever update the parts of my ports tree that I'm upgrading with
portupgrade.

: Also speaking of KLD ports.. I really wish they wouldn't install 
: into /boot/modules (I patch so they don't) as it is a really good way to 
: shoot yourself in the foot during an upgrade :(

Usually this is only a problem when tracking or jumping to current,
but I understand...

Warner