kmod/libkmod
Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez 05828b4a6e libkmod: add weak dependecies
It has been seen that for some network mac drivers (i.e. lan78xx) the
related module for the phy is loaded dynamically depending on the current
hardware. In this case, the associated phy is read using mdio bus and then
the associated phy module is loaded during runtime (kernel function
phy_request_driver_module). However, no software dependency is defined, so
the user tools will no be able to get this dependency. For example, if
dracut is used and the hardware is present, lan78xx will be included but no
phy module will be added, and in the next restart the device will not work
from boot because no related phy will be found during initramfs stage.

In order to solve this, we could define a normal 'pre' software dependency
in lan78xx module with all the possible phy modules (there may be some),
but proceeding in that way, all the possible phy modules would be loaded
while only one is necessary.

The idea is to create a new type of dependency, that we are going to call
'weak' to be used only by the user tools that need to detect this situation.
In that way, for example, dracut could check the 'weak' dependency of the
modules involved in order to install these dependencies in initramfs too.
That is, for the commented lan78xx module, defining the 'weak' dependency
with the possible phy modules list, only the necessary phy would be loaded
on demand keeping the same behavior, but all the possible phy modules would
be available from initramfs.

A new function 'kmod_module_get_weakdeps' in libkmod will be added for
this to avoid breaking the API and maintain backward compatibility. This
general procedure could be useful for other similar cases (not only for
dynamic phy loading).

Signed-off-by: Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez <jtornosm@redhat.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240327141116.97587-1-jtornosm@redhat.com
2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
..
docs libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
.gitignore Rename libabc to libkmod 2011-11-21 14:35:35 -02:00
COPYING Change licenses 2011-12-12 18:24:35 -02:00
libkmod-builtin.c libkmod: annotate kmod_builtin_iter API as static 2023-02-21 16:35:37 -08:00
libkmod-config.c libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
libkmod-elf.c libkmod: Do not inititialize file->memory on open 2023-06-09 10:45:51 -07:00
libkmod-file.c libkmod: keep KMOD_FILE_COMPRESSION_NONE/load_reg in comp_types 2024-04-30 15:35:37 -05:00
libkmod-index.c libkmod: fix return error when opening index 2020-03-23 12:37:40 -07:00
libkmod-index.h libkmod: fix return error when opening index 2020-03-23 12:37:40 -07:00
libkmod-internal.h libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
libkmod-list.c Remove FSF mailing address 2014-12-25 23:41:34 -02:00
libkmod-module.c libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
libkmod-signature.c libkmod: remove pkcs7 obj_to_hash_algo() 2023-11-07 14:05:44 -06:00
libkmod.c libkmod, depmod, modprobe: Make directory for kernel modules configurable 2023-12-06 09:53:05 -06:00
libkmod.h libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
libkmod.pc.in add Zstandard compression support 2020-09-10 21:55:01 -07:00
libkmod.sym libkmod: add weak dependecies 2024-05-08 23:37:38 -05:00
Makefile build-sys: add small redirecting Makefiles 2014-03-06 01:59:58 -03:00
README README: Move items from TODO 2013-07-17 02:31:27 -03:00

libkmod - linux kernel module handling library

ABSTRACT
========

libkmod was created to allow programs to easily insert, remove and
list modules, also checking its properties, dependencies and aliases.

there is no shared/global context information and it can be used by
multiple sites on a single program, also being able to be used from
threads, although it's not thread safe (you must lock explicitly).


OVERVIEW
========

Every user should create and manage it's own library context with:

   struct kmod_ctx *ctx = kmod_new(kernel_dirname);
   kmod_unref(ctx);


Modules can be created by various means:

   struct kmod_module *mod;
   int err;

   err = kmod_module_new_from_path(ctx, path, &mod);
   if (err < 0) {
      /* code */
   } else {
      /* code */
      kmod_module_unref(mod);
   }

   err = kmod_module_new_from_name(ctx, name, &mod);
   if (err < 0) {
      /* code */
   } else {
      /* code */
      kmod_module_unref(mod);
   }


Or could be resolved from a known alias to a list of alternatives:

   struct kmod_list *list, *itr;
   int err;
   err = kmod_module_new_from_lookup(ctx, alias, &list);
   if (err < 0) {
      /* code */
   } else {
      kmod_list_foreach(itr, list) {
         struct kmod_module *mod = kmod_module_get_module(itr);
         /* code */
      }
   }