[nycbug-talk] kernels

[Sunny Dubey]

On Thursday 03 June 2004 02:07 am, mlists at bizintegrators.com wrote:

> They seem to have missed one important post on the list.
> Here it is, from Kamo Hiroyasu <wd at ics.nara-wu.ac.jp>
> "
> Chuck, you are misusing the term `monolithic'.  A monolithic kernel
> with loadable modules is still a monolithic kernel because the loaded
> codes will run on the kernel space.  It is far from a micro kernel.
> That implies: you cannot gain any advantage of mocro kernels from
> loadable modules.
>
> Please consult any textbook on operating systems for detail.
>
>                 Kamo Hiroyasu
>                 [Kamo is the family name and Hiroyasu the given name.]
>
> "
>
> Therefore, Linux kernel is also monolithic.
>

I think that some people are missing the fact that it is possible to get 
around the GPL requirements of the linux kernel.  Essentially what you can 
do is the following:

linux-kernel <---> GPL wrapper <---> binary only module

>From what I've seen, the above is usually the case 99% of the time.  You 
download whatever package and compile the module wrapper against the 
current kernel headers.

Additionally as someone who understands the Mandrake Linux installer 
backwards and forwards [1], I can say that modules become excessively 
helpful especially when you need to distribute generic kernels, or need a 
kernel going for the installation process.

Essentially you can break hardware support down into two categories, the 
first being "mandatory" (stuff that is needed for installation, like 
IDE/SCSI, network cards), and the second "optional" (sound cards, printers, 
etc).  It is the size of the mandatory support that matters greatly because 
at any given time you have limited amount of space to deal with, yet at the 
same time the list of "mandatory" stuff keeps growing and growing.

With the BSDs, the GENERIC kernel essentially supports the mandatory stuff 
with various optional parts left out.  However with linux distros, we like 
to ship a kernel with very basic mandatory stuff, and the rest of the 
mandatory/optional stuff built as modules.  This comes to our advantage for 
various reasons.  The first being that people aren't loading what they 
don't need to be.  (Not that there is anything wrong with loading what you 
don't need, but the less running in kernel space, the better).  Secondly 
(IMO) you are given a chance to load the module with modified arguments as 
opposed to having to manually type such at the bootloader or having GENERIC 
use whatever defaults it was compiled with.  Lastly, modules are helpful 
because in the event there is a bug, or just unsupported hardware, most 
distros will allow you to load your own modules during the installation 
period (this has saved my ass numerous times).

> I'm very gratefull for OpenBSD's integrity, meaning things like binary
> only drivers will never be accepted.

I don't see how this is true.

Sure binary only modules may not be possible, but binary only patches are 
very much possible.  Additionally thanks to the liberal BSD license, this 
becomes more so possible as opposed to the requirements of the GPL.

Sunny Dubey

[1] http://opencurve.org/~sunny/mandrake/init-startup