NetBSD Problem Report #52474

From paul@whooppee.com  Tue Aug  8 02:41:22 2017
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Date: Tue,  8 Aug 2017 10:40:48 +0800 (+08)
From: paul@whooppee.com
Reply-To: paul@whooppee.com
To: gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org
Subject: Enhancement: Improved "association" of a kernel with its modules
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>Number:         52474
>Category:       kern
>Synopsis:       Enhancement: improved association of a kernel with its modules
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       high
>Responsible:    kern-bug-people
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Tue Aug 08 02:45:00 +0000 2017
>Last-Modified:  Sun May 25 14:15:01 +0000 2025
>Originator:     Paul Goyette
>Release:        NetBSD 8.99.1
>Organization:
+------------------+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Paul Goyette     | PGP Key fingerprint:     | E-mail addresses:          |
| (Retired)        | FA29 0E3B 35AF E8AE 6651 | paul at whooppee dot com   |
| Kernel Developer | 0786 F758 55DE 53BA 7731 | pgoyette at netbsd dot org |
+------------------+--------------------------+----------------------------+
>Environment:


System: NetBSD speedy.whooppee.com 8.99.1 NetBSD 8.99.1 (SPEEDY 2017-07-20 01:01:55 UTC) #0: Thu Jul 20 02:03:10 UTC 2017 paul@speedy.whooppee.com:/build/netbsd-local/obj/amd64/sys/arch/amd64/compile/SPEEDY amd64
Architecture: x86_64
Machine: amd64
>Description:
Some years ago, there was a discussion on tech-kern of having a better
way to gather together a kernel and its modules.  Some possibilities
identified were:

	* A top level directory, /netbsd, which would contain a kernel
	  and modules

	* An archive (tar/gzip?) containing the kernel and modules

With the number of modules we have today (more than 240 for amd64) the
current mechanism of /stand/${ARCH}/${VERSION}/modules/${MOD}/${MOD}.kmod
doesn't scale.  Additionally it does not readily lend itself to having
"test" modules to go along with a "test" kernel, without requiring some
manual save/restore of the production modules.

I can't find the original discussion (I think lukem@ started it), but
I wanted to get the issue logged in gnats so it doesn't get forgotten.

>How-To-Repeat:

>Fix:


>Audit-Trail:
From: Paul Goyette <paul@whooppee.com>
To: gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: kern/52474: Enhancement: Improved "association" of a kernel with
 its modules
Date: Sun, 25 May 2025 07:13:57 -0700 (PDT)

 The build option KERNEL_DIR implements the ``top level directory, 
 /netbsd, which would contain a kernel and modules'' suggesttion.  It
 has been available for more than 5 years now, and recent workk by
 me has made it actually useful (On i386 and amd64 only).  Just build
 with

  	build.sh -V KERNEL_DIR=yes ...

 and update your stage-3 boot loader (biosboot or efiboot).

 +---------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+
 | Paul Goyette (.sig) | PGP Key fingerprint:     | E-mail addresses:    |
 | (Retired)           | 1B11 1849 721C 56C8 F63A | paul@whooppee.com    |
 | Software Developer  | 6E2E 05FD 15CE 9F2D 5102 | pgoyette@netbsd.org  |
 | & Network Engineer  |                          | pgoyette99@gmail.com |
 +---------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+

>Unformatted:

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