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Doubt in linux file management?
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chekkizhar
Posts: 182
in Slackware
Hai,
Am using slackware,fedora. In both cases , there are two dirs,
1. /usr/src/linux-{Kernerl version}/
2. /lib/modules/{kernel-version}/
what is the difference b/w these two? Actually , these two dir content are totally different, I agree. But, which one is the Kernel source ? :huh:
For writing device drivers, I am using the second one. But, actually, the first one only is in "src" dir .
I am not sure , this question is meaningfull or not, may this is so naive. But , want to know the difference. thank you
0
Comments
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/usr/src/linux-{version} is where the linux kernel source code is stored for you to make new modules or compile a new kernel.
/lib/modules is where your compiled kernel modules are stored to be used by your system, if you make a custom kernel this directory will only contain the modules that you have selected as modules in the kernel configuration.0 -
got it. thank you fillpot. :-)0
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linustorvalds wrote:Hai,
Am using slackware,fedora. In both cases , there are two dirs,
1. /usr/src/linux-{Kernerl version}/
2. /lib/modules/{kernel-version}/
what is the difference b/w these two? Actually , these two dir content are totally different, I agree. But, which one is the Kernel source ? :huh:
For writing device drivers, I am using the second one. But, actually, the first one only is in "src" dir .
I am not sure , this question is meaningfull or not, may this is so naive. But , want to know the difference. thank you
/usr/src/kernels/{kernel_version}/
and like mfillpot said, the kernel modules, etc. are installed to:
/lib/modules/{kernel_version}/
In this directory is a directory named "source" which is actuall a symbolic link to "build" in the same dir and "build" is actually a symbolic link to the above kernel source dir (/usr/src/kernels/{kernel_version}/).0 -
The kernel source can be wherever you want.
The modules, on the otherhand, must be in /lib/modules (or you symlink/hardlink it somehow)
Regards0 -
thanks Marc and atreyu .
@ atreyu : " In this directory is a directory named "source" which is actuall a symbolic link to "build" in the same dir and "build" is actually a symbolic link to the above kernel source dir (/usr/src/kernels/{kernel_version}/). "
Having a Kernel Source is optinal[ I guess]. If that is true, If I dont have kernel source, where these symlinks in lib/modules points to?
And, as Matt told, if we change modules[load/unload], those changes will be in "lib/modules" ,If they are symlinks, will it affect[it has to, I think], the ORIGINAL Kernel source ?0 -
You only need the kernel sources if you are compiling modules for it ( Nvidia drivers or Vritualbox are good examples for things you need the kernel sources)
/lib/modules does not change because of loading or unloading modules, at all. That's only the place to look upon for modules to load, that's all. Loading a modules reads it from disk, that is /lib/modules, and loads it into memory. When unloading... you get the thing, right?
As for the symlinks: you can have symlinks pointing nowhere.
You can check where a symlink is pointing to withls -l
Regards0 -
When unloading... you get the thing, right?you can have symlinks pointing nowherels -l
ya. thanks marc0
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