From owner-freebsd-arch Mon Dec 28 22:52:52 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id WAA28895 for freebsd-arch-outgoing; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:52:52 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from ns1.yes.no (ns1.yes.no [195.204.136.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA28887 for ; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:52:50 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from eivind@bitbox.follo.net) Received: from bitbox.follo.net (bitbox.follo.net [195.204.143.218]) by ns1.yes.no (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id HAA24121 for ; Tue, 29 Dec 1998 07:52:28 +0100 (CET) Received: (from eivind@localhost) by bitbox.follo.net (8.8.8/8.8.6) id HAA71540 for freebsd-arch@freebsd.org; Tue, 29 Dec 1998 07:52:28 +0100 (MET) Received: from implode.root.com (root.com [208.221.12.98]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA28791 for ; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:51:08 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from root@implode.root.com) Received: from implode.root.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by implode.root.com (8.8.8/8.8.5) with ESMTP id WAA20403; Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:52:07 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199812290652.WAA20403@implode.root.com> To: Warner Losh cc: freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: kld and on demand device loading In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:54:02 MST." <199812290554.WAA23027@harmony.village.org> From: David Greenman Reply-To: dg@root.com Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:52:07 -0800 Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > Once upon a time, I recall that the linux kernel had a way to > dynamically load drivers and unload them on an as needed basis. Need > to make a slip connection, the slip driver would load. Once it was > done it would unload. > > In the long term, I'd love to see something like that. I believe that > it dovetails well with the new-bus project nicely. In the near term, > an area that it fits fairly well is the pcmica stuff. When a card is > inserted, the module is loaded, and when removed it is released. I > was thinking of hacking pccardd to do this, but then got to thinking > better of it and thought I'd ask for people's input before jumping > into that. The automatic on-demand driver loading has always been our goal with loadable modules. Unloading is more tricky and may be undesirable in certain circumstances. Memory is also cheap enough that unloading isn't a very high priority. ...not that I'd be anything less than enthusiastic to see it implemented, though. -DG David Greenman Co-founder/Principal Architect, The FreeBSD Project To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message