Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 10:00:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com> To: "Jacques A . Vidrine" <n@nectar.com> Cc: Richard Wackerbarth <rkw@dataplex.net>, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: SMP changes and breaking kld object module compatibility Message-ID: <200004241700.KAA70763@apollo.backplane.com> References: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0004241008370.13917-100000@rac8.wam.umd.edu> <00042409270400.09338@nomad.dataplex.net> <20000424101314.A76089@spawn.nectar.com>
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:On Mon, Apr 24, 2000 at 09:27:04AM -0500, Richard Wackerbarth wrote:
:> On a released system, I may not have the sources to recompile the module.
:> It might be a proprietary module that I got with the hardware, for example.
:
:How real is this? What modules are we talking about? The last time
:I queried on `-stable' for users of third-party modules, only one was
:revealed.
:
:Are all modules effected, or only those that use certain interfaces?
:
:> That is why STABLE INTERFACES are so IMPORTANT to USERS.
:
:Agreed.
:--
:Jacques Vidrine / n@nectar.com / nectar@FreeBSD.org
Many kernel interfaces are macros. So while the API stays the same,
the actual implementation winds up buried in the module code. If the
implementation has to change (even though the API does not), those
modules must be recompiled. This is an unfortunate fact of life
when it comes to kernel loadable modules and is true of both Linux
and FreeBSD.
I've done a quick audit of the spl code and I think I'm actually
wrong there... it looks like the SPL code is in fact implemented as
a procedure ( I remembered it being a macro but it actually isn't from
the point of view of modules that use it).
So I think we're safe in this particular case.
-Matt
Matthew Dillon
<dillon@backplane.com>
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