[elrepo] kmod-e1000e

[Phil Perry]

On 17/09/13 12:08, Steve Clark wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> If I am using the kmod-e1000e driver and upgrade to the next kernel will
> the
> kmod-e1000e driver still be used or do I have to reinstall it. The
> kmod-e1000e
> driver fixes this issue:
> http://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg244462.html
>
>
> Thanks,
> Steve
>
>

Hi Steve,

In the vast majority of cases the kmod driver will continue to work 
seamlessly across kernel updates.

It is possible that changes to the kernel ABI between point updates (for 
example, between 6.3 and 6.4 kernels) could cause a kmod driver to fail, 
but this is relatively rare. If that does happen then in the vast 
majority of cases simply rebuilding the kmod driver package against the 
latest kernel will resolve the issues in which case a bug report to 
elrepo.org/bugs will get the issue resolved pretty quickly.

So either way, you shouldn't ever need to reinstall it.

You can test the process for yourself. Generally, if the module weak 
links against the new kernel then it should work. So, once you have 
installed the new kernel, try:

find /lib/modules/ -name e1000e.ko | grep 'weak\|extra'

the module was built against and installed to the "extra" directory, and 
is compatible with all installed kernels where it is symlinked into the 
"weak-updates" directories.

Here is an example of this from my EL5 system for the coretemp.ko module:

$ find /lib/modules/ -name coretemp.ko | grep 'weak\|extra'
/lib/modules/2.6.18-308.el5/weak-updates/coretemp/coretemp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.18-348.el5/weak-updates/coretemp/coretemp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.18-238.el5/extra/coretemp/coretemp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.18-348.16.1.el5/weak-updates/coretemp/coretemp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.18-274.el5/weak-updates/coretemp/coretemp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.18-194.el5/weak-updates/coretemp/coretemp.ko

so, if I were running 5.8 and had just installed the 5.9 kernel 
(2.6.18-348.el5), the above output would indicate the driver should be 
compatible (which indeed it is).

Hope that helps,

Phil

Note: elrepo kmod packages are *not* compatible with elrepo kernel-ml 
and kernel-lt offerings.