[NTLUG:Discuss] Alsa + New Kernel

[Richard Cobbe]

Lo, on Sunday, 30 April, 2000, Kevin McMillan did write:

> Hello all,
> 
> 	I have just installed the new RH 6.2 kernel to my system, with only one
> difficulty. I had previously compiled the alsa sound drivers, under the
> old kernel. Now the new kernel complains it cannot find the modules,,,DOH
> !!!

I suspect that this is because of the way modules are stored on the disk.
If you look in /lib/modules, you'll see that they're in separate
directories, named according to kernel version.  By default on a RH system,
the kernel will look in, e.g.,

/lib/modules/2.2.14-6.0.1/sound
/lib/modules/2.2/sound
/lib/modules/default/sound
/lib/modules/sound

substituting your kernel version and module category as appropriate.

(Do a modprobe -c to see the settings; you can change this path in
/etc/conf.modules.)

Having two kernels on the same system is not a problem; I've currently got
five on this machine, and more on the one at work.  (Soon to be six; I
still haven't dl'd the *other* latest RH kernel.)

> 	Is it as simple as, booting-up using the new kernel, and then remaking
> the alsa drivers, or is there some special parameters I must use, having
> the 2 kernels on the system. Would I need to reinstall more than the
> modules ? {i.e. utilities and interfaces} I am keeping the old kernel
> around for a while, just to make sure something isnt terribly wrong.

This I'm not sure about, actually.  Could someone more familiar with the
nuts and bolts of kernel compilation help out here?

Could Kevin simply copy the existing modules over into the new kernel's
directory?  Will he have to recompile and re-install the modules?  Or will
he have to recompile the entire kernel, plus associated modules?

I *do* know that recompiling the entire kernel is the most you'll have to
do.