[OpenAFS-devel] Extremely newbie question

[Derek Atkins]

No, I don't think anyone mis-interpreted your question. I
think you're just asking for something that:
	a) is not currently supported, and
	b) probably wont be supported.

Basically, what you are asking for just isn't going to happen any time
soon, if it happens at all.  I can spew at you for hours all the
technical, and worse, political, issues that would be involved
in getting AFS into the Linux kernel source tree.

What you want, a way to cleanly build an AFS kernel module when you
rebuild the Linux kernel, exists.  It's called the
'openafs-kernel-source' RPM.  The point of the openafs-kernel-source
package is to provide a source tree that allows you to build a kernel
module for any particular manually-built kernel.  So, if you are
providing N kernels, you need to rebuild the OpenAFS module N times.
And yes, you must provide those modules along-side the kernel.

However, in the case of diskless machines, you KNOW what kernel
you're going to provide.  Just provide the appropriate modules
(including OpenAFS) with that kernel.

Yes, I know you're trying to avoid kernel modules.  All I can say
is: tough.  Get over it, and learn to ship initrd's compiled
specifically for your kernels.  It's simple, it works, and
that way you can be sure to ship the right modules while
also limiting the modules you need.

Have a Nice Day.

-derek

"Jonathan Day" <jd9812@my-deja.com> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> I think you mis-interpreted the question. I'm wanting the source code linked into the main kernel tree, so that when I upgrade the kernel, AFS is still going to work.
> 
> The problem with RPMs is that they're pre-compiled kernels, with options which'll work for most people, most of the time, but at the price of being horribly sub-optimal and potentially missing out stuff that's useful but just too specific.
> 
> The other problem with RPMs is that AFS is still compiled as a module. It's not built into the kernel. This means that it's not going to work well with diskless devices, as there's nowhere to keep seperate module files. (Unfortunately, that's one of my needs.)
> 
> The module status also means that it takes more memory (as well as more disk space), is going to be slightly slower to access, may get loaded and/or unloaded at the whim of autoclean (with all the overheads that involves), and you need one copy for every kernel you have installed.
> 
> If it's in the kernel tree, itself, these are all resolved. Well, I guess you still have one "copy" for every kernel, but you don't have to fret over whether it's installed, in the right place, with the right version symbols, etc, etc, etc.
> 
> Jonathan Day
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
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