Is Kernel module is the same as a device driver? Post: 302518970

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Operating Systems Linux Fedora Is Kernel module is the same as a device driver? Post 302518970 by Perderabo on Monday 2nd of May 2011 04:29:57 PM

05-02-2011

Administrator Emeritus

The exact answer depends on the OS. I gather from your name that you are interested in Linux. With Linux, lsmod can provide a list of modules and modinfo can give you a description of a module. If you get descriptions of all of the modules, you will see that most are drivers. But not all. If you make a list of the drivers that are modules you will be missing some drivers. That's because some drivers are permanently built into the kernel without being encapsulated as a module.

A driver talks to hardware or pretends to talk to hardware. Device files like /dev/tty or /dev/null exist so your program can interface with a driver.

A module is a piece of a kernel that can be optionally loaded into the kernel.

This is from the perspective of the kernel. CUPS talks about "drivers" while Perl talks about modules. But neither means these kind of drivers and modules. So the terms get overloaded to mean lots of stuff and become a little fuzzy.

This is the best I can do to give a quick answer to a complicated question.

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LEARN ABOUT FREEBSD

urtwnfw

URTWNFW(4)						   BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual 						URTWNFW(4)

NAME

     urtwnfw -- Firmware Module for Realtek Wireless driver

SYNOPSIS

     To compile this module into the kernel, place the following line in your kernel configuration file:

	   device urtwnfw

     This will include three firmware images inside the kernel.  If you want to pick only the firmware image for your network adapter choose one
     of the following:

	   device urtwn-rtl8192cfwT
	   device urtwn-rtl8192cfwU
	   device urtwn-rtl8188eufw

     Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf(5):

	   urtwn-rtl8192cfwT_load="YES"
	   urtwn-rtl8192cfwU_load="YES"
	   urtwn-rtl8188eufw_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

     This module provides access to firmware sets for the Realtek RTL8188CUS, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EUS, RTL8188RU and RTL8192CU chip based USB
     WiFi adapters.  It may be statically linked into the kernel, or loaded as a module.

     For the loaded firmware to be enabled for use the license at /usr/share/doc/legal/realtek must be agreed to by adding the following line to
     loader.conf(5):

	   legal.realtek.license_ack=1

FILES

     /usr/share/doc/legal/realtek  urtwnfw firmware license

SEE ALSO

     urtwn(4), firmware(9)

BSD
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