linux/Documentation/kbuild/modules.txt
Linus Torvalds 1da177e4c3 Linux-2.6.12-rc2
Initial git repository build. I'm not bothering with the full history,
even though we have it. We can create a separate "historical" git
archive of that later if we want to, and in the meantime it's about
3.2GB when imported into git - space that would just make the early
git days unnecessarily complicated, when we don't have a lot of good
infrastructure for it.

Let it rip!
2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07:00

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In this document you will find information about:
- how to build external modules
- how to make your module use kbuild infrastructure
- how kbuild will install a kernel
- how to install modules in a non-standard location
=== Table of Contents
=== 1 Introduction
=== 2 How to build external modules
--- 2.1 Building external modules
--- 2.2 Available targets
--- 2.3 Available options
--- 2.4 Preparing the kernel tree for module build
=== 3. Example commands
=== 4. Creating a kbuild file for an external module
=== 5. Include files
--- 5.1 How to include files from the kernel include dir
--- 5.2 External modules using an include/ dir
=== 6. Module installation
--- 6.1 INSTALL_MOD_PATH
--- 6.2 INSTALL_MOD_DIR
=== 7. Module versioning
=== 8. Tips & Tricks
--- 8.1 Testing for CONFIG_FOO_BAR
=== 1. Introduction
kbuild includes functionality for building modules both
within the kernel source tree and outside the kernel source tree.
The latter is usually referred to as external modules and is used
both during development and for modules that are not planned to be
included in the kernel tree.
What is covered within this file is mainly information to authors
of modules. The author of an external modules should supply
a makefile that hides most of the complexity so one only has to type
'make' to buld the module. A complete example will be present in
chapter ยค. Creating a kbuild file for an external module".
=== 2. How to build external modules
kbuild offers functionality to build external modules, with the
prerequisite that there is a pre-built kernel available with full source.
A subset of the targets available when building the kernel is available
when building an external module.
--- 2.1 Building external modules
Use the following command to build an external module:
make -C <path-to-kernel> M=`pwd`
For the running kernel use:
make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=`pwd`
For the above command to succeed the kernel must have been built with
modules enabled.
To install the modules that were just built:
make -C <path-to-kernel> M=`pwd` modules_install
More complex examples later, the above should get you going.
--- 2.2 Available targets
$KDIR refers to path to kernel source top-level directory
make -C $KDIR M=`pwd`
Will build the module(s) located in current directory.
All output files will be located in the same directory
as the module source.
No attempts are made to update the kernel source, and it is
a precondition that a successful make has been executed
for the kernel.
make -C $KDIR M=`pwd` modules
The modules target is implied when no target is given.
Same functionality as if no target was specified.
See description above.
make -C $KDIR M=$PWD modules_install
Install the external module(s).
Installation default is in /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/extra,
but may be prefixed with INSTALL_MOD_PATH - see separate chater.
make -C $KDIR M=$PWD clean
Remove all generated files for the module - the kernel
source directory is not moddified.
make -C $KDIR M=`pwd` help
help will list the available target when building external
modules.
--- 2.3 Available options:
$KDIR refer to path to kernel src
make -C $KDIR
Used to specify where to find the kernel source.
'$KDIR' represent the directory where the kernel source is.
Make will actually change directory to the specified directory
when executed but change back when finished.
make -C $KDIR M=`pwd`
M= is used to tell kbuild that an external module is
being built.
The option given to M= is the directory where the external
module (kbuild file) is located.
When an external module is being built only a subset of the
usual targets are available.
make -C $KDIR SUBDIRS=`pwd`
Same as M=. The SUBDIRS= syntax is kept for backwards
compatibility.
--- 2.4 Preparing the kernel tree for module build
To make sure the kernel contains the information required to
build external modules the target 'modules_prepare' must be used.
'module_prepare' solely exists as a simple way to prepare
a kernel for building external modules.
Note: modules_prepare will not build Module.symvers even if
CONFIG_MODULEVERSIONING is set.
Therefore a full kernel build needs to be executed to make
module versioning work.
=== 3. Example commands
This example shows the actual commands to be executed when building
an external module for the currently running kernel.
In the example below the distribution is supposed to use the
facility to locate output files for a kernel compile in a different
directory than the kernel source - but the examples will also work
when the source and the output files are mixed in the same directory.
# Kernel source
/lib/modules/<kernel-version>/source -> /usr/src/linux-<version>
# Output from kernel compile
/lib/modules/<kernel-version>/build -> /usr/src/linux-<version>-up
Change to the directory where the kbuild file is located and execute
the following commands to build the module:
cd /home/user/src/module
make -C /usr/src/`uname -r`/source \
O=/lib/modules/`uname-r`/build \
M=`pwd`
Then to install the module use the following command:
make -C /usr/src/`uname -r`/source \
O=/lib/modules/`uname-r`/build \
M=`pwd` \
modules_install
If one looks closely you will see that this is the same commands as
listed before - with the directories spelled out.
The above are rather long commands, and the following chapter
lists a few tricks to make it all easier.
=== 4. Creating a kbuild file for an external module
kbuild is the build system for the kernel, and external modules
must use kbuild to stay compatible with changes in the build system
and to pick up the right flags to gcc etc.
The kbuild file used as input shall follow the syntax described
in Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.txt. This chapter will introduce a few
more tricks to be used when dealing with external modules.
In the following a Makefile will be created for a module with the
following files:
8123_if.c
8123_if.h
8123_pci.c
8123_bin.o_shipped <= Binary blob
--- 4.1 Shared Makefile for module and kernel
An external module always includes a wrapper Makefile supporting
building the module using 'make' with no arguments.
The Makefile provided will most likely include additional
functionality such as test targets etc. and this part shall
be filtered away from kbuild since it may impact kbuild if
name clashes occurs.
Example 1:
--> filename: Makefile
ifneq ($(KERNELRELEASE),)
# kbuild part of makefile
obj-m := 8123.o
8123-y := 8123_if.o 8123_pci.o 8123_bin.o
else
# Normal Makefile
KERNELDIR := /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
all::
$(MAKE) -C $KERNELDIR M=`pwd` $@
# Module specific targets
genbin:
echo "X" > 8123_bini.o_shipped
endif
In example 1 the check for KERNELRELEASE is used to separate
the two parts of the Makefile. kbuild will only see the two
assignments whereas make will see everything except the two
kbuild assignments.
In recent versions of the kernel, kbuild will look for a file named
Kbuild and as second option look for a file named Makefile.
Utilising the Kbuild file makes us split up the Makefile in example 1
into two files as shown in example 2:
Example 2:
--> filename: Kbuild
obj-m := 8123.o
8123-y := 8123_if.o 8123_pci.o 8123_bin.o
--> filename: Makefile
KERNELDIR := /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
all::
$(MAKE) -C $KERNELDIR M=`pwd` $@
# Module specific targets
genbin:
echo "X" > 8123_bin_shipped
In example 2 we are down to two fairly simple files and for simple
files as used in this example the split is questionable. But some
external modules use Makefiles of several hundred lines and here it
really pays off to separate the kbuild part from the rest.
Example 3 shows a backward compatible version.
Example 3:
--> filename: Kbuild
obj-m := 8123.o
8123-y := 8123_if.o 8123_pci.o 8123_bin.o
--> filename: Makefile
ifneq ($(KERNELRELEASE),)
include Kbuild
else
# Normal Makefile
KERNELDIR := /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
all::
$(MAKE) -C $KERNELDIR M=`pwd` $@
# Module specific targets
genbin:
echo "X" > 8123_bin_shipped
endif
The trick here is to include the Kbuild file from Makefile so
if an older version of kbuild picks up the Makefile the Kbuild
file will be included.
--- 4.2 Binary blobs included in a module
Some external modules needs to include a .o as a blob. kbuild
has support for this, but requires the blob file to be named
<filename>_shipped. In our example the blob is named
8123_bin.o_shipped and when the kbuild rules kick in the file
8123_bin.o is created as a simple copy off the 8213_bin.o_shipped file
with the _shipped part stripped of the filename.
This allows the 8123_bin.o filename to be used in the assignment to
the module.
Example 4:
obj-m := 8123.o
8123-y := 8123_if.o 8123_pci.o 8123_bin.o
In example 4 there is no distinction between the ordinary .c/.h files
and the binary file. But kbuild will pick up different rules to create
the .o file.
=== 5. Include files
Include files are a necessity when a .c file uses something from another .c
files (not strictly in the sense of .c but if good programming practice is
used). Any module that consist of more than one .c file will have a .h file
for one of the .c files.
- If the .h file only describes a module internal interface then the .h file
shall be placed in the same directory as the .c files.
- If the .h files describe an interface used by other parts of the kernel
located in different directories, the .h files shall be located in
include/linux/ or other include/ directories as appropriate.
One exception for this rule is larger subsystems that have their own directory
under include/ such as include/scsi. Another exception is arch-specific
.h files which are located under include/asm-$(ARCH)/*.
External modules have a tendency to locate include files in a separate include/
directory and therefore needs to deal with this in their kbuild file.
--- 5.1 How to include files from the kernel include dir
When a module needs to include a file from include/linux/ then one
just uses:
#include <linux/modules.h>
kbuild will make sure to add options to gcc so the relevant
directories are searched.
Likewise for .h files placed in the same directory as the .c file.
#include "8123_if.h"
will do the job.
--- 5.2 External modules using an include/ dir
External modules often locate their .h files in a separate include/
directory although this is not usual kernel style. When an external
module uses an include/ dir then kbuild needs to be told so.
The trick here is to use either EXTRA_CFLAGS (take effect for all .c
files) or CFLAGS_$F.o (take effect only for a single file).
In our example if we move 8123_if.h to a subdirectory named include/
the resulting Kbuild file would look like:
--> filename: Kbuild
obj-m := 8123.o
EXTRA_CFLAGS := -Iinclude
8123-y := 8123_if.o 8123_pci.o 8123_bin.o
Note that in the assingment there is no space between -I and the path.
This is a kbuild limitation and no space must be present.
=== 6. Module installation
Modules which are included in the kernel is installed in the directory:
/lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/kernel
External modules are installed in the directory:
/lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/extra
--- 6.1 INSTALL_MOD_PATH
Above are the default directories, but as always some level of
customization is possible. One can prefix the path using the variable
INSTALL_MOD_PATH:
$ make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=/frodo modules_install
=> Install dir: /frodo/lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/kernel
INSTALL_MOD_PATH may be set as an ordinary shell variable or as in the
example above be specified on the commandline when calling make.
INSTALL_MOD_PATH has effect both when installing modules included in
the kernel as well as when installing external modules.
--- 6.2 INSTALL_MOD_DIR
When installing external modules they are default installed in a
directory under /lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/extra, but one may wish
to locate modules for a specific functionality in a separate
directory. For this purpose one can use INSTALL_MOD_DIR to specify an
alternative name than 'extra'.
$ make INSTALL_MOD_DIR=gandalf -C KERNELDIR \
M=`pwd` modules_install
=> Install dir: /lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/gandalf
=== 7. Module versioning
Module versioning are enabled by the CONFIG_MODVERSIONS tag.
Module versioning is used as a simple ABI consistency check. The Module
versioning creates a CRC value of the full prototype for an exported symbol and
when a module is loaded/used then the CRC values contained in the kernel are
compared with similar values in the module. If they are not equal then the
kernel refuses to load the module.
During a kernel build a file named Module.symvers will be generated. This
file includes the symbol version of all symbols within the kernel. If the
Module.symvers file is saved from the last full kernel compile one does not
have to do a full kernel compile to build a module version's compatible module.
=== 8. Tips & Tricks
--- 8.1 Testing for CONFIG_FOO_BAR
Modules often needs to check for certain CONFIG_ options to decide if
a specific feature shall be included in the module. When kbuild is used
this is done by referencing the CONFIG_ variable directly.
#fs/ext2/Makefile
obj-$(CONFIG_EXT2_FS) += ext2.o
ext2-y := balloc.o bitmap.o dir.o
ext2-$(CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR) += xattr.o
External modules have traditionally used grep to check for specific
CONFIG_ settings directly in .config. This usage is broken.
As introduced before external modules shall use kbuild when building
and therefore can use the same methods as in-kernel modules when testing
for CONFIG_ definitions.