Kernel module packages (was - Re: Pre-Review: Asterisk)

Sun Apr 3 12:56:31 UTC 2005

On Sat, Apr 02, 2005 at 04:56:01PM -0600, Tom 'spot' Callaway wrote:

> I agree. External modules are a given kernel specific. They should
> identify which kernel they are for.
> 
> However, this should not be done in %{name}. Version is a more
> appropriate place for this.

RPM does currently not provide an appropriate place for this information,
that's the whole problem. Sticking it in %{name} is the least ugly approach,
IMVHO, but still quite ugly.

I think we will need a new mechanism for this, with (at least) one new field
in the RPM headers.

One question: is this problem confined to kernel modules? Or are there other
packages out there which may benefit from this? I read in Mike Harris' blog
that RH has an internal CVS version of xorg which allows parallel installation
of multiple X servers. Would this mechanism be useful there, too?