ftape (and modules in general)

[Paul Howarth]

On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 03:38 +0000, Stephen Childress wrote:
>      I have a Exabyte TR-3 tape drive that is connected to an accelerator
> card hanging off the floppy controller.  The ftape module and associated
> drivers worked pretty well in FC1, but after I installed FC3 I no longer
> have the modules ftape.ko etc. under the /lib/modules directory structure.
> So I figured that I would have to compile the module myself.  After a few
> failed attempts I have decided I need some directions.  
>      I notice that there is a directory tree called
> /lib/modules/2.6.9-1.667/build that just contains Makefiles and header files
> but no *.c source files.  Can someone explain what this directory is for?
> (Or better yet point me to some documentation about it).

This directory and its contents provide everything needed to build a
properly-written module "out of tree", which has for a long time now
been the preferred way of building additional modules.

>      Anyway, I have installed the kernel .src rpm and have tried building
> the ftape modules from that, but I wonder if that is the best way or if I'm
> even going in the right direction.
>      Can anyone tell me the general way that modules are supposed to be
> built under FC3, and/or perhaps point me to some documentation on how to do
> this?  Also, I'd be especially glad to hear from someone who has ftape
> working on FC3 and a general description of what you did.  Thanks.

Yesterday I posted an example of how to build a SCSI driver whose code
is supplied with the kernel source but is not built by default in Fedora
kernels.

http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2005-February/msg03930.html

You could probably use the same approach to build the ftape module(s) if
the source is still included with the kernel.

See also the kernel section of the FC3 release notes.
/usr/share/doc/fedora-release-3/RELEASE-NOTES-x86-en.html

Paul.
-- 
Paul Howarth <paul at city-fan.org>