[Fedora-packaging] Kernel modules packaged for dkms

[Paul Howarth]

Matthias Saou wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Regarding kernel modules, as many, I got tired of :
> 1) Packaging them as binary rpms, tracking new kernels to release new
> packages (it's almost impossible to track Rawhide btw).
> 2) Endless discussions about what packaging method is the best, upgrade
> paths, ugliness of versions inside names, common vs. kernel specific
> bits etc. etc.
> 
> So I decided to go for the dkms approach to install 3rd party kernel
> modules, and things got so much simpler. It's pretty obvious : If one
> can issue a simple "make" to get a required module, why go through so
> much complexity for rpm packages?
> 
> There are two possible discussions which can start here :
> 
> 1) What do Fedora packagers think of dkms? Up to now, no kernel modules
> packages using dkms have been released in Extras, nor in 3rd party
> repositories AFAIK. Maybe there are some good reasons, in which case
> I'm interested in knowing them.

The ppp_mppe kernel module was successfully distributed as a dkms-based 
RPM package by the PPTP Client project before the module got included 
upstream in 2.6.15 (and is still used by distributions having older 
kernels).

http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/yum/

Paul.