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Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 13:18:23 -0700
From: Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>
To: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Query about initramfs and modules
Message-ID: <20020116201823.GA1872@codepoet.org>
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On Wed Jan 16, 2002 at 11:56:59AM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Followup to:  <20020116194121.GC32184@codepoet.org>
> By author:    Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>
> In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> > 
> > Keep in mind that insmod current needs to incorporate a full ELF
> > interpreter in userspace (and the source code needs to know about
> > all the types of relocations and jump for each arch and for 32
> > and 64 bit ELF.  Horrible stuff really.  If we could cleanup the
> > kernel's insmod implementation to require merely a syscall
> > passing a filename to the kernel, it would sure make the
> > initramfs smaller and simpler.  I believe Rusty made a patch to
> > do this sort of thing....
> > 
> 
> Yeah!  Let's put all this crap in KERNEL SPACE!  *NOT!*

Good point.  We surely wouldn't want to have an ELF interpreter
in kernel space.  That would be evil!  
	rm linux/fs/binfmt_elf.c
There, thats better, now userspace can load everything.  If we
can figure out how to get userspace loaded....

The kernel already knows how to load ELF files, and _has_ to do
that job to get userspace running anyways.   So why not use that
mechanism for modules?

 -Erik

--
Erik B. Andersen             http://codepoet-consulting.com/
--This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--
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