[lug] Re lpc status and sh

[John Karns]

On Wed, 7 Nov 2001, Rob Mohr said:

> One usenet post regarding "lp0 off-line" mentions having to recompile the
> kernel. I have read a bit about compiling, but I have not done that
> before.  I am under the impression that if something is left outside of
> the kernel, a module may be "started up later" via a command line
> operation.

This is true depending on the configuration of the kernel which is
running.  Most distro's include a kernel that is configured for general
purposes, which includes most services as modules.  However, if the kernel
is not configured to load the service as a module, and the feature is not
compiled into the kernel monolithically, then the service will be
unavailable.  There is also a file /etc/modules.conf (formerly
/etc/conf.modules, which may be the reason your search fails - try
looking for /etc/modules.conf).  The purpose of that file is to assist in
autoloading modules as they are needed, the idea being to avoid having to
explicitly load modules from the command line.

It might be a good idea to install the kernel source if it isn't already
on your system, then

cd /usr/sr/linux
make menuconfig (alternatively in X one may choose 'make xconfig')

and familiarize yourself with kernel configuration.  You can do this
without actually compiling the kernel.  See the how-to's for info on
kernel compiling.

----------------------------------------------------------------
John Karns                                        jkarns at csd.net