On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, Wolfgang Solfrank wrote:

: > Using LKMs without having /usr available; building LKMs as
: > position-independent code ("shared objects" in the kernel).  Two uses I can
: > think of...

: The first one can surely be addressed by having the linker in /, no need
: to have it in the kernel, or what?

Not necessarily.  If your / doesn't contain the currently-booted kernel
file, or at least /netbsd doesn't correspond to it, and you need LKMs in
order to mount /usr ....

: The second one looks even more bogus to me.  What gain would "shared objects"
: in the kernel be?  Shared objects are meant to be just that, _shared_.
: What would the kernel share these objects with?

That's why it is in quotes.  Position independent code allows for easier
linking into the kernel; you only "link" it once, and just "relocate" it
when loading the kernel.  They aren't "shared" objects per se.

-- 
-- Todd Vierling (Personal tv@pobox.com; Bus. todd_vierling@xn.xerox.com)