Compile radeonfb kernel module

Question

what I want to do, is to compile just radeonfb as a module (so that I could use it), without rebuilding anything else because the entire kernel takes way too long (like an hour or so).
How about this possibility;
a pkgbuild that builds the module seperately off of cvs or whatever the kernel is hosted on, (so that the 40 MB tarball doesn't have to get downloaded?)
not sure exactly how that works out, but it's probably possible, or is it all just not worth the effort?

Answer 1

Do you have a /proc/config.gz that you could use? Otherwise I don't know. I mean, many modules should be compilable simply with the system-installed kernel headers, but not all native modules might follow that rule.
Unfortunatel most of what you find on the web talks about how to create new modules which can be compild against the installed kernel tree, not about how to compile one of the native kernel modules against it.
Actually, try what those links suggest.
Skip the configuration part, and just do:
make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=$(PWD)/drivers/video modules
(maybe `make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=$(PWD)/drivers/video clean` first )
EDIT: Meh, that uses your config and won't build that driver... there must be some way though
EDIT2: Try:
make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=$(PWD)/drivers/video modules CONFIG_FB_VT8623=m CONFIG_FB_SVGALIB=m
The problem though is, that they might have removed some of the dependencies of the module, so if it doesn't compile, you'll have to recompile the kernel.
Good thing is though, you can use their .config as base (found in /usr/src/linux-..../.config)
You can also check if your config "supports" your module by putting it into the kernel source tree, running `make menuconfig` and typing /8623 and pressing enter.
The last line in that screen should read:
Selects: <list of options>
As long as all of those options are either =y or =m, you're good. SVGALIB can be =n because it's part of drivers/video/ and you can compile it together with  your module.
Last edited by Blµb (2012-03-02 15:14:16)