Compile kernel module

Related articles

• Kernel
• Kernel modules

Sometimes you may wish to compile Linux's Kernel module without recompiling the whole kernel.

Note: You can only replace existing module if it is compiled as module (M) and not builtin (y) into kernel.

Build environment

Firstly you will need to install build dependencies such as compiler(base-devel) and linux-headers.

Next you will need to get source code for exact kernel version you are running. You may try use newer kernel sources but most likely compiled module will not load.

Find kernel version with

$ uname -r

Then acquire the required source, see Kernels/Traditional compilation#Download the kernel source. If you fetch latest source using Git you will need to checkout needed version using tag (eg. v4.1).

Source configuration

When you have source code, enter that directory and clean it with (note it will delete .config.old and rename .config to .config.old)

$ make mrproper

Then you need to copy your current existing kernel configuration to this build dir

$ cp /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/.config ./
$ cp /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/Module.symvers ./

Next ensure configuration is adjusted for kernel sources (if you are using kernel sources for exact current version then it should not ask anything, but for newer sources than current kernel you might be asked about new options).

Also if module you want to compile have some compilation options such as debug build you can also adjust them with any of make config/menuconfig/xconfig (see README)

$ make oldconfig

Module compilation

Then prepare source for compilation with

$ make prepare && make scripts

And finally compile wanted module by specifying its directory. (You can find module location with modinfo or find)

$ make M=fs/btrfs

Module installation

Now after successful compilation you just need to gzip and copy it over for your current kernel.

If you are replacing some existing module you will need to overwrite it (and remember that reinstalling linux will replace it with default module)

$ gzip fs/btrfs/btrfs.ko
# cp -f fs/btrfs/btrfs.ko.gz /usr/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/btrfs/

Or alternatively, you can place the updated module in the updates folder (create it if it doesn't already exist).

$ cp fs/btrfs/btrfs.ko.gz /usr/lib/modules/`uname -r`/updates

However if you are adding a new module you can just copy it to extramodules (note, this is just example as btrfs will not get loaded from here)

# cp fs/btrfs/btrfs.ko.gz /usr/lib/modules/`uname -r`/extramodules/

If you are compiling a module for early boot (e.g. updated module) which is copied to Initramfs then you must remember to regenerate it with (otherwise your compiled module will not be loaded). Furthermore, if you are using the "updates" folder method, you may need to rebuild the module dependency tree with "depmod" before regenerating Initramfs

# mkinitcpio -p linux

See also

• Linux Kernel Newbies
• The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide