bpf kernel module

[Garrett Cooper]

Oliver Fromme wrote:
> Vlad GURDIGA wrote:
>  > I'm trying to keep very close touch with 6.1_STABLE cvsupping sources
>  > once a week or even more often.
>
> You mean RELENG_6_1?  I don't think that makes sense,
> because not many changes happen to that branch.  You
> should only cvsup if necessary, i.e. when a security
> fix (or otherwise critical fix) has been committed to
> that branch.
>
>  > I'm thinking of removing as much as
>  > possible devices from the kernel loading them from /boot/loader.conf
>  > instead,
>
> Personally I don't think it's worth the effort.  I keep
> most stuff static inside a big kernel.
>
>  > so I could rebuild and install them without a whole
>  > kernel/world rebuild and reboot when sources change. I'm not sure this
>  > is a correct way, any piece of advice regarding this would be highly
>  > appreciated. :)
>
> When you update your sources, the recommended and official
> way is to rebuild everything (kernel, modules, world) and
> reboot.  Omitting any of these steps _might_ work under
> certain circumstances, but it can also break in various
> ways (either horribly or subtly, whichever creates the
> most damage, according to Murphy's law).
>
>  > So, I've successfully done that with sound and network card drivers,
>  > but did not succeed with removing bpf from the kernel. Booting a
>  > kernel with no bpf support, and with
>  > ng_bpf_load="YES" in my loader.conf [which, I found on the questions
>  > list that is not what I need], the pflogd fails to start with this
>  > error:
>
> There's currently no kernel module for the bpf(4) device,
> so you have to put it statically in your kernel if you need
> it.  ng_bpf is a netgraph node driver, it doesn't implement
> /dev/bpf* devices, so it's not what you're looking for.
>
> Best regards
>    Oliver
Something else I should have mentioned. Statically building components 
into the kernel makes operation faster overall, but increases the 
required memory for your machine, whereas using modules is more 
expensive time-wise, but you can load portions of the kernel piece by 
piece, instead of load the entire kernel into main memory. As Oliver 
stated, it's best that you don't update your machine all the time, but 
instead wait for updates that may be beneficial in terms of operating 
your computer, or are important security updates, as always updating 
your machine is probably just a waste of time and resources on your 
machine. Resources that could be better used by you, other users, or 
upgrading ports from time to time :).
-Garrett