Revisiting the section 4 manual pages loader.conf boilerplate language?
Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2022 23:41:07 UTC
Currently, 3 section 4 manual pages say to use kld_list in rc.conf for
loading: acpi_video(4), iwlwifi(4), and rtw88(4). Contrasting this with
367 following share/examples/mdoc/example.4's lead and instructing to
use loader(8)-time loading, the current approach appears to be:
loader(8)-time unless it needs rc(8)-time loading (explicitly
discouraged for iwlwifi(4) and rtw88(4), which say to rely on
devmatch(8) if at all possible). However, this may not be the best idea,
considering:
rc.conf(5):
kld_list (str) A list of kernel modules to load right after the
local
disks are mounted. Loading modules at this point in
the boot
process is much faster than doing it via
/boot/loader.conf
for those modules not necessary for mounting local
disk.
devmatch(8) itself, as already mentioned, which aims to make explicit
loading (either way) unnecessary in most cases;
several Freenode^WLibera #freebsd discussions, in at least one of which
kevans stated that rc(8) loading was much safer, especially for large
modules or drivers.
So I think the default suggestion should be changed from loader.conf to
rc.conf, or maybe to; devmatch preferred, or rc.conf if not an option.
Thoughts?
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