> unloading modules frees up memory, although since 2.2.x kernels and up, > unused modules don't automatically unload anymore. they used to after > a minute of non-use under 2.0.x kernels, back in the good old days. I > never understood why the newer kernels don't unload the unused modules. Because this can just as easily be done in userspace. Used to be a cron job would run 'rmmod -a' every 5 minutes, but it looks like debian and fedora don't even bother anymore. Recently there's an even bigger push to move things to userspace. Kernel 2.6 always compiles an initrd, though its pretty much empty by default. There's talk of removing all partition detection from the kernel, and do it with a userspace program in the initrd, that sets things up using the device mapper. I remember years back, they were talking about eliminating monolithic kernels entirely. The kernel will always be modular, things like your root device/filesystem driver modules go in the initrd. It appears 2.6 is indeed taking steps in this direction. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list