I'm not a complete newbie, but I thought that this might be the right place for this question.

I was looking at recent messages in a log file (/var/log/warn), trying to solve another problem, and noticed the following entries:


The module in question is the driver for my Win (or Lin) modem, which works OK (actually seems faster than under windows!) My system appears stable. Do I need to worry about these messages (which seem to occur for each log-in)?

I've tried googling on this, but couldn't find any pages that actually explained the meaning.

Thanks,
Rob

i think it just means something to do with open source, like the kernel is "tainted" with non-open source module code, etc. i remember i used to see that message from using the nforce2 nic drivers before they went into the kernel. don't think you need to worry about anything regarding peformance or anything like that.

As the Slacker said, it doesn't mean anything bad. Some companies release linux drivers but they aren't open source. Some people whinge and bitch about this but I figure who cares, they are supporting the OS I choose and I think those companies are pretty damn cool! That message is just warning you that you've inserted a module in your kernel that uses proprietary code. You shouldn't care but it shows that you are at least switched on that you noticed

Normally you wouldn't care.
However be aware that if you take an oops, the kernel maintainers will not accept it - or attempt to work on it.

If you can "untaint" your system by removing the module, and still reproduce the oops, then it will be accepted.

Heh, I didn't know that, thanks!

Thanks for the replies.

Think I'll choose not to worry about it, at least until I go broadband. Removing the module would mean not being able to use my modem, and I'm having no problems at the moment (apart from with Konqueror, but I managed to break that myself!)

Rob