X11 video drivers

Vilius · 09-06-2010, 12:03 PM

Hello,

I just wanted to check X11 video driver.
But looks like all the drivers are *.so files:

Code:

 ls /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers
ast_drv.so       ch7xxx.so         i810_drv.so   r128_drv.so       savage_drv.so         tfp410.so       voodoo_drv.so
ati_drv.so       cirrus_alpine.so  intel_drv.so  r500_drv.so       sil164.so             trident_drv.so
atimisc_drv.so   cirrus_drv.so     ivch.so       radeon_drv.so     siliconmotion_drv.so  vesa_drv.so
ati_r500_drv.so  cirrus_laguna.so  mga_drv.so    radeon_tp_drv.so  sis_drv.so            vga_drv.so
ati_tp_drv.so    dummy_drv.so      nv_drv.so     s3_drv.so         sisusb_drv.so         via_drv.so
ch7017.so        fbdev_drv.so      qxl_drv.so    s3virge_drv.so    tdfx_drv.so           vmware_drv.so

I used to know that all linux drivers are kernel modules (*.ko files) and I can check if they are loaded with lsmod.
Could someone explain me:
Are these *.so files X11 drivers ?
Are they kernel modules ?
Can I use lsmod to check if they are loaded ?

thanks
Vilius

sem007 · 09-07-2010, 02:30 AM

Generally kernel modules (you can say drivers) are located in

Code:

/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/

modules are .ko file (.o in older kernel) and you can use lsmod command to see loaded modules.
modinfo command provide module information.

Code:

$ sudo lsmod | grep pcnet32

$sudo modinfo pcnet32

filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/pcnet32.ko
license:        GPL
description:    Driver for PCnet32 and PCnetPCI based ethercards
author:         Thomas Bogendoerfer
....
....

HTH

Vilius · 09-07-2010, 02:57 AM

I know enough about kernel modules.

My question was why X11 drivers are not kernel modules.
And what these drivers are then ?

V

sem007 · 09-07-2010, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vilius

I know enough about kernel modules.

My question was why X11 drivers are not kernel modules.
And what these drivers are then ?

V

Look at this Directory

Code:

/lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/video/

In my debian system ( VMWARE )

Code:

$ sudo lsmod | grep intel
intel_agp              22524  1
agpgart                28808  1 intel_agp

$ sudo modinfo intel_agp | head -2
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/char/agp/intel-agp.ko