I find all kernel module is in .o.gz format in my Slackware 10.0

Why use this format?

In ReadHat, the kernel module is .o format, or .ko under 2.6 kernel.

Is it possible to "$insmod xx.o.gz" to insert a kernel module under Slack?

Why Slack use this strange suffix for kernel module?

Just a guess, but Slackware 10.0 is pretty old and uses a 2.4 kernel, which may store the modules in a different format than the newer 2.6 kernel. But that's a guess. Your best bet to load a module is to use `modprobe` instead of `insmod` since it is more intelligent and loads the module's dependencies as well. A simple `modprobe module` would work for you (no need to include the extension). In Slackware 12.0 and 12.1, the modules use the .ko suffix (because it uses a 2.6 kernel). In my 11.0 installation, the 2.4 kernel uses the .o.gz extension while a custom compiled 2.6 kernel uses the .ko suffix.

Bottom line: Don't worry about it.

In the old times past, Slackware 'gzipped' the kernel modules to save space on the floppies and later, CDROM. A ".o.gz" file is basically a gzipped ".o" kernel module file. The 2.4 kernel will gladly accept and load these gzipped modules, but unzipped ones are fine too - most other distros did not gzip their module files.
I believe that even the 2.6 kernel should accept ".ko.gz" kernel module files. Never tested that though.

Eric

I'm pretty sure that kernel-2.6 can used gzipped modules also. The space advantage is *very* minimal, though. The code for kernel modules doesn't contain much compressable empty space -if you try gzipping a few and comparing their size you'll see what I mean.