Hello,
I've been fighting with one for a few days and followed some instructions found on the web, but, not success, to the point that I'm wondering if it can even be done with the files that I have.
The end goal is to have a .ko file which I can load to the kernel with insmod. The acutal driver is a firewire drive of a "Linux for Tegra" which an Nvidia board.

Any help/tips/guidance would be welcome:

The Makefile reads:
root@tegra-ubuntu:/usr/src/kernel/drivers/firewire# cat Makefile
#
# Makefile for the Linux IEEE 1394 implementation
#

firewire-core-y += core-card.o core-cdev.o core-device.o \
core-iso.o core-topology.o core-transaction.o
firewire-ohci-y += ohci.o
firewire-sbp2-y += sbp2.o
firewire-net-y += net.o

obj-$(CONFIG_FIREWIRE) += firewire-core.o
obj-$(CONFIG_FIREWIRE_OHCI) += firewire-ohci.o
obj-$(CONFIG_FIREWIRE_SBP2) += firewire-sbp2.o
obj-$(CONFIG_FIREWIRE_NET) += firewire-net.o
obj-$(CONFIG_FIREWIRE_NOSY) += nosy.o
obj-$(CONFIG_PROVIDE_OHCI1394_DMA_INIT) += init_ohci1394_dma.o



The files in the source directory are:

-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 19999 Oct 8 02:13 core-card.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 47389 Oct 8 02:13 core-cdev.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34197 Oct 8 02:13 core-device.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 7453 Oct 8 02:13 core.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 10521 Oct 8 02:13 core-iso.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 15219 Oct 8 02:13 core-topology.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 36243 Oct 8 02:13 core-transaction.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 9838 Oct 8 02:13 init_ohci1394_dma.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 2892 Oct 8 02:13 Kconfig
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 545 Oct 8 02:13 Makefile
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 42936 Oct 8 02:13 net.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 17656 Oct 8 02:13 nosy.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 9968 Oct 8 02:13 nosy.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 590 Oct 8 02:13 nosy-user.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 107683 Oct 8 02:13 ohci.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 7164 Oct 8 02:13 ohci.h
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 48566 Oct 8 02:13 sbp2.c

You don't need to look at "instructions on the web". The right place to look for information on the kernel is in the source Documentation directory. Here are the latest instructions for building a kernel module, but you should look in the source for your kernel.

http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source...ld/modules.txt

Yes, these are some of the instructions I was following, but, I cannot make it work.
output:
root@tegra-ubuntu:/usr/src/kernel/drivers/firewire# make -C /usr/src/kernel/ M=$PWD
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernel'

WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/kernel/Module.symvers
is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.

Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 0 modules
/bin/sh: 1: scripts/mod/modpost: not found
make[1]: *** [__modpost] Error 127
make: *** [modules] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernel'

Then, I 'cd' to /usr/src/kernel and issue:
root@tegra-ubuntu:/usr/src/kernel# make modules_prepare
and get:

make: *** No rule to make target `modules_prepare'. Stop.
root@tegra-ubuntu:/usr/src/kernel#

Then you do not have the source for your kernel installed in that directory.

Is there any identifer which will help me find where is the kernel installed ? I cannot find this exact kernel in the reops, I have downloaded the kernel from the vendor's website (Nvidia) and placed under /usr/src. Here's the ls -l on that direcotry. (/usr/src/kernal) .
As noted, I am not trying to build a whole kernel (and trying to avoid it), I only need the .ko for loading firewire support into the currently running system.

root@tegra-ubuntu:/usr/src/kernel# ls -l /usr/src/kernel/

drwxrwxr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 android
drwxrwxr-x 32 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 arch
drwxrwxr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 block
drwxrwxr-x 4 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 chromeos
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 18693 Oct 8 02:13 COPYING
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 95317 Oct 8 02:13 CREDITS
drwxrwxr-x 4 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 crypto
drwxrwxr-x 101 ubuntu ubuntu 12288 Dec 8 16:21 Documentation
drwxrwxr-x 116 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 drivers
drwxrwxr-x 36 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 firmware
drwxrwxr-x 73 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 fs
drwxrwxr-x 28 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Dec 9 14:15 include
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 init
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 ipc
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 2536 Oct 8 02:13 Kbuild
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 252 Oct 8 02:13 Kconfig
drwxrwxr-x 11 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Dec 9 15:00 kernel
drwxrwxr-x 9 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 lib
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 255053 Oct 8 02:13 MAINTAINERS
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 48532 Oct 8 02:13 Makefile
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 mm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Dec 9 15:00 modules.order
drwxrwxr-x 56 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 net
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 10223 Oct 8 02:13 NVIDIA-REVIEWERS
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 18736 Oct 8 02:13 README
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 7485 Oct 8 02:13 REPORTING-BUGS
drwxrwxr-x 12 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 samples
drwxrwxr-x 13 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 scripts
drwxrwxr-x 10 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 security
drwxrwxr-x 22 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 sound
drwxrwxr-x 17 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 tools
drwxrwxr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 usr
drwxrwxr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Oct 8 02:13 virt

If you are running a ubuntu kernel, then you want the kernel source package from Ubuntu. You can't build the module under a different kernel than the one you are running and expect to be able to load it. Should be something like

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes, that's where my problme is, this looks like an odd kernel (Nvidia),

Ok, so it's a special Nvidia kernel. You do need their source. You should not build the kernel under /usr/src/kernel. Build as a regular user under your own home directory. The only time you should need root permission is to install the kernel or modules. You should probably build the whole kernel just to make sure you have everything.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Linux - Kernel> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.