modprobe returns Invalid kernel module Format
I just experienced this problem recently on my new gentoo installation. I wanted to use my USB wireless card (netgear ma111), this requires a custom build of linux-wlan-ng that provides prism2 kernel module (this is now part of official kernel since 2.6.24).
So I downloaded the latest (0.2.8) version of linux-wlan-ng and went through the configure/make chore. Everything worked fine (on newer kernel, one has to change socket->mac to socket->mac_header) and I got the modules compiled. But when I tried to insert the modules into kernel space, modprobe tells me the newly built kernel modules have 'Invalid Format' and cannot be used.
This is rather interesting. After much research, the problem was found to be a mismatch of running kernel config and the config file found as /usr/src/linux/.config. It appears the 2.6 kernel has a tightened requirement of how a kernel module must be built to be used with a live running kernel.
Two things I learned helped me to diagnose the problem:
1. 2.6 kernel allows a copy of running kernel config accessible as /proc/config.gz. This is now a kernel configuration option. Make sure you turn it on if you build 2.6 kernel from source, this can be a life/time-saver.
2. modinfo. Running this command on a kernel module file shows detailed information of the kernel module, in particular the versionmagic string shows options used to build the kernel module. The options in this magic string must match between this module and running kernel for the module to be useful. Mismatch here will produce the mysterious 'Invalid Format' error I initially stumbled upon.
With these knowledge, it's simple to fix the problem:
1. emerge the correct kernel source (yum, aptitude, smart, etc...on other distro)
2. cp /proc/config.gz to /usr/src/linux and decompress it; rename config to .config
3. in /usr/src/linux, make (don't have to be complete, make sure include/linux/version.h is produced)
4. re-configure/make linux-wlan-ng
5. make sure modinfo of newly built kernel module agree with existing modules of the live kernel
6. modprobe/modins prism2 module (should work perfectly now)
So I downloaded the latest (0.2.8) version of linux-wlan-ng and went through the configure/make chore. Everything worked fine (on newer kernel, one has to change socket->mac to socket->mac_header) and I got the modules compiled. But when I tried to insert the modules into kernel space, modprobe tells me the newly built kernel modules have 'Invalid Format' and cannot be used.
This is rather interesting. After much research, the problem was found to be a mismatch of running kernel config and the config file found as /usr/src/linux/.config. It appears the 2.6 kernel has a tightened requirement of how a kernel module must be built to be used with a live running kernel.
Two things I learned helped me to diagnose the problem:
1. 2.6 kernel allows a copy of running kernel config accessible as /proc/config.gz. This is now a kernel configuration option. Make sure you turn it on if you build 2.6 kernel from source, this can be a life/time-saver.
2. modinfo. Running this command on a kernel module file shows detailed information of the kernel module, in particular the versionmagic string shows options used to build the kernel module. The options in this magic string must match between this module and running kernel for the module to be useful. Mismatch here will produce the mysterious 'Invalid Format' error I initially stumbled upon.
With these knowledge, it's simple to fix the problem:
1. emerge the correct kernel source (yum, aptitude, smart, etc...on other distro)
2. cp /proc/config.gz to /usr/src/linux and decompress it; rename config to .config
3. in /usr/src/linux, make (don't have to be complete, make sure include/linux/version.h is produced)
4. re-configure/make linux-wlan-ng
5. make sure modinfo of newly built kernel module agree with existing modules of the live kernel
6. modprobe/modins prism2 module (should work perfectly now)
posted by Fei Liu | 8:37 PM
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