3.11. Compiling custom kernel modules

Procedure

1. Create the /root/testmodule/test.c file with the following content.

   #include <linux/module.h>
   #include <linux/kernel.h>
   
   int init_module(void)
       { printk("Hello World\n This is a test\n"); return 0; }
   
   void cleanup_module(void)
       { printk("Good Bye World"); }
   
   MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");

   The test.c file is a source file that provides the main functionality to the kernel module. The file has been created in a dedicated /root/testmodule/ directory for organizational purposes. After the module compilation, the /root/testmodule/ directory will contain multiple files.

   The test.c file includes from the system libraries:

   • The linux/kernel.h header file is necessary for the printk() function in the example code.
   • The linux/module.h file contains function declarations and macro definitions that are shared across several source files written in C programming language.
2. Follow the init_module() and cleanup_module() functions to start and end the kernel logging function printk(), which prints text.

3. Create the /root/testmodule/Makefile file with the following content.

   obj-m := test.o

   The Makefile contains instructions for the compiler to produce an object file named test.o. The obj-m directive specifies that the resulting test.ko file is going to be compiled as a loadable kernel module. Alternatively, the obj-y directive can instruct to build test.ko as a built-in kernel module.

4. Compile the kernel module:

   # make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build M=/root/testmodule modules
   make: Entering directory '/usr/src/kernels/6.12.0-55.9.1.el10_0.x86_64'
     CC [M]  /root/testmodule/test.o
     MODPOST /root/testmodule/Module.symvers
     CC [M]  /root/testmodule/test.mod.o
     LD [M]  /root/testmodule/test.ko
     BTF [M] /root/testmodule/test.ko
   Skipping BTF generation for /root/testmodule/test.ko due to unavailability of vmlinux
   make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/kernels/6.12.0-55.9.1.el10_0.x86_64'

   The compiler creates an object file (test.o) for each source file (test.c) as an intermediate step before linking them together into the final kernel module (test.ko).

   After a successful compilation, /root/testmodule/ contains additional files that relate to the compiled custom kernel module. The compiled module itself is represented by the test.ko file.

Verification

1. Optional: check the contents of the /root/testmodule/ directory:

   # ls -l /root/testmodule/
   total 152
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root    16 Jul 26 08:19 Makefile
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root    25 Jul 26 08:20 modules.order
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root     0 Jul 26 08:20 Module.symvers
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root   224 Jul 26 08:18 test.c
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root 62176 Jul 26 08:20 test.ko
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root    25 Jul 26 08:20 test.mod
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root   849 Jul 26 08:20 test.mod.c
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root 50936 Jul 26 08:20 test.mod.o
   -rw-r—​r--. 1 root root 12912 Jul 26 08:20 test.o

2. Copy the kernel module to the /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ directory:

   # cp /root/testmodule/test.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/

3. Update the modular dependency list:

   # depmod -a

4. Load the kernel module:

   # modprobe -v test
   insmod /lib/modules/6.12.0-55.9.1.el10_0.x86_64/test.ko

5. Verify that the kernel module was successfully loaded:

   # lsmod | grep test
   test                   16384  0

6. Read the latest messages from the kernel ring buffer:

   # dmesg
   [74422.545004] Hello World
                   This is a test