RHBA-2009:1362 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated module-init-tools packages that address several bugs are now available.

Description

module-init-tools is a kernel-related package that provides utilities for
automatically loading and unloading drivers, as well as finding out about
drivers that are installed on a given Red Hat Enterprise Linux system.

These updated packages fix the following issues:

• this updated module-init-tools package provides an enhancement that

enables module parameters to be read automatically from the kernel command
line in the same fashion that built-in kernel modules are
handled.(BZ#487395)

• previously, in some cases, a kernel module package may have installed an

older version of an already-installed kernel module. When this occurred,
the manner in which the kernel modules were sorted may have resulted in an
older version of the module being enabled by default. While the
installation of multiple versions of the same kernel module on a system is
unsupported, this update provides provides improvements to the sorting of
kernel modules so that the highest version is used, which resolves this
issue. (BZ#404311)

• previously, the "weak-modules --add-modules" command created a redundant

directory structure in the "weak-updates/" directory. With this update, the
"--add-modules" option now creates the same structure as the "weak-modules

• -add-kernels" command. (BZ#484762)
• previously, the "modprobe --show-depends" command returned "install"

command directives, causing issues with some kernel modules. With this
update, the "--show-depends" correctly outputs the "insmod" records, which
resolves this issue. (BZ#497923)

• previously, the man page for depmod (a tool used to generate a list of

kernel module dependencies) was missing documentation for the "-a" option.
In this updated package, the depmod man page has been amended with the
following description of the "-a" option:

• a --all

Probe all modules. This option is enabled by default if no file names
are given in the command-line.

(BZ#475549)

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated module-init-tools packages,
which resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 463777 - /sbin/weak-updates error: nm: 'a.out': No such file
• BZ - 487395 - enable runtime scanning of boot args during a module load

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)