Third party kernel modules are loaded from the weak-updates directory and not from the extra directory

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Third party kernel modules installed

Issue

  • Kernel modules in the weak-updates directory loaded rather than modules in extra directory.
  • Third party kernel modules are loaded from the wrong location.
  • Third party kernel modules are loaded from the weak-updates directory and not from the extra directory.

Resolution

  • Please run depmod -a and reboot the system to solve this issue.

Root Cause

  • After updating the kernel package, the third party modules package has also been updated.
  • This package does not execute depmod -a.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Before updating the kernel, check where third party modules are installed:

    # ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.32-696*/{extra,weak-updates}/
/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra:
total 3460
-r-x------ 1 root root 2930329 Oct  5  2017 module1.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root  534596 Oct  5  2017 module2.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root   69727 Oct  5  2017 module3.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/weak-updates:
total 0

  • Update the kernel and check both locations for modules:

    # ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.32-696*/{extra,weak-updates}/
/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra:
total 3460
-r-x------ 1 root root 2930329 Oct  5  2017 module1.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root  534596 Oct  5  2017 module2.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root   69727 Oct  5  2017 module3.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/weak-updates:
total 0

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra:
total 0

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.16.1.el6.x86_64/weak-updates:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 55 Jul 12 11:15 module1.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module1.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 58 Jul 12 11:15 module2.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module2.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 57 Jul 12 11:15 module3.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module3.ko

  • Notice that the new kernel has only links for the third party modules which point to the extra directory at the old kernel directory.

  • Update the third party modules package

  • Check again where modules reside:

    # ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.32-696*/{extra,weak-updates}/
/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra:
total 3460
-r-x------ 1 root root 2930329 Oct  5  2017 module1.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root  534596 Oct  5  2017 module2.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root   69727 Oct  5  2017 module3.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/weak-updates:
total 0

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.16.1.el6.x86_64/extra:
total 3460
-r-x------ 1 root root 2930329 Dec 12  2017 module1.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root  534596 Dec 12  2017 module2.ko
-r-x------ 1 root root   69727 Dec 12  2017 module3.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.32-696.16.1.el6.x86_64/weak-updates:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 55 Jul 12 11:15 module1.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module1.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 58 Jul 12 11:15 module2.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module2.ko
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 57 Jul 12 11:15 module3.ko -> /lib/modules/2.6.32-696.10.2.el6.x86_64/extra/module3.ko

  • Notice that now there are “old” and “new” modules installed.

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