Am 03.10.2015 um 23:57 schrieb Ned Slider <ned at unixmail.co.uk>: > > On 03/10/15 13:19, Peter wrote: >> Is it beyond reason to request certain older drivers be enabled in the >> i686 kernel for CentOS 7 to help support the older hardware that you >> might find in 32 bit machines? I have an old gateway laptop that I'm >> trying it out on and it needs the b43 driver enabled. >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> >> Peter > > The main issue here is one of security. > > There is no responsibility on Red Hat to maintain drivers disabled in > the RHEL7 kernel, so if CentOS enables drivers for a 32-bit kernel build > that are disabled by default in the RHEL kernel, then CentOS would need > to take responsibility/ownership for maintaining those drivers within > the CentOS kernel, backporting security fixes as necessary. > > That is a very different proposition than just rebuilding upstream > sources, requiring a very different skill set and resources. a candidate for a centosplus kernel, where such modification (enabling modules) were done. Implies a disclaimer; "not for production ..." > Further, down the line you will most likely find that the driver won't > compile when enabled. For example, the wireless stack has been updated > in the RHEL7.2beta kernel from kernel-4.1-rc6, yet the b43 driver in the > kernel source will still be from the original 3.10.0 branch. It's > unlikely to compile and will probably need backporting from 4.1. > > Your best bet is probably to backport the driver yourself and build it > out of tree - a lot simpler than building a whole kernel just for one > driver. good point. -- LF