7.2 Packaging Device Drivers for Linux Systems

Find a Linux workstation that has the same kernel version as the source machine. Source machine itself is one of the best choices. On the Linux workstation, create a directory for your device driver files. All the drivers in the directory must be for the same kernel and architecture.

Download the boot image and mount it.

For example, assuming that the ISO has been copied under the /root directory, issue these commands:

# mkdir /mnt/ps
# mount -o loop /root/bootofx.x2p.sles11sp4.iso /mnt/ps 

From the /tools subdirectory of the mounted ISO image, copy the packageModules.tar.gz archive into a another working directory and extract it.

For example, with the .gz file is inside your current working directory, issue this command:

tar -xvzf packageModules.tar.gz

Enter the working directory and execute the following command:

./PackageModules.sh –d <path_to_driver_dir> -o <package name>

Replace <path_to_driver_dir> with the actual path to the directory where you saved you driver files, and <package name> with the actual package name, using the following format:

Drivername-driverversion-dist-kernelversion-arch .pkg

For example, bnx2x-1.48.107-RHEL4-2.6.9-11.EL-i686.pkg