No Device Node and .ko files for xf86-video-ati

[Michel Dänzer]

On 18.06.2015 00:12, Chen, Simon wrote:
> 
> I am trying to integrate the xf86-video-ati 7.4.0 for an external AMD
> Radeon E8860 onto an embedded system. I have enabled the kernel
> configuration flag for ATI Radeon, and I have installed the
> xf86-video-ati successfully without any dependency errors. However, the
> embedded OS does not seem to use the graphics card upon start time. In
> the Xorg.0.log file that I’ve attached, the OS was able to load out a
> .so for the driver. However, it later complains about a missing
> dev/dri/card0 device node. After doing some research into how this
> device node gets made, it seems udev or atleast some kind of init-script
> is responsible for executing a modprobe in the Linux filesystem to
> search for driver .ko files. It extracts a device ID from this driver
> .ko and tries to match it with the device ID’s from the external
> hardware detected on the board. So far it seems the OS is capable of
> detecting the graphics card, and this is evident when I do “$ lspci –k.”
> After matching the device IDs, a device node is supposed to be created
> and associated with the driver and hardware. The OS however is missing
> the appropriate .ko’s and the MODALIAS device ID.
> 
>  
> 
> My question is...is this process executed anywhere in the xf86-video-ati
> installation package? I’ve read that drivers can be implemented either
> as a kernel built-in or as kernel modules. In the case with the
> xf86-video-ati driver however, I am a bit confused as to which category
> it falls under. The necessity for a device node and a .ko file seems to
> presume that the xf86-video-ati is supposed to be modularized, and yet
> the installation package has no script that sets these up.

The xf86-video-ati radeon driver is a userspace driver for Xorg. It
depends on the kernel radeon driver (and the corresponding
/dev/dri/card* device node) having been set up correctly.

Please provide the output of dmesg.


-- 
Earthling Michel Dänzer               |               http://www.amd.com
Libre software enthusiast             |             Mesa and X developer