possibly stupid question about module loading process

[battra]

What determines which modules get loaded at boot?

My /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.4 file is completely empty (using 2.4.x kernel). But, when I do an lsmod, I get the following:

[thecrazyperson_ws]

I see that you have discovered the joys of Gentoo's initrd process. It likes to load a bunch of modules. A LOT of those modules that you may not explicitly load or wish to load are listed as dependencies in the modules that you do want, or are autodetected by either the initrd or hotplug. That's why most *nix systems run "depmod -a" before doing any module autoloading.

An example using the output of your lsmod command:

Module "gameport" is being loaded by module "snd-es1968" because snd-es1968 requests that gameport be loaded so you can have use of the gameport on your card.

Ok, that may not be a good example, but i believe it gets the point spoken. However, I recognize ieee1394, input, uhci, and usbcore as being detected in the initrd, so that's where they come from, and most of the other unrecognized ones are being done by hotplug.

EDIT: Oh ya, about the title... there is no such thing as a stupid question on here. There's always somebody out there who doesn't know how to do something, although to somebody who's used linux for a while that same thing might take them all of 5 seconds. I've asked a couple of really stupid questions myself, and most people on here are extremely helpful in answering questions. I myself didn't think your question was stupid because I was wondering the exact same thing about a month ago
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Bevelle: Dual Athlon MP 2000+, 1.25G ram, 120G HD, Gentoo 2005.1-r1, Kernel 2.6.15-gentoo-r5

Gagazet: Pentium 2-266, 288M ram, 240G HD, currently installing gentoo

Besaid: p-150, 80M ram, win2k pro

[battra]

Excellent explanation. Much appreciated...thanks a lot.