backporting drivers

Gh0str1d3r · Guru Joined: 27 May 2008 Posts: 411

Hi,

since kernel > 2.6.31 do not work with my intel graphic card (freezes), I would like to backport the drivers for my soundcard and webcam from the 2.6.33 kernel to my 2.6.31 kernel, since there are no appropriate drivers in the 2.6.31 kernel. Now my question is, if this is possible (with resonable efford), and if yes, how?

BradN · Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 7:10 pm Post subject:

I think the first step is to copy the source files for those drivers back into the older tree, then find the file that adds them to the configuration menu and make the appropriate changes there.

The real problem is when you try and compile these things. If structures or interfaces in the kernel have changed between those versions, it can be a real mess without being familiar with the inner workings of the kernel. Essentially you would have to change the newer drivers to use the older interfaces going from the examples of all the other drivers of the same type that were modified for the later kernel.

It's not particularly fun (I tried backporting newer wireless code to run on the Wii and it failed miserably).