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Is it possible to add driver from 5.10 to a older kernel 5.4?

br flag

If I have a 5.4 kernel and its initrd, is it enough to copy the desired driver (.ko-file) from 5.10 initrd? If not, why?
Does the 5.10 kernel (vmlinuz) have built-in drivers in that does not exist in 5.4?

Please help me explain why or why not it is not possible to add newer drivers to old kernels and its initrd.

Thanks.

guiverc avatar
cn flag
The ABIs need to align perfectly or you'll get a kernel panic & the machine is dead; so no it's rarely possible. If you want to do it, you re-compile the kernel modules/objects for the different kernel (this isn't difficult where it's open-source code). Ubuntu doesn't use the 5.10 kernel except for OEM (which may **not** have all open-source code so that maybe more difficult - but you've provided no OS & release details)
user1098490 avatar
br flag
The 5.4 and 5.10 was just to illustrate an example. Do you have any resources for me to study, @guiverc ?
guiverc avatar
cn flag
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Dev/DKMSPackaging (but do note the limitations); https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/BuildYourOwnKernel https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/amd64/ch08s06.html & more (use a search engine with details related to your specific task)
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