The base kernel is always unpacked into real contiguous memory by its setup routines thus, the base kernel code is never fragmented. One minor criticism of preferring a modular kernel over a static kernel is the so-called fragmentation penalty. Much of that functionality would reside in memory without being used, wasting memory, and would require that users rebuild and reboot the base kernel every time they require new functionality. Without loadable kernel modules, an operating system would have to include all possible anticipated functionality compiled directly into the base kernel. They are also known as kernel loadable modules (or KLM), and simply as kernel modules ( KMOD). Most current Unix-like systems and Microsoft Windows support loadable kernel modules under different names, such as kernel loadable module ( kld) in FreeBSD, kernel extension ( kext) in macOS (although support for third-party modules is being dropped ), kernel extension module in AIX, dynamically loadable kernel module in HP-UX, kernel-mode driver in Windows NT and downloadable kernel module ( DKM) in VxWorks. ![]() When the functionality provided by an LKM is no longer required, it can be unloaded in order to free memory and other resources. LKMs are typically used to add support for new hardware (as device drivers) and/or filesystems, or for adding system calls. In computing, a loadable kernel module ( LKM) is an object file that contains code to extend the running kernel, or so-called base kernel, of an operating system. ![]() Dynamically loadable module that extends a running operating system kernel
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