The sweet taste of success !!

Today's lesson : Wine is not the only thing that tastes sweeter with time ... so does success !!
I also realised why people get so intimidated even at the thought of hacking with the linux kernel.

5 days ago..........
Me : Hey, lets do that kernel module thing... its gonna be whacky !!
He : yeah man, lets do it...


So, we installed Suse linux 9.3 (and while trying to recompile the kernel.. totally screwed up 2 laptops... one of which refused to detect any active partition and the other simply gave up!!.. but thats another story which is definitely not gonna appear on this blog !!).
and tried the "Hello, World" kernel module... to be frank.. "hello, world" programs have never excited me .... one of the reasons being their over-exposure (C, C++, Java, VC++, VB, SQL, LISP, etc etc) ...

but.. this one was just kickass !!
so.. we wrote out first hello, world kernel module. It took hardly 3 min... but what followed was hell !!...
Linux just refused to compile the code saying that some "CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT" wasn't defined... that we managed to circumvent... but the next error was a bouncer

#error processor family not defined

what crap??... Linux just refused to acknowledge the processor that ran it!! .. that is kalyug !:P
newayz... so started our brainstorming sessions... we googled everything... read forums... pestered our proj guide to bail us out (till the point where he must have thought.. why on earth did i choose these dumbasses?)... studied the linux code header files... and every damn thing that cld be done .. was tried !!.. recompiling the kernel.. trying the 100s of commands suggested on various forums... other linux versions... and what not !
but...alas! 5 days... all wasted!! ... each one of us put atleast 4-5 hrs a day just beseeching Linux to ack the presence of its GodFather, the processor.....

and comes today. What a way to solve the problem !!
well ... while i was driving to chill's place (thinking about Emma Watson ofcourse ;) )... and bang! ... the lightning had struck! ... so.. cancelled all the plans... told Emma to wait while I do some imp work... went back to my place.. booted Suse... and husssh.. the DAMN thing worked !!
IT WORKED !!
I cld see my "hello, world" module proudly sitting 3rd in the lsmod listing !! ... that was it !... the exhilaration was numbing... I wanted to dance.. shout... sing... kiss Emma ;) .. all at the same time !! ... that was it...

and suddenly i realised, its just a "hello, world" program .. and thats the best hello, world program we wrote!!....