Unnecessary Kernel Extensions... ?

nfoav8or · #1 10-08-2008, 04:41 AM

I was recently looking through the system profiler and noticed on the left side under the Contents of Software, there is an Extensions section. When I cycled through the many kexts installed within the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder (and sometimes within other kexts themselves) found here, the load address of some is 0x0. I wanted to ask the general (and maybe stupid) question... do I need those? I mean, if they are unloaded are they used at all...? unless they are depended upon by some other file, should I be able to get rid of a kext displayed below if it has a load address of 0x0?

I am hoping to shed a little light on being able to get rid of unnecessary kernel extensions found in the Extensions folder so that a system isn't bottled up with finding an extension for a piece of hardware that doesn't exist in my system. I hope to be able to follow up with a little more in-depth look at what each kernel extension does for my system so I am not blinding deleting or adding new extensions.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

EDIT: I did finish looking through all of the extensions listed in the System Profiler and it seems as if maybe half of the kernel extensions placed inside of my /System/Library/Extensions/ folder (or within other kexts as I've stated above) are being utilized or recognized by the System Profiler.

I also noticed the load address of System.kext was 0x0 so I know my initial thought to deleting all of those with that address to now be false.

Comments and constructive criticism welcome.

MegaZJ · #2 10-08-2008, 02:21 PM

After reading the "What's your boot time?" thread I decided to delete some kexts myself to try and get somewhat closer to the claimed 15 sec boot. Out of fear I only deleted the obviously unnecessary (Intel, GeForce, PCCard) but everything else I left alone. It would be nice if the System Profiler or some other program gave some insight as to what the system was actually making use of.

Also doesn't the load address refer to where in RAM it is loaded? (As in 0x0 being the beginning)

LawlessPPC · #3 10-08-2008, 05:40 PM

i was under the impression that typing kextstat in terminal would tell you which kext where in use

nfoav8or · #4 10-08-2008, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegaZJ

Also doesn't the load address refer to where in RAM it is loaded? (As in 0x0 being the beginning)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lawless

i was under the impression that typing kextstat in terminal would tell you which kext where in use

first to MegaZJ - see the first attachment below. I obtained this from the Apple Dev Site and find LawlessPPC to be correct (as if I had a doubt) about kextstat. Both kextstat and the System Profiler give the address in kernel space where the extension has been loaded. As far as this being a physical address within the RAM I may lean in and agree (but that right now is only because of my relative inexperience to this topic).

next to LawlessPPC - Thanks for the insight to kextstat. I especially like where I can view how they are linked together to work. However, I've noticed

Is it possible to use this kind of data to get rid of unnecessary tasks in an automated manner?