Description of problem: Everyone knows that the kernel binary compat is a big deal in the RHEL family. (Well, especially for x86.) In RHEL2.1 there was a change in modutils to allow partner supplied kernel modules to load without requiring the -f option. That was done because the partners complained that it would introduce too much support load if usage of -f was required. The behavior in RHEL 3 as it stands now should be modified to be functionally comparable to RHEL2.1. For example, to compare the major version only, not the EXTRAVERSION if crcs are present.
Note that there was no change to allow this to work in RHEL2.1; it just happened to work because of an upstream bug.
modutils-2.4.25-11.EL will load the modules and print the following: Warning: kernel-module version mismatch loop.o was compiled for kernel version 2.4.21-4.EL while this kernel is version 2.4.21-4.17.EL Warning: loading loop.o will taint the kernel: forced load See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modules
An errata has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on the solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2003-327.html