One shouldn't need to modify /etc/cpuspeed.conf to change the driver to be able to use the cpuspeed daemon. It should be possible to detect automatically which driver should be used. For example, kudzu would detect the CPU in the machine, and write out the correct alias to /etc/modprobe.conf: alias cpufreq-driver acpi The cpuspeed init script would then try to load that driver before running. (This is an RFE slightly larger than just this module, but upstream doesn't seem to have a mailing-list or a forum to discuss this problem)
Also, we appear to have some modules built in, and some modules built as modules. :/
the modular/non-modular thing is intentional. Building them all in solves the problem of figuring out which module to load from userspace. Basically, by the time we get to userspace, we should have a valid driver setup, and if we haven't then the cpuspeed init script will load acpi-cpufreq as a fallback. The other drivers that /are/ modular are done so because probing for them is unsafe and has been known to cause problems on some boxes. in the majority of cases, you should never have to set the DRIVER line in the cpuspeed config.