How to check a driver version in linux kernel update

Question

How I can find an information about the driver version in linux kernel update for NIC:

Current:

# uname -r
2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64

-

# ethtool -i eth0
driver: e1000e
version: 1.9.5-k
firmware-version: 2.1-2
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0

Available kernel update:

# yum check-update kernel
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, refresh-packagekit, security
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.for.me.uk
 * epel: mirrors.coreix.net
 * extras: centos.mirroring.pulsant.co.uk
 * updates: mirror.for.me.uk

kernel.x86_64                                                               2.6.32-279.19.1.el6

How to determine what is the actual version of this driver - is there any other command for this purpose?

# rpm -q --changelog kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.32-279.19.1.el6 | egrep -i 'e1000' | grep -i 'version'
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.4.4 (Andy Gospodarek) [730607]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.3.16-k (Andy Gospodarek) [694223 698291]
- [netdrv] e1000e: upstream to upstream version 1.2.20 (Andy Gospodarek) [636325]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update driver version number (Andy Gospodarek) [582803]
- [netdrv] e1000: update DRV_VERSION to match upstream (Dean Nelson) [737719]
- [netdrv] e1000: remove not used fw_version from .get_drvinfo (Dean Nelson) [737719]
- [netdrv] e1000e: increase version number (Dean Nelson) [737713]
- [netdrv] e1000e: cleanup strlcpy conversion of .get_drvinfo routines (Dean Nelson) [737713]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.4.4 (Andy Gospodarek) [730607]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.3.16-k (Andy Gospodarek) [694223 698291]
- [netdrv] e1000e: upstream to upstream version 1.2.20 (Andy Gospodarek) [636325]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update driver version number (Andy Gospodarek) [582803]
- [netdrv] e1000: update DRV_VERSION to match upstream (Dean Nelson) [737719]
- [netdrv] e1000: remove not used fw_version from .get_drvinfo (Dean Nelson) [737719]
- [netdrv] e1000e: increase version number (Dean Nelson) [737713]
- [netdrv] e1000e: cleanup strlcpy conversion of .get_drvinfo routines (Dean Nelson) [737713]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.4.4 (Andy Gospodarek) [730607]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update to upstream version 1.3.16-k (Andy Gospodarek) [694223 698291]
- [netdrv] e1000e: upstream to upstream version 1.2.20 (Andy Gospodarek) [636325]
- [netdrv] e1000e: update driver version number (Andy Gospodarek) [582803]

Solution

/sbin/modinfo e1000e

This will show you the version of the kernel module in your current kernel module.

Alternatively you can use the -k option to select a specific kernel version:

/sbin/modinfo -k 2.6.32-220.4.1.el6.x86_64

You can also specify the filename of a kernel module rather than the name:

modinfo /lib/modules/2.6.32-220.4.1.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000e.ko

Comments

[timmanna]

I think this also applies only to the installed kernels but I would like to check this before I will proceed with update. It's actually doesn't work for me (# modinfo -k 2.6.32-279.2.1.el6.x86_64)