Kernel Modules Versus Applications

While most small and medium-sized applications perform a single task from beginning to end, every kernel module just registers itself in order to serve future requests, and its initialization function terminates immediately. In other words, the task of the module's initialization function is to prepare for later invocation of the module's functions; it's as though the module were saying, "Here I am, and this is what I can do." The module's exit function (hello_exit in the example) gets invoked just before the module is unloaded. It should tell the kernel, "I'm not there anymore; don't ask me to do anything else." This kind of approach to programming is similar to event-driven programming, but while not all applications are event-driven, each and every kernel module is. Another major difference between event-driven applications and kernel code is in the exit function: whereas an application that terminates can be lazy in releasing resources or avoids clean up altogether, the exit function of a module must carefully undo everything the init function built up, or the pieces remain around until the system is rebooted.