Someone [not you?]  asked about long-term plans for LKM.

I sometimes think about replacing LKM altogether: doing away with the
userspace linker step, implmementing a minimal ELF linker/loader in
the kernel, and hooking in modules via linker-set support, rather than
the cumbersome ``module type'' described in lkm(4).

Getting rid of the userspace linker is a big, big plus for secure
systems (where you don't *want* an executable userspace linker, for
good and sufficient reasons).

Supporting boot-time load of kernel modules (a` la FreeBSD's .ko and
bootloader) is another plus. (Not, I admit, for people who configure
and build their own custom kernels; but for people who happily run
with a GENERIC kernel, but who'd like a smaller footprint.)

(And even a nominal wave in the direction of source-code compabibility
with FreeBSD-style kernel modules would be a plus, at least for me.)

Just thinking out load. Flames to /dev/null, constructive feedback welcome.