Modprobed-db is a useful utility for users wishing to build a minimal
kernel via a make localmodconfig. In a nutshell, this make target
creates a config based on the current config and a list of modules
you define (modprobed-db keeps for you). It then disables any module
option that is not needed thus not building hundreds/potentially
thousands of extraneous modules. This results in a system-specific,
streamlined kernel package and footprint as well as reduced compilation
times.
Modprobed-db simply logs every module ever probed on the target system
to a text-based database which can be read directly by "make
localmodconfig" as described above.
To automatically run modprobed-db every hour add the following to your
user's crontab (run "crontab -e"):
0 */1 * * * /usr/bin/modprobed-db store &> /dev/null