There might be reasons, you’d wish you could make the kernel module package do other things. Two already pop into my head: 1) The mpp-Image upgrades for the ibm-rdac kernel module packages and 2) the " adjustments" which need to be done post install for the VMware kernel module package in /etc/vmware-tools/locations.

What you basically do is this:

  1. Add the new subpkg template to your sources list
  2. Call the %suse_kernel_module_package macro with the option -s and then add your source number

For me this looks like this:

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...
Source4:          vmxnet.tar
Source5:          preamble
Source6:          subpkg
...
%suse_kernel_module_package -p %{S:5} -s %{S:6} um

After that, you just need to copy over /usr/lib/rpm/rpm-suse-kernel-module-subpackage to /usr/src/packages/SOURCES/subpkg and make your adjustments to that copy.

For example the diff between those two could look like this:

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--- /usr/lib/rpm/rpm-suse-kernel-module-subpackage
+++ /usr/src/packages/SOURCES/subpkg
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 ' $spec
 )
 Provides: %{-n*} = %(echo %{-v*}-%3 | tr - _)
-Requires: kernel-%1
-AutoReqProv: on
+Requires: kernel-%1 = %( echo %2 | sed "s,-%1,," )
+AutoReqProv: off
 %{-p:%{expand:%(cd %_sourcedir; cat %{-p*})}}
 %description -n %{-n*}-%1
 %(
@@ -77,6 +77,21 @@
        done
     fi
 fi
+if [ -f /etc/vmware-tools/locations ] ; then
+  for kmodule in ${modules[@]}; do
+    echo "file $kmodule $( stat -c %Y $kmodule )"
+      >> /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+    echo "file $( echo $kmodule |
+      sed -e "s,.ko,.o," -e "s,updates,misc," )"
+      >> /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+    echo "answer $( echo ${kmodule##*/} | sed -e "s,.ko,," |
+      tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' )_CONFED yes"
+      >> /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+  done
+
+  [ -f /etc/vmware-tools/not_configured ] &&
+    rm -f /etc/vmware-tools/not_configured
+fi
 %{-i:%{expand:%(cd %_sourcedir; cat %{-i*})}}
 %preun -n %{-n*}-%1
 version=%(echo %{-v*}-%3 | tr - _)
@@ -116,8 +131,29 @@
        done
     fi
 fi
+if [ -f /etc/vmware-tools/locations ] ; then
+  for kmodule in ${modules[@]}; do
+    MOD="$( echo ${kmodule##*/} | sed -e "s,.ko,," |
+      tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' )_CONFED yes"
+    [ -n "$( grep "$MOD" /etc/vmware-tools/locations )" ] &&
+      sed -i "/$MOD/d" /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+
+    [ -n "$( grep "file $kmodule" /etc/vmware-tools/locations )" ] &&
+      sed -i "/file ${kmodule////\/}.*/d"  /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+
+    MOD="$( echo $kmodule | sed -e "s,.ko,.o," -e "s,updates,misc," )"
+    [ -n "$( grep "file $MOD" /etc/vmware-tools/locations )" ] &&
+      sed -i "/file $( echo $MOD | sed -e "s,/,\/,g" )/d"
+        /etc/vmware-tools/locations
+  done
+
+  [ ! -f /etc/vmware-tools/not_configured ] &&
+    touch /etc/vmware-tools/not_configured
+fi
 %{-u:%{expand:%(cd %_sourcedir; cat %{-u*})}}
 %files -n %{-n*}-%1
 %{-f:%{expand:%(cd %_sourcedir; cat %{-f*})}}
 %{!-f:%defattr (-,root,root)}
 %{!-f:/lib/modules/%2}
+
+# vim: set syntax=on ft=sh :

This is my final version of the subpkg template and I hopefully demonstrated how powerful a customized subpkg template can be!