Linux kernel modules.builtin in build directory does not match kernel

Question

I am building a linux kernel in a standard way:

make mrproper
make defconfig
make

At the end of the build, there is a file modules.builtin in the top build directory.

When I boot to the kernel on my board, and inspect /lib/modules//modules.builtin, the modules do not match with the modules.builtin file in my build directory.

Is this expected? Do I need to do

make modules

to get the two modules.builtin files to match?

Answer 1

You miss installation step after the build:

make modules_install # Copy modules into their final location, call 'depmod'
make install # Install kernel core