driverprovider
Driverprovider is a software component or service that supplies and manages device drivers for a computing platform. It functions as a catalog and loader for driver modules, enabling the system to locate, validate, and instantiate appropriate drivers for hardware or virtual devices. By centralizing interpretation of driver metadata, versioning, and compatibility, a driverprovider helps ensure the correct driver is used for a given device.
In practice, a driverprovider maintains a registry of available drivers, including metadata such as version, vendor,
Architecturally, a typical driverprovider comprises a driver catalog, a loader or plugin host, a policy or governance
Applications of driverproviders span operating systems, embedded platforms, cloud and virtualization environments, and hardware management frameworks.
See also: driver manager, plugin architecture, hardware abstraction layer.