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I never bothered signing kernel modules, so I can't say anything about that part except that I never had problems with unsigned modules. TBH the thought to do so never even occurred to me.

But yes, you will need to recompile the module every time a new kernel module is installed, which is quite often, since this also includes updates of the kernel package by the distribution maintainer. DKMS (_Dynamic Kernel Module Support_) is the way to go here, since it will do that automatically whenever the kernel is updated.

To do so you will need to create a file called `dkms.conf` inside the directory you extracted from the module source code tarball:

```bash
cd awesome-20091211-v1.1/
texteditorofyourchoice dkms.conf
```

The config file should look something like this:

```conf
MAKE="make -C src/ KERNELDIR=/lib/modules/${kernelver}/build"
CLEAN="make -C src/ clean"
BUILT_MODULE_NAME=awesome
BUILT_MODULE_LOCATION=src/
PACKAGE_NAME=awesome
PACKAGE_VERSION=1.1
REMAKE_INITRD=yes
```

You will need to check the README file of the module for the correct commands to build the module and replace `awesome` with the module name, and of course set the proper version number.

Then you will need to copy into the kernel source tree at `/usr/src/<modulename>-<version>`. Again, replace the placeholders with the module name and the version number.

```
ls
    README dkms.conf lib src
sudo cp -R . /usr/src/awesome-1.1
sudo dkms add -m awesome -v 1.1
    dkms does its thing...
```

Now we can test if building the module works.

```
sudo dkms build -m awesome -v 1.1
    dkms does its thing.... watch for build errors... you may need to tweak dkms.conf
```

If everything works, install the module.

```
sudo dkms install -m awesome -v 1.1
    dkms does its thing.... module is copied into current kernel module tree
```

Instructions taken from: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DKMS