Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sat, 8 Jan 2000 17:46:32 +0100 | From | almesber@lrc ... | Subject | Re: [Semi-OT] hot-swapping kernels |
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fdavis112@juno.com wrote: > Wouldn't in be nice to have a system that once a kernel is built, > implement the new kernel without a software or hardware reboot?
Yes, it would be very nice. I plan to work on such a mechanism later this year (unless somebody else is faster :).
What I basically want to do is to use a Linux kernel as the second-stage boot loader. This (supposedly stable) kernel can then load the "real" kernel (and possibly initrd) from wherever they may be hiding (e.g. RAID, tftp through an IPsec tunnel, you name it). Then it passes any useful information it may have gathered to far (e.g. data from the real-mode BIOS, SCSI bus scan results, etc.) to the new kernel and boots it.
It could also be of some limited use for accelerating kernel development. Of course, if you crash the system, it will be as dead as it is now.
> And, if there were any run-time problems with the new kernel, > the system would revert back to the previously runnable kernel.
This would be a lot more difficult. What you can do today, with LILO, is to specify a fallback image. Then add a watchdog device, and if your new kernel gets in trouble, the watchdog resets the system, and you boot the fallback kernel.
- Werner
-- _________________________________________________________________________ / Werner Almesberger, ICA, EPFL, CH werner.almesberger@ica.epfl.ch / /_IN_N_032__Tel_+41_21_693_6621__Fax_+41_21_693_6610_____________________/
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