[2008.X] Flashing the kernel live

[Richard V]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 11:43 AM, Kelvie Wong <kelvie at ieee.org> wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 24, 2008 18:38:25 Sarton O'Brien wrote:
>
>> I read somewhere that there should be the ability in linux down the track
>
>> to actually do a 'live update' without a reboot. That'd be interesting and
>
>> useful on a slow booting device :)
>
> I believe what you are referring to is kexec -- it is still experimental,
> but included in most recent kernels.
>

kexec only removes the need for up to were the bootloader executes the
kernel. You still need to shutdown up to the reboot point and then
execute the kernel and go throught the linux boot process.

The point to were the neo bootloader executes the kernel is already
pretty quick it is the rest of the linux boot that takes the time.

I can't quite imagine how to 'live update' the kernel in any other way
but maybe a device like this will be some incentive for someone.

Richard.