Can Linux have "transfer data structures to new kernel" rebooting like Minix?

Posted by vitalmixofntrnt on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @11:11AM
from the self-post dept.

Or would that go against the monolithic kernel paradigm of the Linux kernel?

Edit: There's this flag in kexec: "--load-preserve-context Load the new kernel and preserve context of current kernel during kexec."

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Re:Can Linux have "transfer data structures to new kernel" r... by LinuxBender on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @08:36PM (#43627819)

You are describing Kernel Live Patching [1][2][3][4] most commonly used in VPS providers to minimize downtime but keep the fleet patched for security issues. There are some limitations listed in some of the documents below.

[1] - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_live_patching

[2] - https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/linux/what-is-linux-kernel-...

[3] - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/live-patching.ht...

[4] - https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Kernel_live_patching

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