From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 25 Jun 2001 05:06:38 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 25 Jun 2001 05:06:28 -0400 Received: from hermine.idb.hist.no ([158.38.50.15]:55313 "HELO hermine.idb.hist.no") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id ; Mon, 25 Jun 2001 05:06:18 -0400 Message-ID: <3B36FE99.1B8AE381@idb.hist.no> Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 11:04:25 +0200 From: Helge Hafting X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.6-pre5 i686) X-Accept-Language: no, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: John Nilsson , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Some experience of linux on a Laptop In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org John Nilsson wrote: [everything else answered by others] > 8: A way to change kernel without rebooting. I have no diskdrive or cddrive > in my laptop so I often do drastic things when I install a new distribution. Well, don't do drastic things then, if that cause problems! My machines have both diskette and cdrom - but I _don't_ use them when changing kernels. Why should you? Here is a procedure for painless kernel change. It includes a reboot but that is not a problem: 1. Get the new kernel, i.e. compile it. 2. cp the bzImage to /boot (or wherever you want it.) DON'T overwrite the previous kernel image, you will want to keep it around. 3. If using lilo, modify /etc/lilo.conf to load the new kernel. Do this by _adding_ image=/boot/new_kernel_bzimage, not by changing existing lines. This keeps the old kernel around in case the new one have trouble. 4. run lilo 5. reboot. The new kernel should come up. (If the old comes up you either forgot (4), or you have the lilo.conf entries in a wrong order. Int the latter case press shift furing boot and select the correct kernel manually. You may correct lilo.conf later. If the new kernel loads but crash, do reboot and use the above mentioned shift-trick to select the old kernel. Then remove the broken kernel from lilo.conf and re-run lilo. As you see, no need for CD's or floppies when changing kernels, even if the new kernel fails somehow. Helge Hafting