Re: Switching Kernels without Rebooting?

["H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>]

Followup to:  <JKEGJJAJPOLNIFPAEDHLGEEFDFAA.laramie.leavitt@btinternet.com>
By author:    "Laramie Leavitt" <laramie.leavitt@btinternet.com>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> 
> So if the Two Kernel Monte patch was combined with the
> system suspend/resume in swap patch then you add some
> transitions so that the code path does this:
> 
> 1-  Suspend->Monte
> 2-  Monte->Load new Kernel
> 3-  Load->Resume.
> 
> If it was just for very similar kernels, i.e. most
> -pre and -ac kernels it would probably work fine.
> If not, then you could just do the Monte route.
> 

The problem is that "freezing" the kernel state and then
reconstructing it into a form USABLE BY ANOTHER KERNEL (not even
necessarily another kernel version) is unbelievably hard; furthermore,
it imposes a severe constrains about the kind of changes you're
allowed to make during your kernel development.

It's a bad idea, folks. Give it up.

     -hpa

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