kexec-reboot

Easily choose a kernel to kexec

Overview

Kexec lets you boot your Linux kernel into another kernel without going through the hardware reset and reinitialization performed by your system BIOS or firmware. Since this process can take several minutes, being able to skip it reduces your downtime.

The problem with kexec is it's an entirely manual process, requiring you to copy and paste the right kernel, initrd and command line arguments, and hope you got everything right.

kexec-reboot aims to automate staging a kernel for kexec, so that you can reboot more quickly and accurately.

Prerequisites

kexec-reboot requires the following packages to be installed:

• kexec-tools 2.0.0 or higher, for /sbin/kexec
• ruby 1.8.7 or higher

In addition, the system must use grub to boot, as kexec-reboot reads the grub configuration to determine what kernels are available. Both grub 1 and 2 are supported, as well as BIOS and UEFI boot.

Usage

kexec-reboot accepts the following command line arguments:

• -i, --interactive

  Choose the kernel to stage from a list

• -l, --latest

  Stage the latest kernel

• -r, --reboot

  Reboot immediately after staging the kernel

• -v, --[no-]verbose

  Extra verbosity.

After running kexec-reboot, simply reboot your system normally.

Examples

• kexec-reboot -l -r

  Stage the latest kernel for kexec and reboot immediately.

• kexec-reboot -i

  Show a list of available kernels and select one interactively.