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Lightning Talk Intermediate First Talk

kexec: When Linux Becomes the Bootloader

Proposal status is Rejected
Session Description

We normally think of boot as firmware handing over to a bootloader, and the bootloader handing over to the Linux kernel.

kexec lets a running Linux kernel directly boot into another Linux kernel. In this talk, we’ll use it to understand how Linux can act like a bootloader, why this is useful for fast reboots and crash recovery, and how the same idea connects to systems like LinuxBoot.

Key Takeaways

  • How Linux normally boots, and what changes with kexec.

  • How a running kernel can hand control to another kernel.

  • How this idea connects to LinuxBoot style systems.

References

https://aryanarora.de/posts/kexec-eh/
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/kexec.8.html

Session Categories

Technology architecture

Which track are you applying for?

Compilers, Programming Languages and Systems

Speakers

Aryan Arora
Aryan Arora Software Engineer | VisCommerce

I’m a software engineer and open-source contributor with an interest in systems programming, bootloaders, and low-level infrastructure. I’m currently a Google Summer of Code mentee with the FreeBSD Project.

https://github.com/aryanA101a