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NAME

       kexec_load, kexec_file_load - load a new kernel for later execution

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <linux/kexec.h>      /* Definition of KEXEC_* constants */
       #include <sys/syscall.h>      /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>

       long syscall(SYS_kexec_load, unsigned long entry,
                    unsigned long nr_segments, struct kexec_segment *segments,
                    unsigned long flags);
       long syscall(SYS_kexec_file_load, int kernel_fd, int initrd_fd,
                    unsigned long cmdline_len, const char *cmdline,
                    unsigned long flags);

       Note:  glibc  provides  no  wrappers  for  these  system  calls,  necessitating the use of
       syscall(2).

DESCRIPTION

       The kexec_load() system call loads a new kernel that can be executed later by reboot(2).

       The flags argument is a bit mask that controls the operation of the call.   The  following
       values can be specified in flags:

       KEXEC_ON_CRASH (since Linux 2.6.13)
              Execute  the  new  kernel  automatically on a system crash.  This "crash kernel" is
              loaded into an area of reserved memory that is determined at boot  time  using  the
              crashkernel kernel command-line parameter.  The location of this reserved memory is
              exported to user space via  the  /proc/iomem  file,  in  an  entry  labeled  "Crash
              kernel".   A  user-space  application  can  parse  this  file and prepare a list of
              segments (see below) that specify this reserved memory  as  destination.   If  this
              flag is specified, the kernel checks that the target segments specified in segments
              fall within the reserved region.

       KEXEC_PRESERVE_CONTEXT (since Linux 2.6.27)
              Preserve the system hardware and software states before executing the  new  kernel.
              This  could  be used for system suspend.  This flag is available only if the kernel
              was configured with CONFIG_KEXEC_JUMP, and is  effective  only  if  nr_segments  is
              greater than 0.

       The  high-order  bits  (corresponding  to  the  mask  0xffff0000)  of  flags  contain  the
       architecture of the to-be-executed kernel.  Specify (OR) the  constant  KEXEC_ARCH_DEFAULT
       to  use  the  current  architecture,  or  one  of  the  following  architecture  constants
       KEXEC_ARCH_386,  KEXEC_ARCH_68K,  KEXEC_ARCH_X86_64,   KEXEC_ARCH_PPC,   KEXEC_ARCH_PPC64,
       KEXEC_ARCH_IA_64,  KEXEC_ARCH_ARM,  KEXEC_ARCH_S390,  KEXEC_ARCH_SH,  KEXEC_ARCH_MIPS, and
       KEXEC_ARCH_MIPS_LE.  The architecture must be executable on the CPU of the system.

       The entry argument is the physical entry address in the  kernel  image.   The  nr_segments
       argument  is the number of segments pointed to by the segments pointer; the kernel imposes
       an (arbitrary) limit of 16 on the number of segments.  The segments argument is  an  array
       of kexec_segment structures which define the kernel layout:

           struct kexec_segment {
               void   *buf;        /* Buffer in user space */
               size_t  bufsz;      /* Buffer length in user space */
               void   *mem;        /* Physical address of kernel */
               size_t  memsz;      /* Physical address length */
           };

       The  kernel  image  defined by segments is copied from the calling process into the kernel
       either in regular memory or in reserved memory (if KEXEC_ON_CRASH  is  set).   The  kernel
       first  performs  various  sanity  checks  on the information passed in segments.  If these
       checks pass, the kernel copies the segment data to kernel memory.  Each segment  specified
       in segments is copied as follows:

       •  buf  and  bufsz  identify a memory region in the caller's virtual address space that is
          the source of the copy.  The value in bufsz may not  exceed  the  value  in  the  memsz
          field.

       •  mem  and  memsz  specify  a physical address range that is the target of the copy.  The
          values specified in both fields must be multiples of the system page size.

       •  bufsz bytes are copied from the source buffer to the target kernel buffer.  If bufsz is
          less than memsz, then the excess bytes in the kernel buffer are zeroed out.

       In  case of a normal kexec (i.e., the KEXEC_ON_CRASH flag is not set), the segment data is
       loaded in any available memory and is moved to the final destination at kexec reboot  time
       (e.g., when the kexec(8) command is executed with the -e option).

       In  case  of  kexec  on  panic (i.e., the KEXEC_ON_CRASH flag is set), the segment data is
       loaded to reserved memory at the time of the call, and, after a crash, the kexec mechanism
       simply passes control to that kernel.

       The  kexec_load()  system  call  is  available  only  if  the  kernel  was configured with
       CONFIG_KEXEC.

   kexec_file_load()
       The kexec_file_load() system call is similar to kexec_load(), but it takes a different set
       of  arguments.   It  reads  the  kernel to be loaded from the file referred to by the file
       descriptor kernel_fd, and the initrd (initial RAM disk) to be loaded from file referred to
       by  the  file  descriptor  initrd_fd.   The  cmdline  argument  is  a  pointer to a buffer
       containing the command line for the new kernel.  The cmdline_len argument  specifies  size
       of the buffer.  The last byte in the buffer must be a null byte ('\0').

       The  flags  argument is a bit mask which modifies the behavior of the call.  The following
       values can be specified in flags:

       KEXEC_FILE_UNLOAD
              Unload the currently loaded kernel.

       KEXEC_FILE_ON_CRASH
              Load the new kernel in the memory region reserved for  the  crash  kernel  (as  for
              KEXEC_ON_CRASH).  This kernel is booted if the currently running kernel crashes.

       KEXEC_FILE_NO_INITRAMFS
              Loading  initrd/initramfs  is optional.  Specify this flag if no initramfs is being
              loaded.  If this flag is set, the value passed in initrd_fd is ignored.

       The kexec_file_load() system call was added to provide support for systems  where  "kexec"
       loading  should  be  restricted  to  only  kernels  that  are signed.  This system call is
       available only if the kernel was configured with CONFIG_KEXEC_FILE.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, these system calls returns 0.  On error, -1 is returned and errno  is  set  to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS

       EADDRNOTAVAIL
              The  KEXEC_ON_CRASH  flags  was  specified, but the region specified by the mem and
              memsz fields of one of the segments  entries  lies  outside  the  range  of  memory
              reserved for the crash kernel.

       EADDRNOTAVAIL
              The  value in a mem or memsz field in one of the segments entries is not a multiple
              of the system page size.

       EBADF  kernel_fd or initrd_fd is not a valid file descriptor.

       EBUSY  Another crash kernel is already being loaded or a crash kernel is already in use.

       EINVAL flags is invalid.

       EINVAL The value of a bufsz field in one of the segments entries exceeds the value in  the
              corresponding memsz field.

       EINVAL nr_segments exceeds KEXEC_SEGMENT_MAX (16).

       EINVAL Two or more of the kernel target buffers overlap.

       EINVAL The value in cmdline[cmdline_len-1] is not '\0'.

       EINVAL The file referred to by kernel_fd or initrd_fd is empty (length zero).

       ENOEXEC
              kernel_fd  does  not  refer  to  an  open file, or the kernel can't load this file.
              Currently, the file must be a bzImage and contain an x86 kernel  that  is  loadable
              above 4 GiB in memory (see the kernel source file Documentation/x86/boot.txt).

       ENOMEM Could not allocate memory.

       EPERM  The caller does not have the CAP_SYS_BOOT capability.

VERSIONS

       The kexec_load() system call first appeared in Linux 2.6.13.  The kexec_file_load() system
       call first appeared in Linux 3.17.

STANDARDS

       These system calls are Linux-specific.

SEE ALSO

       reboot(2), syscall(2), kexec(8)

       The       kernel       source        files        Documentation/kdump/kdump.txt        and
       Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt