Linux 3.14 To Support EFI Kexec Capability
Besides sending in the scheduler changes for Linux 3.14 that include finally landing SCHED_DEADLINE, Ingo Molnar sent in the x86 EFI changes for the 3.14 kernel. With these EFI changes for the Linux 3.14 kernel is now support for using kexec on EFI-running systems.
Kexec is the Linux feature that effectively allows booting a new Linux kernel over an existing Linux kernel that's presently running. Kexec is mostly used by those wishing to minimize downtime as a full reboot isn't needed to upgrade to a new Linux kernel.
Last year we wrote about Kexec breaking Secure Boot and how its security can be easily defeated while now comes the mainline support for using this mechanism from such systems.
The x86 EFI changes for Linux 3.14 can be found via the Git pull request.
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