SUSE Develops New Way Of Live-Patching The Kernel

SUSE has announced they have developed a new way of live-patching a running kernel to avoid having to reboot the system when upgrading to the latest kernel version. There's been Ksplice as the leading means of live-upgrading a kernel but SUSE hopes their kGraft solution will be the superior mainline solution.

The SUSE press release reads, "The problem solvers at SUSE have designed and developed a technology to deliver live, run-time patching of the Linux kernel, making it easier for IT staff to install critical security and other patches without system downtime. Called kGraft, the open source solution is currently in the functional prototype stage and is planned to be submitted upstream to the Linux kernel within the next two months."

SUSE will be releasing the kGraft code in March and they are hoping for upstream acceptance into the mainline Linux kernel. Besides the kernel bits there's also GCC compiler bits needed to that SUSE will release under the GPLv3. For those developers wanting a more technical understanding how this Linux kernel live-patching kGraft solution works, read this SUSE.com conversation.