Crazy code.

Every now and then, I have crazy ideas about computing. Mostly "it would be cool if a computer could do foo" kind of stuff; usually they're either impossible with the current state of technology, or I lack the skills to implement my crazy idea.

A while ago, one of those crazy ideas was about how it would be cool to be able to load a new kernel without having to reboot. I hate it when I have to close my applications, even if only for a few minutes. But then, I thought it'd never be possible to implement something even remotely similar to that.

Today, I found out that 2.6.13 is out. And look:

kexec system call (EXPERIMENTAL) (KEXEC) [N/y/?] (NEW) ?

kexec is a system call that implements the ability to shutdown your
current kernel, and to start another kernel.[...]

It's not exactly the implementation of my crazy idea (you still need to shut down your userland before you can load the other kernel), but then it's getting awfully close. I guess the fact that I myself am not immediately able to implement crazy ideas doesn't mean they won't happen...