Collaboration Summit 2014

SUSE Labs has developed and is releasing as open source (GPLv2 for Linux kernel and GPLv3 vfor GCC) a new technology for live patching of the Linux kernel, allowing for easy deployment of kernel updates without a reboot. Unlike previous implementations of this functionality, kGraft doesn't require the kernel to be stopped, and is using existing kernel infrastructure for most its
work. kGraft is striving to be included upstream, and submissions of the required changes are planned for both the Linux kernel and GCC.

The intended audience is primarily technical - Linux kernel developers that'll enjoy the nitty gritty details of how live kernel patching can be done without stopping the kernel at all. However, the technology and its implications are interesting even from the business and operations point of view, and the talk will also cover these aspects.

The kGraft technology can be used in many scenarios, from enterprise computing, to embedded computing in handhelds. The talk will introduce the technology, hoping to start a discussion about the approach which would eventually result in an upstream submission and wide availability of live kernel patching on Linux.