Kexec¶

The kexec boot method replaces the running kernel with a new one using kexec, without going through the bootloader.

The DUT must already be booted to a shell by a previous boot action, and kexec-tools must be installed in this system.

- boot:
    method: kexec
    kernel: /home/vmlinux
    dtb: /home/dtb
    initrd: /home/initrd
    kernel-config: /boot/config-*
    boot_message: Booting Linux
    options:
    - "--reuse-cmdline"
    prompts:
    - 'root@debian:~#'

LAVA sends the following commands to the DUT shell:

zgrep -i kexec /boot/config-* |grep -v '^#'
/sbin/kexec --load /home/vmlinux --dtb /home/dtb --initrd /home/initrd --reuse-cmdline
/sbin/kexec -e

LAVA then waits for the boot_message, the optional auto_login and the prompts.

boot_message¶

Required. The message printed by the new kernel when it starts, for example Booting Linux.

kernel¶

The path, on the DUT, to the kernel. Passed to --load.

Required, unless the options include the load arguments.

dtb¶

Optional. The path, on the DUT, to the dtb. Passed to --dtb.

initrd¶

Optional. The path, on the DUT, to the initrd. Passed to --initrd.

options¶

Optional. A list of extra arguments added to the load command.

command¶

Optional. The kexec binary to use. Defaults to /sbin/kexec.

kernel-config¶

Optional. The path, on the DUT, to the kernel configuration.

deploy¶

Optional, defaults to false. When true, LAVA first downloads the kernel, initrd and dtb files from the LAVA worker to the DUT, using wget, to the paths given in the boot action.

These files must have been downloaded by a previous deploy action under the same names (kernel, initrd and dtb).

on_panic¶

Optional, defaults to false. When true, the kernel is loaded as a crash kernel (--load-panic) and LAVA triggers a kernel panic (echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger) instead of calling kexec -e. This can be used to test kdump.

transfer_overlay¶

See transfer_overlay.

Timeout

If kexec fails, the device usually hangs. Use a short timeout for the call-kexec action:

timeouts:
  actions:
    call-kexec:
      seconds: 45