yaboot option for "trying" a new kernel?

[Fabian Linzberger <e@lefant.net>]

Hi,

i recently discovered the -R switch for lilo on x386, which together
with "panic=30" kernel commandline option allows to recover from a
kernel panic after a remote update.

you can leave the last kernel that's known to be working as default,
then via "lilo -R NewKernelLabel" tell lilo to boot the new kernel on
next restart. before booting this kernel lilo makes sure on the next
automatic reboot the old default kernel is loaded.

in case the new kernel panics, it will reboot after 30 seconds and the
old (working) kernel will come up again automatically.

naturally some setup like this would be very comforting to have in
place when doing kernel upgrades remotely via ssh on a server that is
physically hard to access.


since i found no such option with yaboot, i wonder if there is any way
to accomplish something similar on linux-powerpc. or do i just have to
be smart about checking for potential trouble and keep my fingers
crossed? =)

in that case, do you have any hints on what to look for except for
making sure an appropriate initrd is installed and loaded with recent
stock debian woody kernels?


thanks in advance
fabian

-- 
  .''`.      fabian linzberger             http://lefant.net
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