Here are the beginnings of a kexec_load manpage.
Probably needs some more review from Eric and may need some additional
information.
The syscall is actually only usable with a kernel patch to export
the header I just sent separately.
Also added the kexec subcall to reboot(2)
-Andi
diff --git a/man2/kexec_load.2 b/man2/kexec_load.2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f486641
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man2/kexec_load.2
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+.TH KEXEC_LOAD 2 2010-06-16 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
+.SH NAME
+kexec_load \- Load a new kernel for later execution.
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.b #include <linux/kexec.h>
+.br
+.BI "long kexec_load(unsigned long " entry ", unsigned long " nr_segments ","
+.br
+.BI "struct kexec_segment *" segments ", unsigned long " flags ");"
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.BR kexec_load
+loads a new kernel that can be executed later
+by
+.I reboot(2).
+An alternative approach is to specify
+.B KEXEC_ON_CRASH
+in the
+.I flags
+argument and then the new kernel will be automatically executed on a
+system crash.
+.\" XXX figure out how this is really used
+With
+.B KEXEC_PRESERVE_CONTEXT
+specified in
+.I flags
+kexec will preserve the system hard and
+software state before executing the kexec kernel. This
+could be used for system suspend.
+
+.I flags
+also contains the architecture of the executed kernel or
+be
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_DEFAULT
+for the current architecture.
+Valid architectures are
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_I386,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_X86_64,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_PPC,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_PPC64,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_IA_64,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_ARM,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_S390,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_SH,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_MIPS,
+.I KEXEC_ARCH_MIPS_LE.
+The architecture must be executable on the CPU of the system.
+
+.I entry
+is the virtual entry address in the kernel image.
+.I nr_segments
+is the number of segments pointed to by the
+.I segments
+pointer.
+.I segments
+is an array of
+.I struct kexec_segment
+structures which define the kernel layout:
+.in +4n
+.nf
+
+struct kexec_segment {
+ void *buf; /* Buffer in user space */
+ size_t bufsz; /* Buffer length in user space */
+ void *mem; /* Virtual address of kernel */
+ size_t memsz; /* Virtual address length */
+};
+.fi
+.in
+.PP
+.\" XXX elaborate on this
+The kernel image defined by
+.I segments
+is copied from the calling process into previously reserved memory.
+.SH CONFORMING TO
+This system call is Linux-specific.
+.SH NOTES
+kexec_load is currently not defined in glibc. To call it use:
+.in +4n
+.nf
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+#include <syscall.h>
+#include <asm/unistd.h>
+#include <linux/kexec.h>
+
+ret = syscall(__NR_kexec_load, entry, nr_segments, segments, flags);
+.fi
+.in
+.PP
+.I linux/kexec.h as a exported header is only available in 2.6.38
+and later kernels, in earlier kernels the constants need to be copied
+out of the kernel source.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.BR syscall (2),
+.BR reboot (2)
diff --git a/man2/reboot.2 b/man2/reboot.2
index 253bd34..87204b1 100644
--- a/man2/reboot.2
+++ b/man2/reboot.2
@@ -139,6 +139,11 @@ For the i386 architecture, the additional argument does not do
anything at present (2.1.122), but the type of reboot can be
determined by kernel command-line arguments ("reboot=...") to be
either warm or cold, and either hard or through the BIOS.
+.TP
+.B LINUX_REBOOT_KEXEC
+executes a kernel that has been loaded earlier
+with
+.I kexec_load(2).
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
For the values of
.I cmd
@@ -177,4 +182,5 @@ and should not be used in programs intended to be portable.
.BR capabilities (7),
.BR ctrlaltdel (8),
.BR halt (8),
-.BR reboot (8)
+.BR reboot (8),
+.BR kexec_load (2)
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