this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 95 points 9 months ago (5 children)

So you mean they want windows to have something that Linux has had for 20 years? Android has also had this since ~2017 too.

[–] [email protected] 109 points 9 months ago (8 children)

My android phone and Linux computers all still want reboots after updates...

[–] [email protected] 106 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Linux only needs a reboot if you want to update the kernel, normally.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 9 months ago (1 children)

but in that case you can often kexec to restart linux faster, skipping the actual BIOS/UEFI boot.

also, some distros offer live patching of kernel code for $$$

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

You don't need to pay money for live patching.
They really just make you pay for having them do it for you.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (8 children)

I love linux and been using it for decades, personally and professionally, but no, linux doesn't have "hot patching" the same way as that article describes it. At most it can live patch the kernel (and only few distros actually use that), but definitely not for the last 20 years, and definitely not running processes. However, it does usually restart background processes after an update without requiring a reboot, but in my experience, often times the system becomes unstable after several such updates and rebooting is effectively necessary (though not forced, and that's why I like it).

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (14 children)

Yeah, the security in knowing that if you're way top busy right now, you don't have to install or even download any updates. And you don't have to worry your system will suddenly become crashy, glitchy, and unstable because it decided on its own to install some things and let you know you can reboot whenever.

It's so freaking annoying I have to use Windows at work. It takes liberty to do what it wants and then my workflow gets hosed.

I get that there is security, but if you force updates, I should have some kind of notice or "hey, we need to install mandatory updates. You can schedule in the next 24 hours when or you can get them over with"

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

yeah but even if you need a reboot, linux just needs a regular reboot.

not that long ass 25-minute windows update reboot

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 9 months ago (6 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Cool, so its possible then! I hope Microsoft makes it functional for Windows, too.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It comes in 3 forms.

  1. Update small system components (packages) and load the old into ram until rebooting; I don't think this is possible on windows.
  2. A/B Image Based Updating; Android and a few Linux distros have this; probably one of the most stable methods.
  3. Live boot updates/Kernel-space Hot Patching; found mostly in Linux servers, and distros with a patched kernel; used mostly for security updates which is what windows is doing here, but Linux can do feature updates this way too.
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (4 children)

How many people are actually using kexec to update Linux without rebooting?

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 9 months ago (34 children)

I remember some years ago there was a "malware" going around that would flash OpenWRT onto people's routers, and set them to have more secure default settings.

There should be another thing like that, but one that upgrades Windows into a Linux distro.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago (6 children)

That is absolutely hilarious. Good guy malware swooping in and fixing people's shit? Any chance you have a link?

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Even if Windows does this, trust me, if you have any Razer products, Razer will fill in the gaps for them.

That shit restarts my Windows machine nearly every fucking day.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I love that the Razer installer pops up during windows intital setup. Seriously, chill out Razer, I don't want to sign in to you while I'm bypassing the Microsoft forced sign in.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 9 months ago

It looks like you changed the position of your mouse cursor. Would you like to reboot to apply these changes?

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Had a movie stop playing the other week (I use my PC as a Jellyfin server and watch on a Nvidia Shield in another room). I thought something had crashed, but when I went upstairs to check, it had realised nobody was watching it and fucking rebooted.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 9 months ago (5 children)

you should probably use a different operating system if you use it as a server

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If it was only used as a server, then I would. But it isn't, so I don't.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 9 months ago (3 children)

replicatethefractionofourpower.jpg

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I used to want this, but the latest updates of windows have all been so buggy. I'd prefer to not have this shit happen in mid usage. They once fucked up the search by accident and it was disrupting enough to my workflow until I found ways to disable the search being a default web search.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

It looks like it's just security updates, not feature updates. So I would take this as a win. If a 0-day is discovered, being able to update systems to fix it without a restart is fantastic. I know plenty of people who avoid restarting their computer if they see the update icon in their system tray. If we are talking security, these people could be leaving themselves vulnerable for days/weeks. Being able to push security patches without restarts is a big win.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (3 children)

So in other words the

HI WE ARE GETTING THINGS READY FOR YOU

Screen can just pop whever it wants for 20 minutes at a time without warning? Yay...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I know people don't want to hear it anymore because it's beating a dead horse, but.... Linux.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

I don't think those words describe what the intended behavior is, no. I think it's supposed to be seamless and not really too noticeable. That's the impression I got from the article anyway.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Microsoft have done this previously and shelved it because their method had enormous security issues.

I don't see this going well for them.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This was the pipe dream for many many years now. Not the first time MS is talking about it either.

It's a thing in the Linux world and it's just too costly to support and therefore most user facing distros outright don't support it.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

So according to the official page on Hotpatching (without any trackers like in the article), this reminds me of kpatch. I guess Microsoft really wants to spend the effort of making that work. Isn't kpatch not really supported (without $$$) by many larger distros since it's prone to break easily?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

Didn't they say the same when they were developing windows 10? I don't believe it's gonna happen.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

So in other words yet another thing that Linux already had for the past 20 years? Go on like this and in 50 years Microsoft might actually have a capable operating system.

Dump windows, Install Linux, stop paying Microsoft money for badly designed crap that will spy on you.

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