Reg. Kernel panic error

[karthi]

Dear All,


Plz. Explain. What is kernel panic error in linux. Give discription.


Thanks & Regards,
Karthik.P

[Open Linux Tech Center - Freelance]

A kernel panics when OS detects an internal fatal error (causes a program to abort) from which it not able to recover safely. For example, OS attempts to read an invalid or non-permitted memory address are a common source of kernel panics. A panic may also occur as a result of a hardware failure or a buggy kernel !!!

One can view the panic in kernel in 2 different angles:

Form System Admin point of view you can observe "A kernel (came with linux distribution) which is working for others why panics for me on my system? " 
During booting processes, initrd (a RAM disk used to assist with installing new hardware/configuration at boot time) and not being able to find it. This could be due to that file being corrupted, or deleted, or the boot loader config being corrupted. It may happen then there is some hardware failure (like bad memory, that BIOS can not detect)


From a Kernel Developer Point of view:
Kernel panic is an unrecoverable system error detected by the kernel as opposed to similar errors detected by userspace code. It is possible for kernel code to indicate such a condition by calling a function named "panic" located in the header file sys/system.h. However, most panics are the result of unhandled exceptions in kernel code, such as references to invalid memory addresses. Note that linux kernel is written in C and finding such memory mismanagement is tough for a programer....

Hmmm, I worked with a manager who onece asked me " why you took 15 days to solve a single line error
Kernel Panic - Not Syncing :Attempting to kill init !" next week I change the group.....

OLTC