>   Perhaps keeping track of the inode number in addition to the
> pathname would be a good idea?  One can't remove the kernel file
> while it is running, right?

Yes, you can. The running version of the kernel only lives in-memory.
There are no file dependancies as for executables. That's why you
can boot off of the net, and off of native OS's (like mac68k's
ability to boot off of a kernel in MacOS space).

Take care,

Bill