Linux Virtualization - Dec 2015 - [PATCH 4/6] Input: Remove vmmouse port reservation

Hi Sinclair,

On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Sinclair Yeh <syeh at vmware.com>
wrote:
> Port reservation is not required.
You need to expand on why we do not need to reserve port.
> Furthermore, this port is shared
> by other VMware services for host-side communication.
What services would that be? Do they reserve the port?

Thanks.

-- 
Dmitry

Hi,

On Tue, Dec 01, 2015 at 02:30:05PM -0800, Dmitry Torokhov
wrote:
> Hi Sinclair,
> 
> On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Sinclair Yeh <syeh at vmware.com>
wrote:
> > Port reservation is not required.
> 
> You need to expand on why we do not need to reserve port.
Thomas gave me this input earlier, too, so I added the one liner.

There was a long discussion on accessing the port a few years ago:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2008/9/24/512
> 
> > Furthermore, this port is shared
> > by other VMware services for host-side communication.
> 
> What services would that be? Do they reserve the port?
This port is used by quite a few guest-to-host communication capabilities,
e.g. getting configuration, logging, etc.  Currently multiple kernel
modules, and one or more priviledged guest user mode app, e.g.
open-vmware-tools, use this port without reservation.

After some internal discussions, it was determined that no reservation
is required when accessing the port in this manner.

Do you want me to put the above in the commit message?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -- 
> Dmitry

On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 3:04 PM, Sinclair Yeh <syeh at vmware.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Dec 01, 2015 at 02:30:05PM -0800, Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
>> Hi Sinclair,
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Sinclair Yeh <syeh at vmware.com>
wrote:
>> > Port reservation is not required.
>>
>> You need to expand on why we do not need to reserve port.
>
> Thomas gave me this input earlier, too, so I added the one liner.
>
> There was a long discussion on accessing the port a few years ago:
> https://lkml.org/lkml/2008/9/24/512
>
>>
>> > Furthermore, this port is shared
>> > by other VMware services for host-side communication.
>>
>> What services would that be? Do they reserve the port?
>
> This port is used by quite a few guest-to-host communication capabilities,
> e.g. getting configuration, logging, etc.  Currently multiple kernel
> modules, and one or more priviledged guest user mode app, e.g.
> open-vmware-tools, use this port without reservation.
Ah, I forgot that vmmouse does not have a dedicated port...
>
> After some internal discussions, it was determined that no reservation
> is required when accessing the port in this manner.
>
> Do you want me to put the above in the commit message?
Not about the bit about "internal discussions", but the rest - yes
please.

-- 
Dmitry