Xen devel - Mar 2006 - RE: [PATCH] build in SATA drivers to the -xen kernel forx86_64

> This patch adds in the SATA drivers that are supported in the 
> -xen0 kernel. 
> Because the default behavior of xen is to reboot on a dom0 
> crash (i.e. not finding root filesystem), and the xen0 kernel 
> supported SATA directly, a number of people (including 
> myself) got caught by the switch over.
> 
> Long term, we probably want to modularize more of the kernel, 
> and make initrd building more of the default, however this 
> should ease people''s transition from the -xen0 => -xen kernel 
> for testing on x86_64.
Is it even possible to boot a modern distro without an initrd? Most
require an initrd for udev/console stuff.

I''d certainly like to see a patch (and clear documentation) that helps
users with building an appropriate initrd.

[I''d wouldn''t mind seeing a couple of common SATA controllers
included
in the -xen config anyhow.]

Ian

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On Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 09:40:27PM +0100, Ian Pratt
wrote:
> > This patch adds in the SATA drivers that are supported in the 
> > -xen0 kernel. 
> > Because the default behavior of xen is to reboot on a dom0 
> > crash (i.e. not finding root filesystem), and the xen0 kernel 
> > supported SATA directly, a number of people (including 
> > myself) got caught by the switch over.
> > 
> > Long term, we probably want to modularize more of the kernel, 
> > and make initrd building more of the default, however this 
> > should ease people''s transition from the -xen0 => -xen
kernel
> > for testing on x86_64.
> 
> Is it even possible to boot a modern distro without an initrd? Most
> require an initrd for udev/console stuff.
Well, Mandriva still has enough static dev entries to give you /dev/null and
/dev/console, which gets you through early boot ok without an initrd.  I
think a lot of other distros are still in that state as well, and
haven''t
completely removed everything in /dev
> I''d certainly like to see a patch (and clear documentation) that
helps
> users with building an appropriate initrd.
Harry was talking about that on IRC today actually, so I''ll leave it in
his
court for now.  (Harry, feel free to object :) )
> [I''d wouldn''t mind seeing a couple of common SATA
controllers included
> in the -xen config anyhow.]
Yeh, that what''s I was hoping to get out of all of this.  The net
effect of
adding those drivers in is a few 10s of k of object code, but just helps
with the out of the box experience for people that were using the -xen0
kernel.

	-Sean

-- 
Sean Dague
IBM Linux Technology Center                     email: japh@us.ibm.com
Open Hypervisor Team                           alt: sldague@us.ibm.com


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On Wed, 29 Mar 2006, Ian Pratt wrote:
> Is it even possible to boot a modern distro without an initrd? Most
> require an initrd for udev/console stuff.
It is most definately possible.  I run debian, and despise the precompiled
kernels, and their flaky initrd(mostly for technical perfectionist reasons;
it''s hard to alter when one needs to, for instance)).

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On Wed, 2006-03-29 at 15:59 -0500, Sean Dague wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 09:40:27PM +0100, Ian Pratt wrote:
> > I''d certainly like to see a patch (and clear documentation)
that helps
> > users with building an appropriate initrd.
> 
> Harry was talking about that on IRC today actually, so I''ll leave
it in his
> court for now.  (Harry, feel free to object :) )
Yep, I''m going to have a go at that today.  We''ll see how I
get on.

Harry.


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On Wednesday 29 March 2006 17:40, Ian Pratt wrote:
> > This patch adds in the SATA drivers that are supported in the
> > -xen0 kernel.
> > Because the default behavior of xen is to reboot on a dom0
> > crash (i.e. not finding root filesystem), and the xen0 kernel
> > supported SATA directly, a number of people (including
> > myself) got caught by the switch over.
> >
myself also
> > Long term, we probably want to modularize more of the kernel,
> > and make initrd building more of the default, however this
> > should ease people''s transition from the -xen0 => -xen
kernel
> > for testing on x86_64.
>
> Is it even possible to boot a modern distro without an initrd? Most
> require an initrd for udev/console stuff.
>
Surely it''s possible. I have debian and gentoo running without a
initrd.
> I''d certainly like to see a patch (and clear documentation) that
helps
> users with building an appropriate initrd.
>
It would be good, but be able to boot without an initrd too is really better.
> [I''d wouldn''t mind seeing a couple of common SATA
controllers included
> in the -xen config anyhow.]
-- 
Murillo Fernandes Bernardes
IBM Linux Technology Center

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