Xen users - Sep 2006 - When will xen-compatibilty be standard in Linux kernels?

Hi Folks,

I thought I''d heard several months back that Xen compatibility patches
were
going to be rolled into the mainstream linux kernel source trees, so that in
future Xen would be just another architecture one could select under make
config -- not requiring a special, patched kernel.

But this doesn''t seem to be the case yet.  Did I misunderstand what the
plans were, or is it just taking longer that I expected?  Does anybody know
the expected timeline for this?  In which kernel release can we expect this?

Thanks,
Derek.


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On 9/13/06, Derek <xen@sherlockmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I thought I''d heard several months back that Xen compatibility
patches were
> going to be rolled into the mainstream linux kernel source trees, so that
in
> future Xen would be just another architecture one could select under make
> config -- not requiring a special, patched kernel.
>
> But this doesn''t seem to be the case yet.  Did I misunderstand
what the
> plans were, or is it just taking longer that I expected?  Does anybody know
> the expected timeline for this?  In which kernel release can we expect
this?
>
> Thanks,
> Derek.
>
I had heard back in the spring that a politacal bruhaha had erurpted
as to whether to accept pure Xen patches vs. generic Hypervisor
patches.

IIRC, the generic set of patches were coming from VMware or maybe MS.

Was it ever settled?

Greg
-- 
Greg Freemyer
The Norcross Group
Forensics for the 21st Century

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Greg Freemyer wrote:
> I had heard back in the spring that a politacal bruhaha had erurpted
> as to whether to accept pure Xen patches vs. generic Hypervisor
> patches.
> 
> IIRC, the generic set of patches were coming from VMware or maybe MS.
Man, it would be _really_ nice to have Xen integrated into mainstream :)

-- 
Jaume Sabater
http://linuxsilo.net/

"Ubi sapientas ibi libertas"

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> > I thought I''d heard several months back that Xen
compatibility patches
> > were going to be rolled into the mainstream linux kernel source trees,
so
> > that in future Xen would be just another architecture one could select
> > under make config -- not requiring a special, patched kernel.
> >
> > But this doesn''t seem to be the case yet.  Did I
misunderstand what the
> > plans were, or is it just taking longer that I expected?  Does anybody
> > know the expected timeline for this?  In which kernel release can we
> > expect this?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Derek.
>
> I had heard back in the spring that a politacal bruhaha had erurpted
> as to whether to accept pure Xen patches vs. generic Hypervisor
> patches.
>
> IIRC, the generic set of patches were coming from VMware or maybe MS.
>
> Was it ever settled?
VMware produced the generic patches for their VMI interface.  The 
disagreements were at least partly technical regarding the approaches of the 
VMI and Xen patches - both had merits and problems.  Getting competing 
companies to co-operate is always interesting proposition, though, I think!

The dispute has seemingly been settled by a resolution to implement an 
interface called "paravirt_ops" which can either talk to VMI (VMware)
or the
Xen hypercall API.  paravirt_ops should eventually allow a single kernel 
build to run on one or more hypervisors in paravirtualised mode, and natively 
on hardware - with decent performance.

The plan was to push ahead with getting basic infrastructure for paravirt_ops 
merged pretty quickly.

The merge process for the Xen code has been pretty slow, but it is still 
planned to happen.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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> > I had heard back in the spring that a politacal bruhaha had erurpted
> > as to whether to accept pure Xen patches vs. generic Hypervisor
> > patches.
> >
> > IIRC, the generic set of patches were coming from VMware or maybe MS.
> >
> > Was it ever settled?
>
> VMware produced the generic patches for their VMI interface.  The
> disagreements were at least partly technical regarding the approaches of
the
> VMI and Xen patches - both had merits and problems.  Getting competing
> companies to co-operate is always interesting proposition, though, I think!
>
> The dispute has seemingly been settled by a resolution to implement an
> interface called "paravirt_ops" which can either talk to VMI
(VMware) or the
> Xen hypercall API.  paravirt_ops should eventually allow a single kernel
> build to run on one or more hypervisors in paravirtualised mode, and
natively
> on hardware - with decent performance.
>
> The plan was to push ahead with getting basic infrastructure for
paravirt_ops
> merged pretty quickly.
>
> The merge process for the Xen code has been pretty slow, but it is still
> planned to happen.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
The merge window for 2.6.19 has been open for a week or so.  Anything
Xen related going in?

Greg
-- 
Greg Freemyer
The Norcross Group
Forensics for the 21st Century

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