Xen users - Jul 2007 - HVM unmodified_drivers compatibility

Hi,

I''m stuck using Xen 3.0.3 for a little while longer but would really
like to be able to build the xen unmodified_drivers against a 2.6.20 FC6 kernel.
But 3.0.3 doesn''t seem to build against this kernel (before its time).
Using the unmodified_drivers from Xen 3.1 or xen-unstable I at least get a bit
further when compiling but before I spend any more time looking at the compile
errors I thought I better ask the good folks on the xen-users list a question:
Are the unmodified_drivers from xen-3.1 backwards compatible with xen-3.0.3? If
not do I have to upgrade to xen-3.1 to be able to build the unmodified_drivers
for 2.6.20?

While I''m at it does anybody know of any good documentation for the
unmodified_drivers? There seems to be so little help/faq/docs on the subject.

Regards,

Daire

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

> I''m stuck using Xen 3.0.3 for a little while longer but would
really like
> to be able to build the xen unmodified_drivers against a 2.6.20 FC6 kernel.
> But 3.0.3 doesn''t seem to build against this kernel (before its
time).
> Using the unmodified_drivers from Xen 3.1 or xen-unstable I at least get a
> bit further when compiling but before I spend any more time looking at the
> compile errors I thought I better ask the good folks on the xen-users list
> a question: Are the unmodified_drivers from xen-3.1 backwards compatible
> with xen-3.0.3? If not do I have to upgrade to xen-3.1 to be able to build
> the unmodified_drivers for 2.6.20?
Backwards compatibility of that kind is not guaranteed, but I can''t
think of
any changes that happened that would actually break it.  If there are any 
relevant compatibility options in the build process, you should switch them 
on though.  It can''t hurt, in any case.
> While I''m at it does anybody know of any good documentation for
the
> unmodified_drivers? There seems to be so little help/faq/docs on the
> subject.
Possibly in the archives of the list; I''ve not seen much documentation
either.
However if you have specific problems you might be able to ask for help on 
this list and figure out what''s up.

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!

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Mark,

Thanks for the reply - apologies for the delayed response (holidays!).

----- "Mark Williamson" <mark.williamson@cl.cam.ac.uk>
wrote:
> > I''m stuck using Xen 3.0.3 for a little while longer but would
really
> like
> > to be able to build the xen unmodified_drivers against a 2.6.20 FC6
> kernel.
> > But 3.0.3 doesn''t seem to build against this kernel (before
its
> time).
> > Using the unmodified_drivers from Xen 3.1 or xen-unstable I at least
> get a
> > bit further when compiling but before I spend any more time looking
> at the
> > compile errors I thought I better ask the good folks on the
> xen-users list
> > a question: Are the unmodified_drivers from xen-3.1 backwards
> compatible
> > with xen-3.0.3? If not do I have to upgrade to xen-3.1 to be able to
> build
> > the unmodified_drivers for 2.6.20?
> 
> Backwards compatibility of that kind is not guaranteed, but I
can''t
> think of 
> any changes that happened that would actually break it.  If there are
> any 
> relevant compatibility options in the build process, you should switch
> them 
> on though.  It can''t hurt, in any case.
I had a quick look through the files in the unmodified_drivers directory but
couldn''t find anything obvious to set the compatibility. As lots of
stuff gets included from the root xen dir perhaps I need to look there also.

I tried building xen-3.1 unmodified drivers against a fedora3 2.6.12 kernel
which seemed to build okay but on loading the first module (xen-platform-pci.ko)
the HVM guest promptly crashes and restarts without giving a chance to observe
any error messages. Due to the extreme nature of the failure I''m
assuming that the xen 3.1 unmodified drivers are not compatible with my Xen
3.0.3 Dom0 kernel. I might try the Fedora7 kernel for Dom0 as I believe its up
to Xen 3.1 and see if I get any further. However it would still be great if I
could the drivers to work on Xen 3.0.3.

Regards,

Daire

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Daire Byrne wrote:
>
> I tried building xen-3.1 unmodified drivers against a fedora3 2.6.12 kernel
which seemed to build okay but on loading the first module (xen-platform-pci.ko)
the HVM guest promptly crashes and restarts without giving a chance to observe
any error messages. Due to the extreme nature of the failure I''m
assuming that the xen 3.1 unmodified drivers are not compatible with my Xen
3.0.3 Dom0 kernel. I might try the Fedora7 kernel for Dom0 as I believe its up
to Xen 3.1 and see if I get any further. However it would still be great if I
could the drivers to work on Xen 3.0.3.
>   
I suspect you badly need to update your Dom0 kernel and Xen to use a 3.1 
kernel on the DomU.

Hmm. Considering that Fedora Core 3 is *dead, dead, dead*, and the 
Fedora Legacy project is also dead, and the last gasps of FC3 are the 
walking, lurching, zombies wandering around saying
"b-r-a-i-n-s.......",
I think perhaps you should update your base OS. FC7 is quite shiny and 
new, but if you have limited hardware, you could stay back at FC4 for now.

I overstate, but I''ve had recent pain migrating things off of Fedora 
Core 3 that were slowly decaying in place, and the mirror sites that 
still carry it are fast going offline.

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users