Xen users - Nov 2007 - virsh vs. xm, and questions about different distributions of Xen

Virsh (the xm-like tool that comes with libvirt) uses .xml files to
define and describe DomUs.  xm uses simple configuration files to
define and describe DomUs.  Is there any interoperability between
these two?  Like can virsh take an xm DomU config file, or vice versa?
 Or is there a tool to translate between them?

On a somewhat related note, can anyone tell me at a high level what is
different between the "vanilla" Xen source/distribution, and the Xen
source/distribution that comes with, for example, Fedora?  I know
Fedora includes libvirt when you choose "Virtualization" during
install, but I''m interested in changes made to the source by Fedora at
a lower level, for example:
 - Changes to the hypervisor itself
 - Changes to the paravirtualized kernel
 - Changes to various support files and scripts...for example all the
stuff in /etc/xen/scripts.

Thanks,
Dave

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David Stone wrote:
> Virsh (the xm-like tool that comes with libvirt) uses .xml files to
> define and describe DomUs.  xm uses simple configuration files to
> define and describe DomUs.  Is there any interoperability between
> these two?  Like can virsh take an xm DomU config file, or vice versa?
>  Or is there a tool to translate between them?
>
> On a somewhat related note, can anyone tell me at a high level what is
> different between the "vanilla" Xen source/distribution, and the
Xen
> source/distribution that comes with, for example, Fedora?  I know
> Fedora includes libvirt when you choose "Virtualization" during
> install, but I''m interested in changes made to the source by
Fedora at
> a lower level, for example:
>  - Changes to the hypervisor itself
>  - Changes to the paravirtualized kernel
>  - Changes to various support files and scripts...for example all the
> stuff in /etc/xen/scripts.
>   
You can pick apart the SRPM for Xen to see the differences. But they 
include features like:

* package management to report configuration changes, put documentation 
in place, report compilation requirements, and ease removal or upgrade
* version control to report requirements or conflicts
* integration of modifications to /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ to prevent the 
/lib/tls emulation problems.
* setup of new kernels in /etc/grub.conf
* Integration and dependency reporting for related tools like 
virt-install and virt-manager

Etc., etc., etc. I''d love to see the Fedora changes folded back to the 
Xensource versions, especially for the RPM''s.

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