WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-devel

[Xen-users] Re: Merge Xen (the hypervisor) into Linux

To: David Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Xen-users] Re: Merge Xen (the hypervisor) into Linux
From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:07:49 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: npiggin@xxxxxxx, ksrinivasan@xxxxxxxxxx, dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx, xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, tytso@xxxxxxx, wimcoekaerts@xxxxxxxxxxxx, stephen.spector@xxxxxxxxxx, george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, kurt.hackel@xxxxxxxxxx, x86@xxxxxxxxxx, jeremy@xxxxxxxx, linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Ian.Pratt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, avi@xxxxxxxxxx, EAnderson@xxxxxxxxxx, jens.axboe@xxxxxxxxxx, mingo@xxxxxxx, torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, gregkh@xxxxxxx, Keir.Fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:46:08 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <20090602.215802.149628704.davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-help: <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen user discussion <xen-users.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-users@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
References: <alpine.DEB.2.00.0906022332230.14994@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <3ab07e3b-a601-48d5-b350-29cbaf111892@default> <20090602.215802.149628704.davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
User-agent: Alpine 2.00 (DEB 1167 2008-08-23)
On Tue, 2 Jun 2009, David Miller wrote:

> From: Dan Magenheimer <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 21:49:58 -0700 (PDT)
> 
> > A hypervisor is not an operating system.
> 
> This is a pretty bogus statement if you ask me.
> 
> A hypervisor a software system that provides seperation between
> protection realms.
> 
> It also handles exceptions and "system calls" on behalf of the other
> protection realms.
> 
> I personally don't see the difference at all.  And since many
> hypervisors even do cpu scheduling, the fundamental differences
> converge to almost nothing.

I recently sat in an Operating Systems class where the Professor was an 
old IBM retiree, that worked on the 390 system way back when. He would 
argue the point that an Operating System must do at least two things, 
schedule tasks and manage paging. The Xen hypervisor does both, thus in 
his eyes, it is indeed an Operating System.

-- Steve

P.S. he also thought that filesystem management does not have to be a 
duty of the OS and he hated the fact he had to teach it ;-)


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

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>