[Xen-devel] Re: NetBSD port updated

[Keir Fraser <Keir.Fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > > I think we should try to merge netbsd_build and linux_build into a
> > > 'guest_build' that autodetects based on kernel-image format.
> > 
> > yes...  but why are you not using the elf loader for Linux as well?  The
> > XenoGues format doesn't contain any additional information since the
> > 0xc0000000 is in the elf header...
> 
> The main purpose of the 'XenoGuess' header was to be able to
> detect people trying to load standard x86 kernel builds rather
> than x86-xeno ones. I guess we could achieve the same effect
> within the elf format e.g. by defining some special symbol the
> loader looks for.

An alternative is to have a modified Multiboot format where we embed a
very simple 'XenoGuest' header inside the Elf object file. We can then
confirm whether a given Elf file is suitable for loading by searching
for this header near the start. We can even add an enumeration, or
well-known text string, for OS type to make auto-detection easier
(assuming that some OSes will want slightly different conventions for
calling in).

 -- Keir


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