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: "Chris Friesen" <cfriesen@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Xen-users] Re: Merge Xen (the hypervisor) into Linux
From: Alan Cox <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 18:36:22 +0100
Cc: "jeremy@xxxxxxxx" <jeremy@xxxxxxxx>, Keir Fraser <Keir.Fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "jens.axboe@xxxxxxxxxx" <jens.axboe@xxxxxxxxxx>, "npiggin@xxxxxxx" <npiggin@xxxxxxx>, "xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "kurt.hackel@xxxxxxxxxx" <kurt.hackel@xxxxxxxxxx>, "x86@xxxxxxxxxx" <x86@xxxxxxxxxx>, Stephen Spector <stephen.spector@xxxxxxxxxx>, "avi@xxxxxxxxxx" <avi@xxxxxxxxxx>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxx>, Dan Magenheimer <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>, "wimcoekaerts@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <wimcoekaerts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Ian Pratt <Ian.Pratt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, ksrinivasan <ksrinivasan@xxxxxxxxxx>, "xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, George Dunlap <george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "gregkh@xxxxxxx" <gregkh@xxxxxxx>, "linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "EAnderson@xxxxxxxxxx" <EAnderson@xxxxxxxxxx>, "torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, David Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:14:39 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <4A26B361.5000600@xxxxxxxxxx>
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: <162f4c90-6431-4a2a-b337-6d7451d7b11e@default> <20090528001350.GD26820@xxxxxxx> <4A1F302E.8030501@xxxxxxxx> <20090528.210559.137121893.davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <4A1FCE8E.2060604@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <20090602224051.GB32428@xxxxxxxxxxx> <20090602232843.GA6577@xxxxxxx> <4A26B361.5000600@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:31:13 -0600
"Chris Friesen" <cfriesen@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Ingo Molnar wrote:
> 
> > A lot of Xen legacies could be dropped: the crazy ring1 hack on 
> > 32-bit, the various wide interfaces to make pure-software 
> > virtualization limp along. All major CPUs shipped with hardware 
> > virtualization support in the past 2-3 years, so the availability of 
> > VMX and SVM can be taken for granted for such a project.
> 
> That's a pretty bold statement.  I have five x86 machines in my house
> currently being used, and none of them support VMX/SVM.
> 
> At least some Lenovo laptops disable VMX in the BIOS with no way to
> enable it.  Some of the Core2Duo chips don't support VMX at all.

Ditto some Atom cpus which in turn means you can't run kvm on all the
netbooks right now - which is one place its very useful.

> I think Xen without paravirtualization would be a serious degradation of
> usefulness.

At that point you can just use kvm anyway.

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