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* [RFC PATCH 00/35] Xen i386 paravirtualization support
@ 2006-05-09  8:49 Chris Wright
  2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 01/35] Add XEN config options and disable unsupported config options Chris Wright
                   ` (35 more replies)
  0 siblings, 36 replies; 183+ messages in thread
From: Chris Wright @ 2006-05-09  8:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel; +Cc: virtualization, xen-devel

Unlike full virtualization in which the virtual machine provides 
the same platform interface as running natively on the hardware,
paravirtualization requires modification to the guest operating system
to work with the platform interface provided by the hypervisor.

Xen was designed with performance in mind.  Calls to the hypervisor
are minimized, batched if necessary, and non-critical codepaths are left
unmodified in the case where the privileged instruction can be trapped and
emulated by the hypervisor.  The Xen API is designed to be OS agnostic and
has had Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, Plan9 and Netware ported to it.
Xen also provides support for running directly on native hardware.

The following patch series provides the minimal support required to
launch Xen paravirtual guests on standard x86 hardware running the Xen
hypervisor.  These patches effectively port the Linux kernel to run on the
platform interface provided by Xen.  This port is done as an i386 subarch.
In the future, we will break this patchset up to place the general
infrastrcture and subarch bits that may have common users at the
beginning of the series, ripe for picking off and pushing upstream.

With these patches you will be able to launch an unprivileged guest
running the modified Linux kernel and unmodified userspace.  This guest
is x86, UP only, runs in shadow translated mode, and has no direct access
to hardware.  This simplifies the patchset to the minimum functionality
needed to support a paravirtualized guest.  It's worth noting that
a fair amount of this patchset deals with paravirtualizing I/O, not
just CPU-only.  The additional missing functionality is primarily about
full SMP support, optimizations such as direct writable page tables,
and the management interface.

At a high-level, the patches provide the following:

- Kconfig and Makefile changes required to support Xen
- subarch changes to allow more platform functionality to be
  implemented by an i386 subarch
- Xen subarch implementation
- start of day code for running in the hypervisor provided environment (paging
  enabled)
- basic Xen drivers to provide a fully functional guest

The Xen platform API encapsulates the following types of requirements:

- idt, gdt, ldt (descriptor table handling)
- cr2, fpu_taskswitch, debug registers (privileged register handling)
- mmu (page table, tlb, and cache handling)
- memory reservations
- time and timer
- vcpu (init, up/down vcpu)
- schedule (processor yield, shutdown, etc)
- event channel (generalized virtual interrupt handling)
- grant table (shared memory interface for high speed interdomain communication)
- block device I/O
- network device I/O
- console device I/O
- Xen feature map
- Xen version info

Thanks to all have reviewed earlier versions of these patches.
-chris
--

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 183+ messages in thread
* [RFC PATCH 00/35] Xen i386 paravirtualization support
@ 2006-03-22  6:30 Chris Wright
  2006-03-22  6:30 ` [RFC PATCH 15/35] subarch support for controlling interrupt delivery Chris Wright
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 183+ messages in thread
From: Chris Wright @ 2006-03-22  6:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel; +Cc: xen-devel, virtualization

Unlike full virtualization in which the virtual machine provides 
the same platform interface as running natively on the hardware,
paravirtualization requires modification to the guest operating system
to work with the platform interface provided by the hypervisor.

Xen was designed with performance in mind.  Calls to the hypervisor
are minimized, batched if necessary, and non-critical codepaths are left
unmodified in the case where the privileged instruction can be trapped and
emulated by the hypervisor.  The Xen API is designed to be OS agnostic and
has had Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, Plan9 and Netware ported to it.
Xen also provides support for running directly on native hardware.

The following patch series provides the minimal support required to
launch Xen paravirtual guests on standard x86 hardware running the Xen
hypervisor.  These patches effectively port the Linux kernel to run on the
platform interface provided by Xen.  This port is done as an i386 subarch.

With these patches you will be able to launch an unprivileged guest
running the modified Linux kernel and unmodified userspace.  This guest
is x86, UP only, runs in shadow translated mode, and has no direct access
to hardware.  This simplifies the patchset to the minimum functionality
needed to support a paravirtualized guest.  It's worth noting that
a fair amount of this patchset deals with paravirtualizing I/O, not
just CPU-only.  The additional missing functionality is primarily about
full SMP support, optimizations such as direct writable page tables,
and the management interface.  Those refinements will be posted later.

At a high-level, the patches provide the following:

- Kconfig and Makefile changes required to support Xen
- subarch changes to allow more platform functionality to be
  implemented by an i386 subarch
- Xen subarch implementation
- start of day code for running in the hypervisor provided environment (paging
  enabled)
- basic Xen drivers to provide a fully functional guest

The Xen platform API encapsulates the following types of requirements:

- idt, gdt, ldt (descriptor table handling)
- cr2, fpu_taskswitch, debug registers (privileged register handling)
- mmu (page table, tlb, and cache handling)
- memory reservations
- time and timer
- vcpu (init, up/down vcpu)
- schedule (processor yield, shutdown, etc)
- event channel (generalized virtual interrupt handling)
- grant table (shared memory interface for high speed interdomain communication)
- block device I/O
- network device I/O
- console device I/O
- Xen feature map
- Xen version info

Thanks to those who provided early feedback to this patchset: Andi Kleen,
Gerd Hoffmann, Jan Beulich, Rik van Riel, Stephen Tweedie, and the Xen team.
And thanks to the Xen community: AMD, HP, IBM, Intel, Novell, Red Hat,
Virtual Iron, XenSource -- see Xen changelog for full details.

Known issues:

	CodingStyle conformance is still in progress
	/proc interface needs to be replaced with something more appropriate
	entry.S cleanups are possible


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 183+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2006-05-18 21:23 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 183+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2006-05-09  8:49 [RFC PATCH 00/35] Xen i386 paravirtualization support Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 01/35] Add XEN config options and disable unsupported config options Chris Wright
2006-05-09 10:05   ` Adrian Bunk
2006-05-09 11:06     ` Ed Tomlinson
2006-05-09 12:45     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 23:23     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 14:47   ` Daniel Walker
2006-05-09 15:16     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 16:00       ` Daniel Walker
2006-05-09 23:25         ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 16:42   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-10 15:36   ` [Xen-devel] " Alan Cox
2006-05-10 15:48     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 02/35] Makefile support to build Xen subarch Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 03/35] Add Xen interface header files Chris Wright
2006-05-09 14:49   ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 17:54     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 15:15   ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 19:35     ` Hollis Blanchard
2006-05-09 19:48       ` [Xen-devel] " Anthony Liguori
2006-05-09 22:34       ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 22:36     ` Ingo Oeser
2006-05-09 16:06   ` Daniel Walker
2006-05-09 16:18     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 16:29       ` Daniel Walker
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 04/35] Hypervisor " Chris Wright
2006-05-09 22:43   ` Ingo Oeser
2006-05-09 23:01     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 05/35] Add sync bitops Chris Wright
2006-05-09 22:56   ` Christoph Lameter
2006-05-09 23:04     ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 23:07     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 06/35] Add vmlinuz build target Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 07/35] Make LOAD_OFFSET defined by subarch Chris Wright
2006-05-10 23:28   ` Zachary Amsden
2006-05-11  7:47     ` [Xen-devel] " Gerd Hoffmann
2006-05-11  8:51       ` Chris Wright
2006-05-11  9:06         ` Gerd Hoffmann
2006-05-11 16:43     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-12  6:47       ` [Xen-devel] " Jan Beulich
2006-05-12  8:38         ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 08/35] Add Xen-specific memory management definitions Chris Wright
2006-05-09 14:49   ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 17:44     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-15  6:44   ` Pete Zaitcev
2006-05-15  7:04     ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-15  8:19     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-17 16:06   ` Pete Zaitcev
2006-05-18  7:42     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 09/35] Change __FIXADDR_TOP to leave room for the hypervisor Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 10/35] Add a new head.S start-of-day file for booting on Xen Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 11/35] Add support for Xen to entry.S Chris Wright
2006-05-09 16:51   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 12/35] Add start-of-day setup hooks to subarch Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 13/35] Support loading an initrd when running on Xen Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 14/35] Subarch support for CPUID instruction Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 15/35] subarch support for controlling interrupt delivery Chris Wright
2006-05-09 14:49   ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 14:55     ` Nick Piggin
2006-05-09 15:51     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 16:02       ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 16:07       ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 16:29         ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 16:31           ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 20:42             ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 21:56               ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-10 10:35                 ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-10 10:54                   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 21:56               ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 16/35] subarch support for interrupt and exception gates Chris Wright
2006-05-09 11:09   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 12:55     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-13 12:27   ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-15 18:30     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 17/35] Segment register changes for Xen Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:16   ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-10 20:09     ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-10 20:30       ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-11 10:34         ` Avi Kivity
2006-05-11 10:41           ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-12  0:28     ` [Xen-devel] " Rusty Russell
2006-05-09 16:44   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-18 20:20   ` Zachary Amsden
2006-05-18 20:41     ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-18 21:26     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 18/35] Support gdt/idt/ldt handling on Xen Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:21   ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-10 20:23     ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 14:49   ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 18:14     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 18:21       ` Martin Bligh
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 19/35] subarch support for control register accesses Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 20/35] subarch stack pointer update Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 21/35] subarch TLB support Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 22/35] subarch suport for idle loop (NO_IDLE_HZ for Xen) Chris Wright
2006-05-09 13:21   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 15:13     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 23/35] Increase x86 interrupt vector range Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 24/35] Add support for Xen event channels Chris Wright
2006-05-12 21:41   ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-13 12:27   ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-13 13:02     ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 25/35] Add Xen time abstractions Chris Wright
2006-05-09 16:23   ` Daniel Walker
2006-05-09 16:38     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 19:27       ` Adrian Bunk
2006-05-09 21:50   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 23:03     ` Ingo Oeser
2006-05-09 23:09       ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 23:13       ` Chris Wright
2006-05-12 21:44   ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 26/35] Add Xen subarch reboot support Chris Wright
2006-05-09 17:02   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-12 21:46     ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-12 21:57       ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 27/35] Add nosegneg capability to the vsyscall page notes Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 28/35] add support for Xen feature queries Chris Wright
2006-05-12 21:56   ` Pavel Machek
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 29/35] Add the Xen virtual console driver Chris Wright
2006-05-09 13:26   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 15:03     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-13 12:27   ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-13 12:51     ` Nick Piggin
2006-05-13 14:29       ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-13 14:43         ` Nick Piggin
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 30/35] Add apply_to_page_range() function Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 31/35] Add Xen grant table support Chris Wright
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 32/35] Add Xen driver utility functions Chris Wright
2006-05-09 19:48   ` Greg KH
2006-05-09 21:50   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 33/35] Add the Xenbus sysfs and virtual device hotplug driver Chris Wright
2006-05-09 16:06   ` Alexey Dobriyan
2006-05-09 16:28     ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 19:40   ` Greg KH
2006-05-09 21:53     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 22:01       ` Greg KH
2006-05-09 22:50         ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 23:43         ` Anthony Liguori
2006-05-09 19:49   ` Greg KH
2006-05-09 19:58     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-13 12:28   ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 34/35] Add the Xen virtual network device driver Chris Wright
2006-05-09 11:55   ` [Xen-devel] " Herbert Xu
2006-05-09 12:43     ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 13:01       ` Herbert Xu
2006-05-09 13:14         ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 13:16         ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 13:26           ` Herbert Xu
2006-05-09 14:00             ` Christian Limpach
2006-05-09 14:30               ` David Boutcher
2006-05-09 23:35                 ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 11:58   ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 23:37     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 18:56   ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-05-09 23:39     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 20:25   ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-05-09 20:26     ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-09 20:39       ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-05-09 20:46       ` Roland Dreier
2006-05-10 18:28         ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-11  0:33           ` Herbert Xu
2006-05-11  7:49             ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-11  8:04               ` Herbert Xu
2006-05-11  9:47               ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-11 16:18                 ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-05-11 16:48                 ` Rick Jones
2006-05-11 16:55                   ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-05-11 17:30                   ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 20:32     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-09 22:41   ` [Xen-devel] " Herbert Xu
2006-05-09 23:51     ` Chris Wright
2006-05-10  6:36       ` Keir Fraser
2006-05-09  7:00 ` [RFC PATCH 35/35] Add Xen virtual block " Chris Wright
2006-05-09 12:01   ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 14:49 ` [RFC PATCH 00/35] Xen i386 paravirtualization support Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 15:07   ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 15:12     ` Martin J. Bligh
2006-05-09 15:20     ` Andi Kleen
2006-05-09 15:22       ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-05-09 15:45         ` Pekka Enberg
2006-05-14  1:35         ` Andrew Morton
2006-05-15 21:01           ` Chris Wright
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2006-03-22  6:30 Chris Wright
2006-03-22  6:30 ` [RFC PATCH 15/35] subarch support for controlling interrupt delivery Chris Wright

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