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[Xen-devel] Re: [RFC, PATCH 5/24] i386 Vmi code patching

To: Chris Wright <chrisw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Xen-devel] Re: [RFC, PATCH 5/24] i386 Vmi code patching
From: Zachary Amsden <zach@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:54:05 -0800
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxx>, Christopher Li <chrisl@xxxxxxxxxx>, Xen-devel <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Pratap Subrahmanyam <pratap@xxxxxxxxxx>, Wim Coekaerts <wim.coekaerts@xxxxxxxxxx>, Joshua LeVasseur <jtl@xxxxxxxxxx>, Dan Hecht <dhecht@xxxxxxxxxx>, Andi Kleen <ak@xxxxxxx>, Jack Lo <jlo@xxxxxxxxxx>, Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, virtualization@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxx>, Anne Holler <anne@xxxxxxxxxx>, Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxxxx>, Jyothy Reddy <jreddy@xxxxxxxxxx>, Kip Macy <kmacy@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Ky Srinivasan <ksrinivasan@xxxxxxxxxx>, Leendert van Doorn <leendert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dan Arai <arai@xxxxxxxxxx>
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Chris Wright wrote:
* Zachary Amsden (zach@xxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
Chris Wright wrote:
You could compile all platform layers you want to support with the kernel.
But the entire point is that you don't know what platform layers you want to support. The platform layers can change. Xen has changed the platform layer and re-optimized kernel / hypervisor transitions how many times? The platform layer provides exactly the flexibility to do that, so that a kernel you compile today against a generic platform can work with the platform layer provided by Xen 4.0 tomorrow.

This only works if you have all possible dreamed of interface bits in
the ABI. In Linux, we often don't know what we'll need to support in the
future, but we don't write binary compatible interfaces just in case we
need to update.  Preferring instead, API's that are justifiable right now.
This is the issue I have with the ABI proposal.  It doesn't fit well
with Linux developement.

No, you don't need to dream up all the possible interface bits ahead of time. With a la carte interfaces, you can take what you need now, and add features later. You don't need an ABI for features. You need it for compatibility. You will need to update the hypervisor ABI. And you can't force people to upgrade their kernels.

And much of this is so low level, that a C API for it just doesn't make sense. This code is completely hidden from Linux development to begin with, tucked away in the low level sub-arch layer.

Zach

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