On Wed, 2007-03-28 at 17:48 +0200, Avi Kivity wrote: > Hollis Blanchard wrote: > > On Tue, 2007-03-27 at 08:57 +0200, Avi Kivity wrote: > >> > >> I don't think we should be aiming at full source portability. > >> Virtualization is inherently nonportable, and as it is mostly done in > >> hardware, software gets to do the quirky stuff that the hardware people > >> couldn't bother with :) instead we should be aiming at code reuse. > >> > > > > I'm not sure I see the distinction you're making. Operating systems > > could also be considered "inherently nonportable", yet Linux and the > > BSDs support an enormous range of platforms. If you're saying that we > > shouldn't try to run x86 MMU code on a PowerPC then I can't agree > > more. :) > > No, I'm saying that some #ifdeffery in both libkvm and the ioctl > interface is unavoidable.
If by #ifdeffery you mean having per-architecture definitions of structures like kvm_regs, absolutely. If you mean literal #ifdefs in the middle a header file, I believe that can and should be avoided. > Right now this is handled by qemu, which means our higher level tools > are _already_ nonportable. Yes, but not *all* the higher level tools are. At some point you have a common interface, and at this point I think I've answered my own question: the qemu monitor connection is the portable interface. That means everything layered above qemu, such as libvirt and thus virt-manager, should work on all architectures +/- without changes. Lower-level software, such as GDB, would need per-architecture support. > [I have a feeling we're talking a little past each other, probably due > to me not knowing ppc at any level of detail. No doubt things will > become clearer when the code arrives] I don't have any code for you, but you will be the first to know when I do. :) Right now I'm just trying to make sure we don't accidentally paint ourselves into a corner with a stable ABI. -Hollis ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ kvm-devel mailing list kvm-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/kvm-devel
