On Thu 11/29/07 at 15:17 PM, Nils.Nieuwejaar at Sun.COM wrote: > On Thu 11/29/07 at 12:01 PM, Tim.Marsland at Sun.COM wrote: > > >If we determine we are running in an hvm domain on a supported version > > >of Xen, we will add /platform/i86hvm/kernel to the beginning of the > > >default search path. Otherwise, we will leave the search path > > >untouched, and Solaris will access all devices through the (possibly > > >emulated) physical interfaces. > > > > But up until now (my understanding was) we didn't have to touch the > > kernel to make these PV drivers work. There's considerable advantage in > > the perception that we're just adding drivers, rather than patching the > > kernel .. > > > > (Were you *already* patching the kernel and I just didn't realize it?) > > We can deliver the PV drivers without making any kernel modifications. > Providing tranparent access to those drivers through the existing physical > interfaces does require some minor kernel modifications. Since we're > already going to depend on a kernel patch to deliver these in an update, we > decided to use this cleaner i86hvm approach, rather than hanging a PV bag > off the side of the existing cmdk driver.
Upon further reflection, by including new versions of cmdk and cmlb that install in /platform/i86pc rather than /kernel, we should be able to deliver all of this as a simple pkgadd for an update release. These modifications to cmdk and cmlb would not be something we want integrated into ON. They would just be a stopgap measure to simplify the end-user experience for update releases that are already in the field. Upgrading domU to the next update release would remove these modified drivers, and would install a kernel with the necessary i86hvm support built in. Nils
