Xen 
 
Home About Xen.org Xen Xen Summit Wiki Mailing List Bug Tracker Xen Downloads
 
   
 

xen-devel

[Xen-devel] RE: [kvm-devel] [PATCH RFC 1/3] virtio infrastructure

To: "Rusty Russell" <rusty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "kvm-devel" <kvm-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Xen Mailing List" <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "virtualization" <virtualization@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Xen-devel] RE: [kvm-devel] [PATCH RFC 1/3] virtio infrastructure
From: "Dor Laor" <dor.laor@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 06:01:35 -0700
Cc: Jimi Xenidis <jimix@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Stephen Rothwell <sfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Herbert Xu <herbert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Christian Borntraeger <cborntra@xxxxxxxxxx>, Suzanne McIntosh <skranjac@xxxxxxxxxx>, Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@xxxxxxxxxx>
Delivery-date: Thu, 31 May 2007 05:59:45 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <1180613947.11133.58.camel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-help: <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen developer discussion <xen-devel.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-devel@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
References: <1180613947.11133.58.camel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thread-index: AcejffpLFo9sj+w1TzS4uK96ZVn2HQABUBLg
Thread-topic: [kvm-devel] [PATCH RFC 1/3] virtio infrastructure
>This attempts to implement a "virtual I/O" layer which should allow
>common drivers to be efficiently used across most virtual I/O
>mechanisms.  It will no-doubt need further enhancement.
>
>The details of probing the device are left to hypervisor-specific
>code: it simple constructs the "struct virtio_device" and hands it to
>the probe function (eg. virtnet_probe() or virtblk_probe()).
>
>The virtio drivers add and detach input and output buffers; as the
>buffers are used up their associated "used" pointers are filled in.
>
>I have written two virtio device drivers (net and block) and two
>virtio implementations (for lguest): a read-write socket-style
>implementation, and a more efficient descriptor-based implementation).
>
>Signed-off-by: Rusty Russell <rusty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

That's the exact things I was planning to add to KVM/Linux.
All virtual I/O devices should have common interface and share the core
functionality. Since Xen PV drivers are already performance optimized
and 
feature rich, we were planning to generalize the hypervisor-specific
backend in order to reuse them.
This is a good step toward such sharing.
Cheers, Dor.

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