Re: [RFC] Unify KVM kernel-space and user-space code into a single project

Antoine Martin
2010-03-21T20:31:48Z

On 03/22/2010 03:24 AM, Avi Kivity wrote:
> On 03/21/2010 10:18 PM, Antoine Martin wrote:
>>> That includes the guest kernel. If you can deploy a new kernel in
>>> the guest, presumably you can deploy a userspace package.
>>
>> That's not always true.
>> The host admin can control the guest kernel via "kvm -kernel" easily
>> enough, but he may or may not have access to the disk that is used in
>> the guest. (think encrypted disks, service agreements, etc)
>
> There is a matching -initrd argument that you can use to launch a daemon.
I thought this discussion was about making it easy to deploy... and
generating a custom initrd isn't easy by any means, and it requires
access to the guest filesystem (and its mkinitrd tools).
> I believe that -kernel use will be rare, though. It's a lot easier
> to keep everything in one filesystem.
Well, for what it's worth, I rarely ever use anything else. My virtual
disks are raw so I can loop mount them easily, and I can also switch my
guest kernels from outside... without ever needing to mount those disks.