Re: Merge Xen (the hypervisor) into Linux

Keir Fraser
2009-06-03T11:39:41Z

On 03/06/2009 12:15, "Theodore Tso" <tytso@mit.edu> wrote:

>>> It does not however preclude fixing the dom0 interface.
>>
>> It wasn't my intention to imply that. The interface can be extended
>> when needed. PAT support will probably be such a case. Changing it in
>> incompatible ways isn't going to work though.
>
> But that means that if there is some fundamentally broken piece of
> dom0 design, that the Linux kernel will be stuck with it ***forever***
> and it will contaminate code paths and make the code harder to
> maintain ***forever*** if we consent to the Xen merge? Is that really
> what you are saying? Be careful how you answer that....

It's not true, if you are prepared for a new dom0 kernel to require a new
version of Xen (which seems not unreasonable). We're happy to make
reasonable interface changes, and deal with compatibility issues as
necessary within Xen.

-- Keir