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Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] Xen is a feature
From: Andy Burns <xen.lists@burns.me.uk>
To: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@goop.org>
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2009/5/29 Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@goop.org>:

> Ingo Molnar wrote:
>>
>> Xen changes - especially dom0 - are overwhelmingly not about improving
>> Linux, but about having some special hook and extra treatment in random
>> places - and that's really bad.
>>
>
> You've made this argument a few times now, and I take exception to it.
>
> There are at least 500k servers
> running Xen in commercial user sites (and untold numbers of smaller sites
> and personal users), running millions of virtual guest domains.
> To them, improved Xen support *is* "improving Linux".

Well said. I use xen both personally and in my business as a dozen or
so of those unseen millions of domUs, I've bitten my tongue for months
while watching xen developers jump through the hoops in order to get
pv_ops dom0 into the mainstream, only to be knocked back or left until
the next merge window and the next and the next.

Sure there were "the bad old days" of xen's history, but having been
asked the go the pv_ops route, I feel it is not just failing to
improve linux by keeping dom0 out of mainstream, but actually hurting
users and trapping them on ancient kernels which are missing newer
hardware support.

Sure, I wouldn't like to see any old rubbish merged into the kernel,
but I'm amazed at Jeremy's patience over this.