[PATCH RFC v12 21/21] pvh: Documentation

[George Dunlap <george.dunlap@eu.citrix.com>]

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+
+PVH : an x86 PV guest running in an HVM container.
+
+See: http://blog.xen.org/index.php/2012/10/23/the-paravirtualization-spectrum-part-1-the-ends-of-the-spectrum/
+
+At the moment HAP is required for PVH.
+
+At present the only PVH guest is an x86 64bit PV linux. Patches are at:
+   git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/konrad/xen.git
+
+A PVH guest kernel must support following features, as defined for linux
+in arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S:
+
+   #define FEATURES_PVH "|writable_descriptor_tables" \
+                        "|auto_translated_physmap"    \
+                        "|supervisor_mode_kernel"     \
+                        "|hvm_callback_vector"
+
+In a nutshell, the guest uses auto translate, ie, p2m is managed by
+xen, it uses event callback and not vlapic emulation, the page tables
+are native, so mmu_update hcall is N/A for PVH guest. Moreover IDT is
+native, so set_trap_table hcall is also N/A for a PVH guest. For a
+full list of hcalls supported for PVH, see pvh_hypercall64_table in
+arch/x86/hvm/hvm.c in xen.  From the ABI prespective, it's mostly a PV
+guest with auto translate, although it does use hvm_op for setting
+callback vector.
+
+The initial phase targets the booting of a 64bit UP/SMP linux guest in PVH
+mode. This is done by adding: pvh=1 in the config file. xl, and not xm, is
+supported. Phase I patches are broken into three parts:
+   - xen changes for booting of 64bit PVH guest
+   - tools changes for creating a PVH guest
+   - boot of 64bit dom0 in PVH mode.
+
+Following fixme's exist in the code:
+  - Add support for more memory types in arch/x86/hvm/mtrr.c.
+  - arch/x86/time.c: support more tsc modes.
+  - check_guest_io_breakpoint(): check/add support for IO breakpoint.
+  - implement arch_get_info_guest() for pvh.
+  - verify bp matching on emulated instructions will work same as HVM for
+    PVH guest. see instruction_done() and check_guest_io_breakpoint().
+
+Following remain to be done for PVH:
+   - Investigate what else needs to be done for VMI support.
+   - AMD port.
+   - 32bit PVH guest support in both linux and xen. Xen changes are tagged
+     "32bitfixme".
+   - Add support for monitoring guest behavior. See hvm_memory_event* functions
+     in hvm.c
+   - vcpu hotplug support
+   - Live migration of PVH guests.
+   - Avail PVH dom0 of posted interrupts. (This will be a big win).
+
+
+Note, any emails to me must be cc'd to xen devel mailing list. OTOH, please
+cc me on PVH emails to the xen devel mailing list.
+
+Mukesh Rathor
+mukesh.rathor [at] oracle [dot] com
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1.7.9.5