Re: Xen 4.3 development update, and stock-taking

[Daniel De Graaf <dgdegra@tycho.nsa.gov>]

On 01/16/2013 12:55 PM, George Dunlap wrote:
> Below is a summary of the projects / features being worked on for the 4.3
> time frame.  The tentative feature freeze is scheduled for 25 March, which
> is just over 2 months away.  With that in mind, I think it's time to take
> stock of the development, so we know whether to ask for more help or divert
> resources.
> 
> To that end, I've added a line called "prognosis", indicating the
> likelihood of completion in the 4.3 timeframe.  For items involving code
> hosted on the Xen.org site (including qemu-xen), that means a likelihood of
> having the feature code-complete and mostly working by the feature freeze.
> (It's OK if there are still bugs to be worked out.)  For items in Linux, I
> think it would mean having items on track to make it into the kernel
> released just after the scheduled 4.3 time frame.  Not sure what that means
> for libvirt. :-)
> 
> I've given ratings to projects that I thought I had some insight on, but I
> would appreciate if everyone could review these and let me know if they're
> not accurate.
> 
> I'd particularly appreciate it if the people listed below could give
> prognoses on the project listed.
> 
> Meanings of prognoses:
> - Excellent: It would be very unlikely for this not to be finished in time.
> - Good: Everything is on track, and is likely to make it.
> - Fair: A pretty good chance of making it, but not as certain
> - Poor: Likely not to make it unless intervention is made
> - Not for 4.3: self-explanatory
[...]
> * Allow XSM to override IS_PRIV checks in the hypervisor
>   owner: Daniel De Graaf
>   status: patches against 4.3-unstable posted, awaiting approval
>   prognosis: Good
>   This makes it possible to allow some user domains limited access to
>   dom0-only hypercalls. This could be used to allow a user-created
>   toolstack domain to administer its own set of VMs instead of relying
>   on dom0's toolstack.

These patches are now in xen-unstable.

-- 
Daniel De Graaf
National Security Agency