Re: Should Xen be a sub-arch or a build option?

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007, Warner Losh wrote:

If it were me, I'd look at having it be a build option, much like PAE is a build option. PAE has a bigger impact on the i386 world than xen, and it is only an option. PAE breaks kernel ABIs, while xen doesn't (as far as I know). PAE changes the size of things like vm_addr_t and bus_addr_t. I think this would fit best with our current world view and sensabilities.

I have to admit that I find the novelty and simplicity of "options XEN" pretty appealing -- I also had been thinking only in terms of a sub-arch and the associated paperwork. I guess the real question is what we lose by doing this -- will ps(1), vmstat(8), kgdb(8), etc, all work transparently across i386 and i386+xen?

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge
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