From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sat May 2 17:21:44 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B266110656C0 for ; Sat, 2 May 2009 17:21:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from julian@elischer.org) Received: from outH.internet-mail-service.net (outh.internet-mail-service.net [216.240.47.231]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9A7F58FC16 for ; Sat, 2 May 2009 17:21:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from julian@elischer.org) Received: from idiom.com (mx0.idiom.com [216.240.32.160]) by out.internet-mail-service.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 77FEEB0CFA for ; Sat, 2 May 2009 10:21:44 -0700 (PDT) X-Client-Authorized: MaGic Cook1e Received: from julian-mac.elischer.org (home.elischer.org [216.240.48.38]) by idiom.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 303E02D635B for ; Sat, 2 May 2009 10:21:44 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <49FC812B.2070305@elischer.org> Date: Sat, 02 May 2009 10:21:47 -0700 From: Julian Elischer User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (Macintosh/20090302) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: FreeBSD Current Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Subject: VIMAGE status X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 02 May 2009 17:21:47 -0000 The VIMAGE code is nearly all in the the kernel. One is now able to make VIMAGE kernels (add options VIMAGE) though they don't actually allow you to make multiple vimages instances yet.. The VIMAGE option enables all the low level changes needed throughout the kernel. The VIMAGE_GLOBALS option basically sets thing sback to how they were before. Having neither (the default) gives a kernel that is a kind of hybrid. The Hybrid state is what will go forward as 'NON-VIMAGE' mode and the VIMAGE_GLOBALS mode will probably go away in time as it complicates the code. The aim of this mail is to ask people to try add the VIMAGE option to their regular kernels and try use them as you woudl normally. You will not yet be able to use any new VIMAGE features but we should be fully compatible with previous kernels. Please report any concerns to the freebsd-virtualization@ mailing list. THEORETICALLY you should not see any changes in behaviour, however we have the following issues: * SCTP is not fully converted yet. add 'nooptions SCTP' for now if you are not using it yet. * An NFS (crash) issue was reported. This MAY have been fixed... Theory tells us that all three kernel options should behave about the same but if you do try this, and have any benchmarking facilities, it would be incredibly useful if you could let us know if you see any performance changes between the three. thanks, Julian (currently running a VIMAGE kernel myself)