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How we ported FreeBSD to PVH

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How we ported FreeBSD to PVH
FOSDEM 2014

Xen has recently gained a new guest type called PVH and it can run as both DomU and Dom0. This talk will focus on the architecture of PVH and the interface exposed to guest OSes in order to run under this mode.

Also, examples will be provided about how we ported FreeBSD to run under this new virtualization mode.

The goal of this talk is to provide information about the PVH architecture, and to encourage other OS hackers to port their OSes to PVH.

  • Description of the PVH architecture:

    • Why was PVH introduced?
    • Differences between PV, PVHVM and PVH.
    • Description of the current PVH interface.

  • Practical example: changes in FreeBSD in order to run as PVH:

    • How does FreeBSD make use of the PVH interfaces.
    • The road so far: from HVM to PVH, a progressive implementation.
    • General tips about best ways to add PVH support to an existing OS.

Speakers: Roger Pau Monné