5 ms·

KVM on Illumos (OpenSolaris fork)

31 points by timf 15y ago

timf 15y ago
This announcement is part of their SmartOS release: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2887170 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2887170
sgt 15y ago
Illumos. I'm still very excited about this project. Let's not forget how powerful OpenSolaris still is.
- nz 15y ago
  You should be! As far as I can tell, Illumos is the only kernel project out there that is solving exciting new problems, instead of reimplementing solutions to old ones.
  - djcapelis 15y ago
    Taking code from the Linux kernel and porting it to Solaris is solving exciting new problems and not re-implementing solutions?
    - nz 15y ago
      They didn't re-implement KVM. They ported it (to the greatest extent possible), because it was already a suitable solution. I wasn't referring to the KVM port as a solution to an exciting new problem (it was, but a while ago, thus making the problem stale). But it was a much needed solution. I was referring to innovations that originated in the Illumos code base such as ZFS, DTrace, zones, doors, crossbow, ctf, least-privilege, etc. All of these are either unavailable on most systems, have inferior clones (i.e. systemtap, btrfs), or are partially available (the Mac DTrace port doesn't have a complete, systemic scope, due to Apple's classist tendencies, and most of the kernel providers like fsinfo are missing, for example). Either way, I still maintain that Illumos is a nexus of systems innovation compared to other kernels, based on how much innovative technology originated in the Illumos kernel, before being ported to or reimplemented on other kernels (the Slab Allocator is an example of a technology that originated in this code-base and has been reimplemented on almost all other kernels; ZFS and DTrace are examples of technologies that have been ported over to some other kernels, albeit with less functionality/stability). Also, the release of Illumos-KVM (among other improvements in the last year) only goes to show that Illumos is still innovating in various ways, while other kernels are either still catching up (I believe that FreeBSD didn't support DTrace'ing userland apps until their 2009 release) or losing differentiators (linux just lost KVM). Seeing as how the Illumos project has quite a bit of engineering talent and corporate investment behind it, I doubt that the rate of innovation will drop below that of other kernels... in fact it might just increase, now that potential contributors know that Oracle/Sun doesn't have a monopoly
      - nz 15y ago
        The last sentence was cut off: "... a monopoly on the engineering talent."

31 points by timf 15y ago

timf 15y ago

This announcement is part of their SmartOS release: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2887170 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2887170

sgt 15y ago

Illumos. I'm still very excited about this project. Let's not forget how powerful OpenSolaris still is.

nz 15y ago
You should be! As far as I can tell, Illumos is the only kernel project out there that is solving exciting new problems, instead of reimplementing solutions to old ones.
- djcapelis 15y ago
  Taking code from the Linux kernel and porting it to Solaris is solving exciting new problems and not re-implementing solutions?
  - nz 15y ago
    They didn't re-implement KVM. They ported it (to the greatest extent possible), because it was already a suitable solution. I wasn't referring to the KVM port as a solution to an exciting new problem (it was, but a while ago, thus making the problem stale). But it was a much needed solution. I was referring to innovations that originated in the Illumos code base such as ZFS, DTrace, zones, doors, crossbow, ctf, least-privilege, etc. All of these are either unavailable on most systems, have inferior clones (i.e. systemtap, btrfs), or are partially available (the Mac DTrace port doesn't have a complete, systemic scope, due to Apple's classist tendencies, and most of the kernel providers like fsinfo are missing, for example). Either way, I still maintain that Illumos is a nexus of systems innovation compared to other kernels, based on how much innovative technology originated in the Illumos kernel, before being ported to or reimplemented on other kernels (the Slab Allocator is an example of a technology that originated in this code-base and has been reimplemented on almost all other kernels; ZFS and DTrace are examples of technologies that have been ported over to some other kernels, albeit with less functionality/stability). Also, the release of Illumos-KVM (among other improvements in the last year) only goes to show that Illumos is still innovating in various ways, while other kernels are either still catching up (I believe that FreeBSD didn't support DTrace'ing userland apps until their 2009 release) or losing differentiators (linux just lost KVM). Seeing as how the Illumos project has quite a bit of engineering talent and corporate investment behind it, I doubt that the rate of innovation will drop below that of other kernels... in fact it might just increase, now that potential contributors know that Oracle/Sun doesn't have a monopoly
    - nz 15y ago
      The last sentence was cut off: "... a monopoly on the engineering talent."