5 ms·

KVM was ported to illumos by Max Bruning, Robert Mustacchi and me. Details are here: http://t.co/knW1UIJ http://t.co/knW1UIJ

rednaught 15y ago
Can you provide more details of Crossbow? Who maintains it/status? I hadn't heard anything about it since OpenSolaris went dead.
- bcantrill 15y ago
  Could you be more specific? It's there, it works, it's in shipping illumos-based products (from Joyent and others) and it's supported by those who ship it or stand it up. In that regard, it's like any other aspect of the system...
  - rednaught 15y ago
    Thank you. I guess I just have to go dig through the Illumos/OpenIndiana documents.
djcapelis 15y ago
Uhm, isn't that a violation of the GPL given that you're mixing the complete work with non-compatible (by design) CDDL code? Did you ask for KVM to be relicensed for the port or something?
- bcantrill 15y ago
  There is not a licensing issue here: both KVM and our KVM port remain licensed under the GPL.
  - djcapelis 15y ago
    Isn't your port of KVM integrated into the Solaris kernel? How are you ensuring they are two independent and separate works under copyright law?
    - bcantrill 15y ago
      No; the KVM kernel module is in its own repo: https://github.com/joyent/illumos-kvm https://github.com/joyent/illumos-kvm
      - sp332 15y ago
        But distributing binaries built with some GPL'd code is a violation of the GPL if you don't publish all the code that went into the binary.
        sriramnrn 15y ago
        A number of people in the openindiana community have compiled the KVM bits, and no one has complained about binary-only modules, yet. Did you encounter any binary-only files ?
    - kmavm 15y ago
      My (somewhat casual) understanding is that the Solaris kernel has always, by necessity, supported modules under a different license much more deeply than Linux. Commercially significant software like the Veritas filesystem and device drivers have always worked this way. So, e.g., the Solaris kernel has a real, no-foolin' ABI.
      - justincormack 15y ago
        That doesnt mean that linking in a GPL module doesnt make the rest of the kernel GPL. A real ABI might not mean it is not linked. Allowing commercial modules and linking with GPL ones are not the same. I dont know though, the definition of linking is pretty opaque to me.
        nl 15y ago
        It doesn't matter - Joyent doesn't own the copyright for Solaris so nothing that they do can change the licencing conditions for Solaris itself. You can write GPL'ed device drivers for Windows - doesn't make Windows GPL.
slillibri 15y ago
Kind of an off topic rant, but can we at least avoid url shorteners that point to other url shorteners? Here is the original link http://www.slideshare.net/bcantrill/experiences-porting-kvm-to-smartos http://www.slideshare.net/bcantrill/experiences-porting-kvm-...
- fanf2 15y ago
  SlideShare is also a world of hate. Try http://www.linux-kvm.org/wiki/images/7/71/2011-forum-porting-to-smartos.pdf http://www.linux-kvm.org/wiki/images/7/71/2011-forum-porting...
- mambodog 15y ago
  Honestly, no one should be using URL shorteners on HN. Use a footnote[1] if necessary. [1] http://www.google.com/search?q=hi,+this+is+a+footnote http://www.google.com/search?q=hi,+this+is+a+footnote
  - RexRollman 15y ago
    I like the footnote form. I use that in e-mails as well.
emaste 15y ago
I really like the use of DTrace in #if 0'd out code for identifying the highest priorities on porting. Having faced a similar task that seemed impenetrable at the start I would have really liked to have this technique available. Nice work and congrats on the port.

rednaught 15y ago

Can you provide more details of Crossbow? Who maintains it/status? I hadn't heard anything about it since OpenSolaris went dead.

bcantrill 15y ago
Could you be more specific? It's there, it works, it's in shipping illumos-based products (from Joyent and others) and it's supported by those who ship it or stand it up. In that regard, it's like any other aspect of the system...
- rednaught 15y ago
  Thank you. I guess I just have to go dig through the Illumos/OpenIndiana documents.

djcapelis 15y ago

Uhm, isn't that a violation of the GPL given that you're mixing the complete work with non-compatible (by design) CDDL code? Did you ask for KVM to be relicensed for the port or something?

bcantrill 15y ago
There is not a licensing issue here: both KVM and our KVM port remain licensed under the GPL.
- djcapelis 15y ago
  Isn't your port of KVM integrated into the Solaris kernel? How are you ensuring they are two independent and separate works under copyright law?
  - bcantrill 15y ago
    No; the KVM kernel module is in its own repo: https://github.com/joyent/illumos-kvm https://github.com/joyent/illumos-kvm
    - sp332 15y ago
      But distributing binaries built with some GPL'd code is a violation of the GPL if you don't publish all the code that went into the binary.
      - sriramnrn 15y ago
        A number of people in the openindiana community have compiled the KVM bits, and no one has complained about binary-only modules, yet. Did you encounter any binary-only files ?
  - kmavm 15y ago
    My (somewhat casual) understanding is that the Solaris kernel has always, by necessity, supported modules under a different license much more deeply than Linux. Commercially significant software like the Veritas filesystem and device drivers have always worked this way. So, e.g., the Solaris kernel has a real, no-foolin' ABI.
    - justincormack 15y ago
      That doesnt mean that linking in a GPL module doesnt make the rest of the kernel GPL. A real ABI might not mean it is not linked. Allowing commercial modules and linking with GPL ones are not the same. I dont know though, the definition of linking is pretty opaque to me.
      - nl 15y ago
        It doesn't matter - Joyent doesn't own the copyright for Solaris so nothing that they do can change the licencing conditions for Solaris itself. You can write GPL'ed device drivers for Windows - doesn't make Windows GPL.

slillibri 15y ago

Kind of an off topic rant, but can we at least avoid url shorteners that point to other url shorteners? Here is the original link http://www.slideshare.net/bcantrill/experiences-porting-kvm-to-smartos http://www.slideshare.net/bcantrill/experiences-porting-kvm-...

fanf2 15y ago
SlideShare is also a world of hate. Try http://www.linux-kvm.org/wiki/images/7/71/2011-forum-porting-to-smartos.pdf http://www.linux-kvm.org/wiki/images/7/71/2011-forum-porting...
mambodog 15y ago
Honestly, no one should be using URL shorteners on HN. Use a footnote[1] if necessary. [1] http://www.google.com/search?q=hi,+this+is+a+footnote http://www.google.com/search?q=hi,+this+is+a+footnote
- RexRollman 15y ago
  I like the footnote form. I use that in e-mails as well.

emaste 15y ago

I really like the use of DTrace in #if 0'd out code for identifying the highest priorities on porting. Having faced a similar task that seemed impenetrable at the start I would have really liked to have this technique available. Nice work and congrats on the port.