Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2 4/4] hw/i386: Introduce the microvm machine type

[Sergio Lopez]

Paolo Bonzini <address@hidden> writes:

> On 02/07/19 12:52, Sergio Lopez wrote:
>> As I said, I'm also in favor of microvm supporting booting from
>> firmware in the future, as long we keep the simple mode too.
>
> The simple mode adds code to QEMU's x86 target that only exists to
> support microvm.  It should be motivated by a clear win in boot times.

OK. When I'm back from my PTO, I'll work on adding the firmware
support to microvm. I'll run and share some numbers to see whether the
simple mode makes sense or we can just rely on qboot for lower boot
times plus SeaBIOS for compatibility.

Cheers,
Sergio.

>> My main concern about supporting SeaBIOS, in addition to boot times, is
>> having to support ACPI, which due to its complexity and size, is a clear
>> candidate to be stripped out from a minimalistic QEMU build.
>
> SeaBIOS doesn't need ACPI.  I agree that ACPI should be optional in microvm.
>
>> AFAIK, qboot can't boot a guest without both ACPI and PCI.
>
> It currently needs PCI, but that's a one-line change to avoid panicking.
>  ACPI is optional, on the other hand qboot doesn't support mptable so
> that can be a problem when ACPI is disabled.
>
> Paolo

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