user-mode-linux-user

[User-mode-linux-user] user-mode port 0.24-2.3.99-pre9

[Jeff D. <jd...@ka...>]

The user-mode port of 2.3.99-pre9 is available.

There is now a real hardware interrupt mechanism, which I got by copying the 
i386 irq code, and wrapping user-mode stuff around it.  The consoles and 
network device now do their I/O off interrupts rather than the timer, which 
greatly reduces latency.  The interactive feel is much better, especially 
under X.

As a side-effect of this, 'cat /proc/interrupts' will no longer hang the 
kernel :-)

I fixed the stair-stepping problem with the console output.

I also fixed the problem that some people had running kernels that they had 
built themselves.  So, if you built a -pre8 kernel from source, and it did 
nothing but hang, that's fixed.

I've also got some caveats to go with this batch of good news.  Now that this 
port is much more interrupt-driven, it is more prone to races.  I've fixed a 
bunch of them, but I still see an occasional process segfault.

There is also a slight difficulty at times with the network.  Sometimes 
packets will stop flowing.  I have no idea why, but typing at a console will 
wake things up and get those packets flowing again.  This is most easy to 
reproduce under X (start an xterm and a window manager and wave the mouse in 
and out of the xterm, and after a while, the xterm will stop blinking and the 
mouse will stop changing shape), but I've also seen it affect ping.

The project's home page is http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net 
The project's download page is http://sourceforge.net/project/filelist.php?grou
p_id=429

				Jeff

[User-mode-linux-user] Re: user-mode port 0.24-2.3.99-pre9

[Pavel M. <pa...@su...>]

Hi!

> The user-mode port of 2.3.99-pre9 is available.
> 
> There is now a real hardware interrupt mechanism, which I got by copying the 
> i386 irq code, and wrapping user-mode stuff around it.  The consoles and 
> network device now do their I/O off interrupts rather than the timer, which 
> greatly reduces latency.  The interactive feel is much better, especially 
> under X.
> 
> As a side-effect of this, 'cat /proc/interrupts' will no longer hang the 
> kernel :-)
> 
> I fixed the stair-stepping problem with the console output.
> 
> I also fixed the problem that some people had running kernels that they had 
> built themselves.  So, if you built a -pre8 kernel from source, and it did 
> nothing but hang, that's fixed.
> 
> I've also got some caveats to go with this batch of good news.  Now that this 
> port is much more interrupt-driven, it is more prone to races.  I've fixed a 
> bunch of them, but I still see an occasional process segfault.
> 
> There is also a slight difficulty at times with the network.  Sometimes 
> packets will stop flowing.  I have no idea why, but typing at a console will 
> wake things up and get those packets flowing again.  This is most easy to 
> reproduce under X (start an xterm and a window manager and wave the mouse in 
> and out of the xterm, and after a while, the xterm will stop blinking and the 
> mouse will stop changing shape), but I've also seen it affect ping.

Does that mean that you can now run X under uml?


-- 
I'm pa...@uc.... "In my country we have almost anarchy and I don't care."
Panos Katsaloulis describing me w.r.t. patents me at di...@li...

Re: [User-mode-linux-user] Re: user-mode port 0.24-2.3.99-pre9

[Jeff D. <jd...@ka...>]

pa...@su... said:
> > This is most easy to 
> > reproduce under X (start an xterm and a window manager and wave the
> > mouse in 
> > and out of the xterm, and after a while, the xterm will stop blinking
> > and the 
> > mouse will stop changing shape), but I've also seen it affect ping.

> Does that mean that you can now run X under uml? 

Yeah, that's actually worked for a while.  I just haven't gone out of my way 
to publicize it.

This is how to do it:

Install the X clients in your favorite user-mode root filesystem.  Make sure 
you get Xnest.
Boot it up and bring the network up if it isn't already.
If necessary, xhost the virtual machine on the host.
In the virtual machine run 'DISPLAY=host:0 Xnest &'
You'll get an Xnest window, and you can then set your DISPLAY to :0 and run 
whatever X clients you want.  What I normally do is 'DISPLAY=:0 fvwm2 &'  That 
gives me a window manager and enough of an environment to do what I want 
without needing to go back to the console.

This is a rerun url (I ran it last week as a demo of the virtual network), but 
have a look at http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/net.html.  It's a 
screenshot of a virtual net, but Xnest is also involved.

				Jeff

Re: [User-mode-linux-user] Re: user-mode port 0.24-2.3.99-pre9

[Pavel M. <pa...@su...>]

Hi!

> > > This is most easy to 
> > > reproduce under X (start an xterm and a window manager and wave the
> > > mouse in 
> > > and out of the xterm, and after a while, the xterm will stop blinking
> > > and the 
> > > mouse will stop changing shape), but I've also seen it affect ping.
> 
> > Does that mean that you can now run X under uml? 
> 
> Yeah, that's actually worked for a while.  I just haven't gone out of my way 
> to publicize it.
> 
> This is how to do it:
> 
> Install the X clients in your favorite user-mode root filesystem.  Make sure 
> you get Xnest.
> Boot it up and bring the network up if it isn't already.
> If necessary, xhost the virtual machine on the host.
> In the virtual machine run 'DISPLAY=host:0 Xnest &'
> You'll get an Xnest window, and you can then set your DISPLAY to :0 and run 
> whatever X clients you want.  What I normally do is 'DISPLAY=:0 fvwm2 &'  That 
> gives me a window manager and enough of an environment to do what I want 
> without needing to go back to the console.

Nice. (I was hoping you did it other way: framebuffer driver in uml
which knows how to do X would be even cooler; the way you done it evil
application could connect to your X server directly and capture your
keystrokes; something what framebuffer driver would not allow).

								Pavel
-- 
I'm pa...@uc.... "In my country we have almost anarchy and I don't care."
Panos Katsaloulis describing me w.r.t. patents me at di...@li...