Re: [Xen-users] Confusion about Kernel in Installation process

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> There are some things about the Xen installation process that are not
> clear to me.  I have successfully run "make world" on the xen-source and
> notice it has built a bunch of kernels for me.  However, in the Xen
> User's Manual almost nothing is said about the kernel building process
> nor what the disctinction is between these various kernels it builds.

The build process produces three images used to boot Xen domains:

* xen.gz - Xen itself.  You need to boot this in your grub.conf / menu.lst
* vmlinuz-2.6.11-xen0 - a "domain 0" (host) enabled kernel.  You need to pass 
this to Xen in your grub.conf / menu.lst
* vmlinuz-2.6.11-xenU - a guest-only kernel.  You can boot guest domains from 
this instead of using the -xen0 kernel.  The only difference is it's slightly 
smaller because it includes only "virtual" drivers.

> My question is: Why should the user not just patch the kernel with
> whatever required patches there are and then compile the kernel himself?
> The make script seems to be nice but unfortunately I have no idea what
> it is actually doing.  For example, are there specific options in the
> Linux kernel which need to be disabled or enabled for the Xen kernels?
> Why not just instruct the user to patch the kernel with the appropriate
> patches and to dis(en)able whatever options are necessary?

You can cd linux-2.6.11-xen0 and do "make ARCH=xen menuconfig" to configure.  
You may want to copy your existing .config into that directory first.

Alternatively, stick your config under "dist/install/boot/config-2.6.11-xen0" 
and it should get applied automatically.

Cheers,
Mark

> I would be much happier if the whole process was a little less automated
> yet more clear to the user (who if they are to the point of installing
> something like Xen, presumably also already have experience building a
> custom kernel).
>
> Anyhow, I already have the source for the customized kernel my machine
> is running in /usr/src/linux.  I noticed that the kernels that Xen built
> did not include some required options for my machine (such as XFS
> filesystem support) so now I am totally confused.
>
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> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

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