RE: [PATCH 00/25] Staging: hv: Cleanup vmbus driver code

[KY Srinivasan]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christoph Hellwig [mailto:hch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2011 12:07 PM
> To: KY Srinivasan
> Cc: Christoph Hellwig; Greg KH; gregkh@xxxxxxx; linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; virtualization@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [PATCH 00/25] Staging: hv: Cleanup vmbus driver code
> 
> On Sun, May 01, 2011 at 03:46:23PM +0000, KY Srinivasan wrote:
> > What is the issue here? This is no different than what is done in other
> > Virtualization platforms. For instance, the Xen blkfront driver is no
> > different - if you specify the block device to be presented to the guest
> > as an ide device, it will register for the appropriate ide major number.
> 
> No, it won't - at least not in mainline just because it's so buggy.
> If distros keep that crap around I can only recommed you to not use
> them.

Christoph,

Could you elaborate on the problems/issues when the block driver registers for the 
IDE majors. On the Qemu side, we have a mechanism to disable the emulation when 
PV drivers load. I don't think there is an equivalent mechanism on the Windows side.
So, as far as I know, registering for the IDE majors is the only way to also prevent native
drivers in Linux from taking control of the emulated device. 

Regards,

K. Y 

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