Re: [PATCH 0/2 v3] kvm: notify host when guest panicked

From: Gleb Natapov
Date: Wed Mar 14 2012 - 06:46:18 EST


On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 12:29:57PM +0200, Avi Kivity wrote:
> On 03/14/2012 12:26 PM, Wen Congyang wrote:
> > >> If so, is this channel visible to guest userspace? If the channle is visible to guest
> > >> userspace, the program running in userspace may write the same message to the channel.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Surely there's some kind of access control on channels.
> >
> > The virtio-serial depends on more things than touching the hypervisor. So I think touching
> > the hypervisor is more reliable than using virtio-serial device, and it is very simple and
> > easy to use.
> >
> > If we pass something from guest userspace to host, we can use virtio-serial. But If we pass
> > something from guest kernelspace to host, I still prefer to touch the hypervisor.
>
> There's no argument that it's easier. My concern is different, we're
> adding more and more stuff to the hypervisor because it's easier, which
> bloats it. Every time we do it we add to compatibility and security
> problems.
>
> The panic notification is *really* simple, so I don't expect it to cause
> a lot of problems. But still, if it's possible not to change the
> hypervisor, we must make an effort in that direction.
>
One more point against using virtio-serial is that it will be likely
compiled as a module which means panic during early boot will not be
reported.

--
Gleb.
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