Call for testing: Xen 4.2.0-rc4

[Roger Pau Monne <roger.pau%citrix.com@localhost>]

Hello,

Xen has recently tagged the next rc of the 4.2 version, which should
include full NetBSD support without the need of additional patches. It
would be very helpful if you test this release and notify any bugs
found, to either port-xen%netbsd.org@localhost or 
xen-devel%lists.xen.org@localhost. Here
are the instructions for building Xen 4.2.0-rc4 from source on a NetBSD box.

First, install all the necessary dependencies:

devel/scmgit
devel/gmake
lang/python27
devel/py-curses
devel/dev86
devel/glib2
devel/yajl

Clone the repository:

# git clone git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git

Enter the directory:

# cd xen/

Switch to the 4.2.0-rc4 tag:

# git checkout 4.2.0-rc4

Export path to libraries:

# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/pkg/lib

Run configure:

# ./configure PYTHON=/usr/pkg/bin/python2.7
APPEND_INCLUDES=/usr/pkg/include APPEND_LIB=/usr/pkg/lib --prefix=/usr/xen42

Please change /usr/pkg to the appropriate path where you installed the
dependencies mentioned before, and replace /usr/xen42 also with the path
where Xen should be installed.

Compile and install Xen kernel:

# gmake -j2 PYTHON=/usr/pkg/bin/python2.7 xen && cp xen/xen.gz /xen42.gz

Compile and install the tools:

# gmake -j2 install-tools

--- Optional: Install man pages

Xen 4.2 comes with manual pages, to build them:

# gmake -C docs man-pages

Now, we can install this pages to /usr/pkg/man, or to /usr/xen42/man
(the later will require a modification in /etc/man.conf). Either way,
you will have to copy the man pages to the desired directory:

# cp -r docs/man1 docs/man5 /usr/xen42/man/

If you have installed them in /usr/xen42/man, you should modify
/etc/man.conf (around line 46), so it looks like:

_default        /usr/{share,X11R7,X11R6,pkg,local,xen42}/man/

Rebuild man database:

# makemandb -f

--- End of man page install

Now download a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel (if you don't have it yet) and
add a new entry to your /boot.cfg:

menu=Xen42;load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0 console=pc;multiboot /xen42.gz

Reboot into the new hypervisor!

If you have installed Xen in a non-standard path, like /usr/xen42 you
will need to set some variables:

# export PREFIX="/usr/xen42"
# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${PREFIX}/lib"
# export PYTHONPATH="${PREFIX}/lib/python2.7/site-packages"
# export PATH="${PREFIX}/bin:${PREFIX}/sbin:${PATH}"

Finally, start xencommons:

# /usr/xen42/etc/rc.d/xencommons onestart

Xend has been deprecated in 4.2, so I won't recommend using it anymore,
but if you plan on using xend, you should start it also:

#/usr/xen42/etc/rc.d/xend onestart

4.2 is the first release to include NetBSD support for the new toolstack
(xl), so I would like to focus testing on this. Try to create several
DomUs using xl, and possibly running with different backends (file and
phy)... Destroy them, shutdown, try to block-attach to a DomU while
running, whatever you feel should work on xend, should also work on xl.

Thanks, Roger.