[gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[Grant Edwards]

I've been trying to use Qemu to do some test installs of Ubuntu
server.  I've used Qemu successfully in the past, but it seems to have
hit a dead end.  The "stable" version (0.11) of Qemu just plain
doesn't work. There are constant segfaults and kernel panics in the
guest environment.

I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.  

For now I've switched to VirtualBox, but the console implementation in
VirtualBox is nightmarishly slow. When I do -l looks like it's
scrolling by at about 9600 baud.

Is Qemu dead?  Or just dying?

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! What UNIVERSE is this,
                                  at               please??
                              gmail.com            

Re: [gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[Mark Knecht]

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 7:14 AM, Grant Edwards
<grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been trying to use Qemu to do some test installs of Ubuntu
> server.  I've used Qemu successfully in the past, but it seems to have
> hit a dead end.  The "stable" version (0.11) of Qemu just plain
> doesn't work. There are constant segfaults and kernel panics in the
> guest environment.
>
> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.
>
> For now I've switched to VirtualBox, but the console implementation in
> VirtualBox is nightmarishly slow. When I do -l looks like it's
> scrolling by at about 9600 baud.
>
> Is Qemu dead?  Or just dying?
>
> --
> Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! What UNIVERSE is this,
>                                  at               please??
>                              gmail.com
>
>

I don't think it's dead at all. I see those guys interacting with the
KVM developers. I've never used Qemu but I suspect that the kqemu
stuff you're looking for is now what they're doing with KVM which
seems to be a pretty lively project. Qemu is not at 0.15 so it looks
like portage is a bit behind I guess.

HTH,
Mark

Re: [gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Grant Edwards wrote:

> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.  

If you enable the relevant KVM modules in your kernel you can use
app-emulation/qemu-kvm, which uses in-CPU virtualisation.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Geordi, show these children the antimatter - Picard

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[gentoo-user] Re: Is Qemu dead?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2011-09-28, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Grant Edwards wrote:
>
>> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
>> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
>> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.  
>
> If you enable the relevant KVM modules in your kernel you can use
> app-emulation/qemu-kvm, which uses in-CPU virtualisation.

Doh!

I had forgotten there was a seperate kvm-enabled build of Qemu.  I'll
have to give that a try.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! So this is what it
                                  at               feels like to be potato
                              gmail.com            salad

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Is Qemu dead?

[Michael Orlitzky]

On 09/28/2011 10:42 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
> 
> Doh!
> 
> I had forgotten there was a seperate kvm-enabled build of Qemu.  I'll
> have to give that a try.
> 

You can use qemu-kvm whether or not you have a kernel/CPU with KVM support:

  $ cat /usr/bin/kvm
  #!/bin/sh
  exec /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm "$@"

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Is Qemu dead?

[Matthew Finkel]

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On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Michael Orlitzky <michael@orlitzky.com>wrote:

> On 09/28/2011 10:42 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
> >
> > Doh!
> >
> > I had forgotten there was a seperate kvm-enabled build of Qemu.  I'll
> > have to give that a try.
> >
>
> You can use qemu-kvm whether or not you have a kernel/CPU with KVM support:
>
>  $ cat /usr/bin/kvm
>  #!/bin/sh
>  exec /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm "$@"
>
>
But I was under the impression you can only use -enable-kvm if you have KVM
built into the kernel/load the module.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Is Qemu dead?

[Michael Orlitzky]

On 09/29/11 16:07, Matthew Finkel wrote:
> 
>      $ cat /usr/bin/kvm
>      #!/bin/sh
>      exec /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 --enable-kvm "$@"
> 
>  
> But I was under the impression you can only use -enable-kvm if you have
> KVM built into the kernel/load the module.
> 

It will spit out a warning, but work normally (albeit slowly). Anyway,
my point was that the kvm "binary" is just qemu with "--enable-kvm"
passed to it. So, if you want the latest qemu, emerge qemu-kvm, and run
it without the "--enable-kvm".

Re: [gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Grant Edwards
<grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been trying to use Qemu to do some test installs of Ubuntu
> server.  I've used Qemu successfully in the past, but it seems to have
> hit a dead end.  The "stable" version (0.11) of Qemu just plain
> doesn't work. There are constant segfaults and kernel panics in the
> guest environment.

Version 0.11 is more than two years old. I don't use stable Gentoo; is
a 2-year-old version of a frequently-updated package normal in stable,
or is the Qemu in Gentoo in need of some attention?

> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.

I am not a Qemu user, but I seem to remember reading that the
preferred method for hardware virtualization/acceleration with Qemu
nowadays is KVM.

> For now I've switched to VirtualBox, but the console implementation in
> VirtualBox is nightmarishly slow. When I do -l looks like it's
> scrolling by at about 9600 baud.
>
> Is Qemu dead?  Or just dying?

The latest version (0.15) was released last month and the Qemu-dev
mailing list has a lot of activity (few dozen messages per day), so it
seems alive to me.

[gentoo-user] Re: Is Qemu dead?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2011-09-28, Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Grant Edwards
><grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I've been trying to use Qemu to do some test installs of Ubuntu
>> server. ?I've used Qemu successfully in the past, but it seems to have
>> hit a dead end. ?The "stable" version (0.11) of Qemu just plain
>> doesn't work. There are constant segfaults and kernel panics in the
>> guest environment.
>
> Version 0.11 is more than two years old. I don't use stable Gentoo;
> is a 2-year-old version of a frequently-updated package normal in
> stable, or is the Qemu in Gentoo in need of some attention?
>
>> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
>> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
>> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.
>
> I am not a Qemu user, but I seem to remember reading that the
> preferred method for hardware virtualization/acceleration with Qemu
> nowadays is KVM.

Yes, I should have known that.  I had forgotten that kqemu and
qemu-kvm were two completely different things.

>> For now I've switched to VirtualBox, but the console implementation in
>> VirtualBox is nightmarishly slow. When I do -l looks like it's
>> scrolling by at about 9600 baud.
>>
>> Is Qemu dead? ?Or just dying?
>
> The latest version (0.15) was released last month and the Qemu-dev
> mailing list has a lot of activity (few dozen messages per day), so it
> seems alive to me.

That's good to hear.  I've used it extensively in the past for testing
eCos (an embedded RTOS) software on a "PC motherboard" target.  Glad to 
know it's still kicking.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Not SENSUOUS ... only
                                  at               "FROLICSOME" ... and in
                              gmail.com            need of DENTAL WORK ... in
                                                   PAIN!!!

Re: [gentoo-user] Is Qemu dead?

[Matthew Finkel]

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On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 10:14 AM, Grant Edwards
<grant.b.edwards@gmail.com>wrote:

> I've been trying to use Qemu to do some test installs of Ubuntu
> server.  I've used Qemu successfully in the past, but it seems to have
> hit a dead end.  The "stable" version (0.11) of Qemu just plain
> doesn't work. There are constant segfaults and kernel panics in the
> guest environment.
>
> I updated to the ~x86 version (0.14) -- while the guest OS installs
> and runs OK, kernel acceleration (kqemu module) is no longer
> supported, and without it Qemu is really slow.
>
> For now I've switched to VirtualBox, but the console implementation in
> VirtualBox is nightmarishly slow. When I do -l looks like it's
> scrolling by at about 9600 baud.
>
> Is Qemu dead?  Or just dying?
>
> --
> Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! What UNIVERSE is
> this,
>                                  at               please??
>                              gmail.com
>
>
>
I've been using QEMU on, nearly, a daily basis for the last few months. Last
I checked, I believe they're on track for a v1.0 release in November or
December. I, honestly, haven't had many problems with unexpected segfaults
on either Gentoo or Ubuntu, so I can't give any advice for that. As for the
speed issue, have you tried building KVM into the kernel or at least as a
mod?

- Matt

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