Re: kvm86 kernel option

[Jean-Yves Migeon <jeanyves.migeon%free.fr@localhost>]

Le 08/05/12 19:24, David Laight a écrit :
> I was looking at the code that allows an application to run in
> 'viritual 8086 mode', not anything that might allow a 'normal'
> application to make bios calls - although that couls have it's
> own security risks.

Okay, misunderstood your suggestion :)

I can only think of one obstacle before doing that then: real mode 
support under VMs.

I do not know how much support is required from dom0 nowadays, 
especially with Intel's hardware virtualization (which does not support 
running VMs in real mode "easily").

IIRC, Xen introduced a real mode emulator around Xen 3.2 so they can 
support a wider range of guest HVMs. I doubt that it has to rely on 
v8086 mode from dom0, but this should be checked anyway.

--
Jean-Yves Migeon
jeanyves.migeon%free.fr@localhost