Debian Xen 2.0.6 Packages
From OptionC
2005-10-24: Packages for Xen 2.0.7 and information on 2.0-testing/Xen 2.0.8 also available
These are "unoffical" packages (and do not conform to all Debian Policies), created for internal use but shared in the hopes they might be of help. They rely heavily on the excellent work done by Adam Heath. (Please do not contact him regarding problems with these, as he most likely did not create the problem!) This page is by no means the definitive resource; if you want the latest status, you should probably check the Debian lists (http://lists.debian.org/)), the Xen lists (http://lists.xensource.com/), the Xensource wiki (http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/) and quite likely the Ubuntu lists (http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/) as well.
| Table of contents |
General
If you are just interested in the packages, and not the explanation or discussion of them, they are here. (http://www.option-c.com/debian/pool/main/x/xen/)
Or to add it to /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://www.option-c.com/debian/ experimental main
After adding it to your sources list.
apt-get update apt-get install xen-system
You should get a nearly working Xen system, with the following caveats:
- The grub update mechanism needs work. I created a modified version of "update-grub-xen." I'd recommend backing up your current menu list _before_ using it. If that process failes, look at /usr/share/doc/xen/grub/grub.menu.sample.xen_2.0.6 for an example of the entry.
apt-get install update-grub-xen /sbin/update-grub-xen
- These packages also do not adequately address the /lib/tls issue - common practice is to "mv /lib/tls /lib/tls.disabled." If you don't, you'll see a very explicit warning message on boot telling you to do just that. I've created a tiny script that runs on install and shutdown to check for this and move it out of the way. (As a note, a relatively recent post to xen-users (http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2005-06/msg00004.html) says the following: "...running with TLS enabled is perfectly safe thesedays, it just hurts performance. The warning message is needlessly scary.") If you want to add it
apt-get install xen-tls
There is more information on configuring a base system in the Xen_Debian_Quick_Start
Updates
2005-07-25: As the official packages are out, but do not (and quite likely won't ever) have base kernels, I've been spending the last week dithering about whether or not to pull these packages entirely. Since it looks (from the logs) that are people who've added this archive to their system and update regularly, I decided to leave everything intact, but to focus my efforts on creating a similar set of packages for 2.0-testing.
2005-07-19: The Official 2.0.6 Xen Packages have been uploaded to unstable, and should be coming soon to a mirror near you. I'll update this (and the Quick Start) soon.
2005-07-18: As a heads up, I'm going to put up a new version of all the packages within the next 24 hours. Other than a few small items (I created another package/script called "xen-tls" that should move and /lib/tls out of the way until a better solution is solved), these packages _should_ be identical to the previous.
- xen-docs should actually contain the documentation now (/usr/share/doc/xen/ps or /usr/share/doc/xen/pdf); it doesn't have the html version (as that depends on latex2html which is in non-free, and would keep the package out of main). I also corrected the name - originally I had it as xen-doc.
- libxen-dev is back
- If you already have the packages installed, apt-get upgrade isn't going to get you much (no major bug-fixes). However, if you do choose to use the latest version, either:
- Don't run the upgrade on a system that is currently running xen or
- Shut down xend and xendomains first
/etc/init.d/xendomains stop /etc/init.d/xend start
This needs to be done because I haven't tweaked the upgrade process so that it knows to do that on its own; as such, depending on the order, you could end up with something like the "xend restart" issue that has been explained on the lists, and lose control of your domains (from xm - they won't run off and take over the world or anything).
2005-07-16: I posted to the debian-mentors on Wednesday to get advice about these packages. If you're curious about the response, check out this thread. (http://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2005/07/msg00245.html)
2005-07-11: I've had several discussions about these packages, as well as about the direction of the Debian/Xen packages in general. Based on the entirely skewed sample (those who have contacted me, or responded to questions), the main concerns for changes seem to be (in no particular order):
- A "Xen aware" update-grub
- A resolution to the /lib/tls issue
- Modification of the xend/xendomains script (or the treatment thereof) so that they deal more appropriately with upgrades, problem shutdowns, xend restart etc
- A base kernel/modules set for dom0 that has been through some testing to be "stable" as well as an "unstable" set of additional modules for people to add/test as their hardware requires (this sort of thing may never end up being part of the "official" packages, but that discussion is for another day)
Also, other concerns that have come up are issues such as compatibility with older kernels, location of various log/configuration files, a known location for the "unofficial official" set of *debs, and packages for the various versions of xen (stable, testing, unstable) across various versions of Debian (stable, testing, unstable - there's not so much concern with oldstable) as well as Ubuntu.
As such, I've added some new packages to the archive. They have gone through less testing that the original set (yes, there are varying levels of "experimental"). Since most of the people who've helped test are not on my LAN, I set the packages free and let them live in the wild earlier than I would under other circumstances. Please feel free to do with them as you will.
Alternate kernel/modules for dom0
Basically, this is the configuration from the previous kernel (kernel-image-2.6.11-xen0/kernel-image-2.6.11-ocxen0), with the addition of most modules and a change to a more generic "M686" instead of "Pentium4." Although I have not see any issues with the main set of modules as a dom0 (I have seen issues with using them for domU, and am looking into that), I would not recommend using the pcmcia-modules, as I have only posted them for the benefit of the extremely curious.
- kernel-image-2.6.11-ksxen0
- kernel-modules-2.6.11-ksxen0
- kernel-modules-pcmcia-2.6.11-ksxen0
"Xen-aware" update grub
- update-grub-xen
This is not the world's cleanest workaround, but it should behave like the original upgrade-grub (for example, on an unmodified system: sort kernels highest to lowest, create a recovery boot option for every kernel, not touch custom entries, etc), including things (not related to Xen) such as defaulting to changing the /boot/grub/menu.lst on the running system (often a reasonable assumption, but not always). However, installation of this package will _not_ make it the default. Although going forward the xen/debian/kernel packages I create will call it on install, other actions (such as installing a new Debian kernel) will not call it unless you specifically configure your system to do so in /etc/kernel-img.conf or by using dpkg-divert.
That said, it should:
- Not add unprivileged domains to the grub list
- Not add symbolic links to the grub list (except for the ones that update grub would have dealt with, namely /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/vmlinuz.old, if they exists)
- Make "bootable" grub entries for xen (for both vmlinuz-* and xen-linux-* kernels) - NOTE: I've used "noreboot" as a default, although that can be changed. That is because I use it as a default, and I was hoping it might reduce the number of people who have to go to or post to xen-users to find out how to keep from rebooting after a panic so that they can read the last error messages
xensv
The status of xensv is unknown (last I checked it had been removed from unstable and wasn't working in 2.0.6) Based on this thread, I removed xensv before creating the packages:
- Xen-users: XenSV (http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2005-06/msg00057.html)
Xen 2.0.6 packages (and how they differ from Xen 2.0.5)
This is how we have broken down the unofficial packages that we maintain for ourselves. This is by no means definitive - when originally creating the packages, if I could think of a situation where a package might be installed on its own (for example, domU modules) or not at all (xend and friends in an environment that uses vmtools), I broke the package out. (In some cases the packages list (http://www.option-c.com/debian/dists/experimental/main/binary-i386/Packages) gives more details than the chart.)
| Original | New | Reason |
| libxen-python | libxen-python | same; python libraries for xend and friends control tools |
| libxen2.0 | libxen2.0 | same; libraries for control interface |
| libxen-dev | libxen-dev | same; needed for development, not for a running system |
| xen | xen-hypervisor | if using alternate adminstration tools, don't need to install everything just to get hypervisor |
| - | xen-tools | most common administration tools (xend, xfrd) |
| n/a | xen-debug | less common administration tools (xentrace) |
| xen-docs | xen-docs | currently a dummy package for 2.0.6, xen documentation |
| n/a | xen-system | meta-package to get most of the common components of a running Xen system |
| n/a | kernel-image-2.6.11-xen0 | This is essentially the default configuration for dom0 from Xen, used with the Debian-patched source and patched with the Xen patch; although there was a kernel image for the 1.x debs, there was not for 2.x. |
| n/a | kernel-modules-2.6.11-xen0 | The modules for kernel-image-2.6.11-xen0 - broken out if people want to use these in a dom0 |
| n/a | kernel-image-2.6.11-xenU | This is essentially the default configuration for domU from Xen, used with the Debian-patched source and patched with the Xen patch |
| n/a | kernel-modules-2.6.11-xenU | The modules for kernel-image-2.6.11-xenU - broken out for ease of install into a domU |
| n/a | kernel-image-2.6.11-ksxen0 | Original configuration + many, many extra modules. This differs from the Xen Demo/Live CD config, or from a basic Debian config in that I have tried to keep the things compiled into the kernel from the default configuration, as opposed to making them modules as they are in the other two. |
| n/a | kernel-modules-2.6.11-ksxen0 | Most of the modules for kernel-image-2.6.11-ksxen0. |
| n/a | kernel-modules-pcmcia-2.6.11-ksxen0 | Pcmcia modules for kernel-image-2.6.11-ksxen0; these make my laptop unbootable, they might work on yours... |
| n/a | update-grub-xen | A "Xen-aware" update-grub; please see the README file for customization instructions |
| n/a | xen-tls | A tiny script that runs on install, and as long as it is there, checks to make sure /lib/tls is kept out of the way |
