Inspirated

The first stable release of the Linux kernel in 2007 was announced on 4th February. Many new features excite developers but the one that’s been most anticipated is the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM); which enables people to run virtual ‘machines’ on their desktop concurrently (e.g. a Linux distribution and Windows).

Until now, virtualization for Linux distributions was usually done through Xen. The competition scenario of KVM and Xen proves to be an intriguing one. Xen people’s efforts for inclusion in mainstream kernel sources will now abruptly subside, while mainstream distributions e.g. RHEL will keep supporting Xen for at least a couple of years because of the stability and inertia of the project.

As for myself, alas, I can’t test the 2.6.20 kernel right now. It’ll probably sound boring now but I’m away from my PC for another few days — I’ll post a review of KVM as soon as I get back to it (phew, another one on the list).