QNX Hypervisor 8.0.4 Release Notes

Contents

• What's in this release?
• Installation
• Usage
• Fixed issues
• Known issues
• Getting started with the documentation
• Technical support

What's in this release?

New features and improvements

• Improved performance through VHE support

  The hypervisor host processes and the QNX OS microkernel can run at the same privilege level, which avoids the cost of switching privilege levels. On AArch64, the host processes and microkernel can run at either exception level 1 (EL1) or exception level 2 (EL2) at all times; support for this second level is known as Virtualization Host Extensions (VHE) support.

• Improved performance for guest address mapping and unmapping

  The vdev API controls for mapping and unmapping guest address ranges have changed based on a new implementation that provides better performance, particularly for unmapping.

• Privileged Access Never (PAN)

  The hypervisor allows guests running on ARM targets to use the PAN hardware feature which protects user data from access by privileged kernel code.

• Reading and writing registers in another vdev

  The vdev API lets you read and write addresses in another vdev's register set (e.g., memory-mapped GIC registers).

• Power management

  You can save and restore guest status and registers to support power management (e.g., Suspend-to-RAM).

• Backpressure for vdev virtio-console

  There's a new option, tx-backpressure, for the virtual console device, vdev virtio-console, to prevent the vdev from dropping data being transmitted when the system is heavily loaded. This option forces the driver to wait if the vdev can't buffer more data.

• Pass-through of devices that use MSIs

  The pass VM configuration option lets you pass through Device IDs to support devices capable of using Message Signaled Interrupts (MSIs). In this case, your host system must have an Interrupt Translation Service (ITS).

• FDT overlays

  On ARM targets, you can provide an FDT overlay to qvm to define only those device properties you want to override.

• Vendor-specific features

  VIRTIO vdevs may offer vendor-specific features not defined in the VIRTIO specification. This is done through new vdev API controls and vdev options.

• Shared memory permissions and ownership

  Through vdev shmem, users can set permissions and ownership of shared memory objects.

• Using the VM image generator to build a QNX Hypervisor system

  You can use the mkqnximage utility to generate a QNX OS virtual machine (VM) image for a QNX Hypervisor system for x86-64 target systems, which can be useful for both demonstration and development purposes.

  Support for using mkqnximage to generate hypervisor images for ARM target systems is planned for a future release.

• No-drift design for virtualized time

  The emulation of time for a guest OS running in a QNX Hypervisor system follows a design in which the host and guest have similar timelines, and time drift for the guest is effectively eliminated.

Software packages

To see the contents of a package, right-click it in the QNX Software Center, choose Properties, then click Package Contents.

Installation

The QNX Software Center has all of the components you need to start working with the QNX Hypervisor 8.0.4 product. To obtain and install this product, follow the instructions below.

You must add a new, separate QNX SDP 8.0.3 installation with a Conservative installation policy for your QNX Hypervisor work, even if you already have a QNX SDP 8.0.3 installation on your development host. Selecting a Conservative policy ensures that any updates of this baseline product issued since its initial release get installed. For instructions on installing the baseline product, see the QNX SDP 8.0.3 Release Notes.

Your development host should now have all the packages required to successfully install the QNX Hypervisor product. The hypervisor files are uniquely named, so installing the hypervisor packages won't overwrite existing files in your QNX SDP target or host directories. However, in some cases a board support file may require updating in order to work properly in a hypervisor system. The change may be one you make yourself, or one recommended to you by QNX Engineering.

The hypervisor packages listed above (in What's in this release?) get installed. There are also some middleware components that the hypervisor needs to function properly; the following packages get installed too:

Usage

Startup and shutdown

Building a hypervisor system

When you are ready to build your own system, just follow the instructions in the Building a QNX Hypervisor System chapter of the same user's guide.

Developing virtual devices

Developing custom virtual devices (vdevs) that use the Virtualization API (libhyp.a) or building frontends for vdevs may require additional documentation. If you're working with the Virtual Device Developer's Guide and you require details on Virtualization API functions and features, visit the QNX Hypervisor GitLab Repository at https://gitlab.com/qnx/hypervisor, and contact your QNX representative.

Note that the Virtualization API is different than the vdev API, which is documented in the Virtual Device Developer's API Reference that is included in the user documentation.

Fixed issues

The following issues are fixed in this release:

Known issues

The known issues for this release are described in the QNX Hypervisor 8.0.x: Known Issues document that's stored in the QNX Download Center at: https://www.qnx.com/download/group.html?programid=78876

Getting started with the documentation

The QNX Hypervisor documentation is found on our public website at https://www.qnx.com/developers/docs/8.0/com.qnx.doc.hypervisor.nav/topic/bookset.html.

Technical support

To obtain technical support for any QNX product, visit the Support area on our website: https://blackberry.qnx.com/en/support. You'll find a range of support options.

For product experience and roadmap information, please contact QNX Product Management.