In order to reduce the memory footprint when PVH kernel and initrd are used, we map them into memory instead of reading them. In this way we can share them between multiple instances of QEMU.
v3: - Added patch 1 to handle memory-mapped ELFs in rom_add_elf_program() [Paolo] - Patch 2: ~ passed the GMappedFile* to rom_add_elf_program() [Paolo] ~ renamed 'GMappedFile *gmf' in 'GMappedFile *mapped_filed' for readability ~ set 'data' pointer only if 'file_size > 0' as the original behaviour [check-qtest-ppc64 fails without it] - Patch 3: ~ stored the initrd GMappedFile* in PCMachineState to avoid Coverity issue [Paolo] ~ renamed 'GMappedFile *gmf' in 'GMappedFile *mapped_filed' for readability v2: https://patchew.org/QEMU/20190723140445.12748-1-sgarz...@redhat.com/ These are the results using a PVH kernel and initrd (cpio): - memory footprint (using smem) [MB] QEMU before now # instances USS PSS USS PSS 1 102.0M 105.8M 102.3M 106.2M 2 94.6M 101.2M 72.3M 90.1M 4 94.1M 98.0M 72.0M 81.5M 8 94.0M 96.2M 71.8M 76.9M 16 93.9M 95.1M 71.6M 74.3M Initrd size: 3.0M Kernel image size: 28M sections size [size -A -d vmlinux]: 18.9M - boot time [ms] before now qemu_init_end: 63.85 55.91 linux_start_kernel: 82.11 (+18.26) 74.51 (+18.60) linux_start_user: 169.94 (+87.83) 159.06 (+84.56) QEMU command used: ./qemu-system-x86_64 -bios /path/to/seabios/out/bios.bin -no-hpet \ -machine q35,accel=kvm,kernel_irqchip,nvdimm,sata=off,smbus=off,vmport=off \ -cpu host -m 1G -smp 1 -vga none -display none -no-user-config -nodefaults \ -kernel /path/to/vmlinux -initrd /path/to/rootfs.cpio \ -append 'root=/dev/mem0 ro console=hvc0 pci=lastbus=0 nosmap' Stefano Garzarella (3): loader: Handle memory-mapped ELFs elf-ops.h: Map into memory the ELF to load hw/i386/pc: Map into memory the initrd hw/core/loader.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++----- hw/i386/pc.c | 17 ++++++++--- include/hw/elf_ops.h | 68 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------ include/hw/i386/pc.h | 1 + include/hw/loader.h | 5 ++-- 5 files changed, 88 insertions(+), 40 deletions(-) -- 2.20.1