[libvirt] [PATCH] kvm 32bit guest on 64bit host

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 11:49:59AM +0200, Gerd v. Egidy wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
> 
> > > I want to manage a 32 bit i686 guest on an x86_64 host with kvm and
> > > libvirt. KVM is perfectly capable of doing this (look e.g. at
> > > http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/Guest_Support_Status) but libvirt did not
> > > allow it.
> > >
> > > So I created the attached patch to allow it and make it easy to extend
> > > the capabilities of kvm and kqemu later on.
> >
> > This is incorrect.  KVM is *not* exposing a i686 architecture CPU. It is
> > exposing an x86_64 virtualized CPU which is capable of running x86_64 or
> > i686 guests.  No change is required.
> 
> Thanks for looking at my patch. I understand that KVM does not offer a i686 
> host cpu but allows x86_64 and i686 guests.
> 
> The reason for my patch was that I could not create i686 guests on a x86_64 
> host with KVM, the only option offered was using qemu.

Yes you can - just select the x86_64 option. It is refering to the *CPU* 
architecture that is virtualized, *not* the OS architecture. You can select
x86_64 CPU and then install a i386 operating system just fine.

Dan.
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