Bug 212828

Summary:	xen kernel ignores noapic option
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Christian Nolte <ch.nolte>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	6	CC:	bstein
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Reopened
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2006-10-31 00:35:25 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Christian Nolte 2006-10-29 13:48:16 UTC

Description of problem:

On my test machine the kernel option 'noapic' is required to boot. If not
provided, the kernel spits out that no usable IC configuration can be found and
that I shall try to add 'noapic'. kernel-xen-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ignores this
option and mentioned error message occurs on every boot. After 5 seconds the
system is automatically rebooted.

Another problem occurs if one chooses to install virt-manager during
installation. Then kernel-xen is installed and the system is unbootable (if one
has to specify 'noapic').

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

kernel-xen-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6

Comment 1 Stephen Tweedie 2006-10-30 11:34:42 UTC

Under Xen, the linux kernel does not handle the PIC/ACIC --- that is done inside
the hypervisor.  You need to give the noapic option to the hypervisor (ie. on
the xen.gz... line in grub.conf).

Comment 2 Christian Nolte 2006-10-30 19:54:11 UTC

Thank you for pointing this out to me! 

Anyway: shouldn't it be anacondas task to add this option on a fresh install to
the hypervisor (like it is done with the standard kernel, if provided on booting
the installation kernel)? Because if one selects virt-manager, the *only*
installed kernel is the xen-kernel and it's confusing if one does not know how
to work around this.

Comment 3 Stephen Tweedie 2006-10-30 23:44:35 UTC

Good point.  I'm not sure just how much sense it makes --- it depends on how
much intelligence we want to add to anaconda regarding which options go with the
kernel and which with the hypervisor.  But it's worth at least thinking about.

Comment 4 Jeremy Katz 2006-10-31 00:35:25 UTC

I don't think that it's really feasible to try to translate from kernel ->
hypervisor options.  There's going to be too much flux over time.