[Info-vax] WHY IS VSI REQUIRING A HYPERVISOR FOR X86 OPENVMS?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2020-12-18 17:11:22 +0000, gezelter at rlgsc.com said:

> On Friday, December 18, 2020 at 11:41:33 AM UTC-5, supers... at gmail.com wrote:
>> This adds more cost.
>> Why can't it run by itself on x86? Or am I misunderstanding that you do 
>> not have to buy vmware or some other VM to run it?
> Super...,
> 
> At release, certain x86-64 hardware platforms are have been identified 
> as "supported". As in any situation, it is a question of hardware 
> drivers and qualification.
> 
> The present field test releases are released for use on VMs for 
> simplicity. It is far simpler to qualify a system on the standardized 
> environment provided by a VM than supporting the myriad hardware 
> options.

Yes, the VSI roadmap is less than explicit on this topic, and the VSI 
website navigation isn't particularly helpful. 
https://vmssoftware.com/pdfs/VMS_Software_Roadmap_2020.pdf

Native boot support is planned. There've been requests for tooling that 
can identify supported hardware, but then the production release is 
still a year or three out—and that'll prolly involve a generation or 
two of newer hardware, too.

As for pricing, both VirtualBox and KVM are free, and VMware pricing 
varies; Fusion on macOS is cheap. This so long as you avoid the 
optional extensions pack licensing with VirtualBox: 
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Licensing_FAQ

Previous discussions include: 
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/rJGHKaFsa0A/m/5J2Au3-IAAAJ 
and within that thread 
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/rJGHKaFsa0A/m/STp1WvMdAQAJ

Why is virtual machine support considered a priority at VSI, beyond 
native x86-64 support? Some related reading: 
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/4WodYI9icWs/m/JHU78_VpAAAJ





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