Re: [Xen-devel] [PATCH 2 of 3] Enable UEFI BIOS(OVMF) support in Xen-unstable HVM

[Andrei Warkentin <andreiw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Keir Fraser <keir@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 09/08/2011 15:39, "Ian Campbell" <Ian.Campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>>> +    { "ovmf-ia32", &ovmf32_config, },
>>>> +    { "ovmf-x64", &ovmf64_config, },
>>>
>>>
>>>         I suppose these (asymmetric) names are OVMF-isms?
>>> Yes, these two are the names of OVMF BIOS in platform IA32 and X64.
>>
>> Ick, but oh well...
>>
>> Is there any reason to prefer one to the other? How do I choose which
>> one I want? Can it be autodetected?
>
> I suspect ovmf-x64 is a superset of the capabilities of ovmf-ia32 (e.g.,
> ability to boot UEFI-bootable 64-bit OSes?). If so, we should only support
> one config option -- "ovmf" -- and have hvmloader auto-load the appropriate
> OVMF build, based on CPUID.long_mode.
>

As Jordan mentioned, 32-bit EFI can only boot 32-bit EFI applications
(that might mean 32-bit bootloader for 64-bit OS). 64-bit EFI can only
boot 64-bit applications.

X64 is what is the "de facto" standard in the commerical PC/server
world (for example - 2008, Win7 all boot UEFI way only on 64-bit), but
32-bit UEFI has been used as well and has applications in the
low-power embedded x86 space.

A

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