KVM Forum 2019

rust-vmm is an open-source project that maintains a set of high-quality virtualization building blocks. It allows developers to focus on their VMM key differentiators rather than re-implementing components like KVM API wrappers, virtio devices and memory models.

In this presentation we go over the design and structure of the project, as well as the fundamentals of building VMMs using rust-vmm. We start by describing why we think Rust is the right language. We also highlight the implications of splitting virtualization components into standalone, separate repositories. Next, we look at how rust-vmm is used in practice by Rust based VMMs and what changes are required to make the transition from a single repo model to one where packages are consumed from a shared, multi-repo. Finally, we outline how the modular nature of rust-vmm can be leveraged by non Rust based VMMs like QEMU.