Making NetBSD as a fast(er) booting microvm

Day 1 | 17:30 | 00:30 | AW1.120 | Emile 'iMil' Heitor

Note: I'm reworking this at the moment, some things won't work.

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How we implemented PVH boot capability to the NetBSD kernel, allowing it to start straight from QEMU's -kernel parameter or Firecracker's VMM. In the process, we reduced boot time from 300 to 20ms, using methods borrowed from FreeBSD, and some in-house optimisations to get rid of unnecessary delays.