Internships/ProjectIdeas/PCIe-PCI-Bridge

From QEMU

PCI Express to PCI bridge

Summary: Code an emulated PCIe-to-PCI bridge for QEMU PCI Express machines

Modern Virtual Machines and their devices are PCI Express, however a means of supporting existing PCI and PCI-X deployment is required. Some use cases may need using legacy PCI devices that plug into platforms that exclusively support PCI and PCI-X system slots.

QEMU already has a solution, the i82801b11 DMI-to-PCI Bridge Emulation. However, the device has some disadvantages: it cannot be used by ARM guests and it is part of the Root Complex, so it can't be hot-plugged.

The goal of this summer project is to code a generic PCIe-PCI bridge. The bridge should be hot-pluggable into PCI Express Root Ports and be usable across various architectures and Guest Operating Systems.

Once the bridge is merged upstream, the PCI/PCI Express infrastructure will be ported to the QOM model to conform with QEMU standards, all that as the time permits.

Links:

Details:

  • Skill level: intermediate
  • Language: C
  • Mentor: marcel@redhat.com, marcel_a on IRC
  • Suggested by: Marcel Apfelbaum <marcel@redhat.com>