Working Towards Upstream-First

Working Towards Upstream-First: Reducing Downstream Kernel Patch Footprint at AWS EC2 Nitro Hypervisor

In this talk, I will talk about the composition of our downstream kernel patch set in the Nitro hypervisor and the processes involved in maintaining and rebasing them. Furthermore, I’ll share our ongoing efforts to minimize our downstream footprint and move toward an “upstream-first” approach, where our changes are first merged into the mainline kernel. Finally, I’ll outline our future plans and long-term vision for maintaining kernel patches with upstream-first principles at the core.

Anel ORAZGALIYEVA