Notes: 2026-06-18 CoreCollective Virtualization sub-group restructuring call (originally scheduled as "Virtualization Maintenance")

[Nathalie Chan King Choy]

Hi all,

The notes from the  call are below.  Please let us know if you spot any errors or important omissions.

As a member of virtual...@corecollective.dev , you can send messages to this mailing list and see the mailing list history.  You can also see upcoming calls in the CC Virtualization WG shared calendar.

Julianus should be back in the office next week.

Best regards,

Nathalie

--

CoreCollective Community Manager

Android & WoA working groups 

Next OOO: July 2-3, 10

Attended:

Ilias A

Alex B

Bill M

Nathalie CKC

Sumit S

Randy L

Edgar I

Vincent S

Mark B

Grant L

Don H

Bertrand M

Zoom AI notes:

Quick recap

This meeting was a summary session to review the progress and organization of various working groups under Core Collective, focusing on virtualization, simulation, and maintenance topics.

Mark led the discussion on restructuring the sub-groups.

• Bill suggested that the virtualization subgroup be renamed to "Xen".
• General QEMU/KVM topics moved to a broader coordination group.
• The team discussed the status of various initiatives including Virtio-msg specification, which Bertrand confirmed ARM is willing to fund through Bernard's time dedication, and FF-A implementation which currently has limited participation but could benefit from broader engagement including companies like Google.

Grant emphasized the need for clear messaging about Core Collective's purpose, clarifying that it should primarily serve as a collaboration forum rather than just a funding mechanism, while Mark raised concerns about ensuring enough ARM-specific topics are properly addressed within the framework.

The group agreed to maintain three main topic areas, with Linaro taking the lead on coordinating the Virtio-msg project, and discussed the balance between technical discussions happening in upstream forums versus business-level coordination within Core Collective. Final sub-groups:

• Xen (formerly virtualization, includes FF-A for now)
• QEMU/KVM (formerly simulation)
• Virtio

For recruitment, prospective members can get a feel for the Virtualization WG's activity by visiting the publicly-visible mailing list archive at https://groups.google.com/u/0/a/corecollective.dev/g/virtualization . Guest attendance to observe at a technical call may be considered on a case-by-case basis (ask Don & Grant).

Next steps

Alex

• Raise the topic of merging the existing QEMU/KVM community call with Core Collective's QEMU/KVM Virtualization subgroup call as a potential topic for the QEMU/KVM community call in 3 weeks.

Bertrand

• Continue to spend time on upstreaming the Virtio-msg spec in OASIS and incorporate it into the Virtio specification.

Grant

• Work with Megan Knight on advocacy and outreach to companies that should be involved but are not aware of the effort; follow up on emails from participants about potential new members.

Nathalie

• Send the meeting transcript and related materials to Julianus.

Julianus

• Organize the Virtualization WG call schedule so that the subgroup meetings are spread out over time, rather than clustering them all together in a crowded three-day period. A good cadence for a subgroup to meet is every 2 weeks.

Collaboration

• Linaro (Sumit/Bill): Take the lead in building a topic/project for Virtio-msg within the Core Collective framework.
• Mark and Grant: Schedule a follow-up conversation the week after next to continue the discussion.

Summary

Working Group Organization Meeting

The meeting was scheduled as a group organization session rather than a maintenance meeting, with Ilias explaining that the Virtio working group had just started and the purpose was to restructure existing groups.

Virtualization Subgroup Progress Discussion

Mark led a discussion on the progress of various subgroups, particularly focusing on virtualization efforts related to Xen. He expressed concern about maintenance issues and emphasized the need to address assumed tasks explicitly. Mark suggested moving certain topics to the EDGE working group. He also highlighted the need for clarity on who would fund ARM architecture support in QEMU and raised questions about the scope of CPU feature emulation work.

Virtio-msg Specification Project Coordination

The group discussed coordination and funding for the Virtio-msg specification project, with Bernard confirming ARM's commitment to dedicating his time for upstreaming the spec and OASIS changes. Bill explained that previous work had been ongoing for over a year through the Linaro HVAC working group, with companies like AMD, Google, and Qualcomm participating, though current funding is paused while waiting for a Core Collective initiative to spin up. The participants agreed to keep the project within the Virtio subgroup.

FF-A Implementation and Subgroup Planning

The group discussed the future of FF-A implementation and subgroup organization. Bertrand and Mark agreed that if a Xen subgroup is created, FF-A discussions might be more appropriately moved there, though no final decision was made. Grant emphasized the need for advocacy to reach companies that are unaware of FF-A efforts, and requested team members to identify potential participants who should be involved but aren't currently. Bertrand mentioned that Google's FF-A KVM implementation should be considered for future discussions.

Core Collective Restructuring Discussion

The group discussed restructuring Core Collective's focus and approach to collaboration. They agreed to merge the FF-A subgroup into the Xen subgroup and maintain three main topic areas: Xen, simulation/QEMU-KVM, and Virtio. Mark suggested that Linaro should lead the development of a Virtio project topic, while the existing community calls should be considered as potential input to Core Collective meetings rather than being merged directly. The discussion highlighted the need for clearer communication about Core Collective's purpose, with Grant emphasizing that while technical discussions happen in upstream forums, Core Collective focuses on business-level coordination and collaboration between companies.