Project news

Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) Version 1.1 from VIRTIO TC approved as a Committee Specification

OASIS is pleased to announce that Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) Version 1.1 from the OASIS Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) TC [1] has been approved as an OASIS Committee Specification.

This document describes the specifications of the “virtio” family of devices. These devices are found in virtual environments, yet by design they look like physical devices to the guest within the virtual machine – and this document treats them as such. This similarity allows the guest to use standard drivers and discovery mechanisms. The purpose of virtio and this specification is that virtual environments and guests should have a straightforward, efficient, standard and extensible mechanism for virtual devices, rather than boutique per-environment or per-OS mechanisms.

This Committee Specification is an OASIS deliverable, completed and approved by the TC and fully ready for testing and implementation.

The prose specifications and related files are available here:

Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) Version 1.1
Committee Specification 01
11 April 2019

Editable source (Authoritative):
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/cs01/tex/
HTML:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/cs01/virtio-v1.1-cs01.html
PDF:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/cs01/virtio-v1.1-cs01.pdf
Example driver listing:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/cs01/listings/

Distribution ZIP file
For your convenience, OASIS provides a complete package of the prose specification and related files in a ZIP distribution file. You can download the ZIP file here:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/cs01/virtio-v1.1-cs01.zip

Members of the VIRTIO TC [1] approved this specification by Special Majority Vote. The specification had been released for public review as required by the TC Process [2]. The vote to approve as a Committee Specification passed [3], and the document is now available online in the OASIS Library as referenced above.

Our congratulations to the TC on achieving this milestone and our thanks to the reviewers who provided feedback on the specification drafts to help improve the quality of the work.

========== Additional references:
[1] OASIS Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) TC
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/virtio/

[2] Public review:
* 30-day public review, 22 January 2019:
https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/members/201901/msg00006.html
– Comment resolution log:
https://docs.oasis-open.org/virtio/virtio/v1.1/csprd01/virtio-v1.1-csprd01-comment-resolution-log.xls

[3] Approval ballot:
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ballot.php?id=3380