Getting Started (for Developers)

This chapter discusses all the basic steps required to begin building code in the OpenVMM project.

By the end of this chapter, you will have:

• Cloned the OpenVMM git repo
• Installed all required pre-build dependencies (e.g: Rust)
• Built local copies of both OpenVMM and OpenHCL
• (optionally) Set up a suggested VSCode-based development environment

Aside: What is HvLite? Underhill?

As you explore the OpenVMM repo, you may find references to things called HvLite and Underhill.

Simply put:

• OpenVMM is synonymous with HvLite
• OpenHCL is synonymous with Underhill

HvLite and Underhill were former Microsoft-internal codenames for OpenVMM and OpenHCL.

Migrating all existing code and documentation away from these codewords is not an overnight process, and it's quite likely these terms will linger in various code comments, variable names, library names, etc... the forseeable future.