Re: [Qemu-devel] [RFC] New naming rules for GPXE romfiles

[Anthony Liguori <anthony@codemonkey.ws>]

On 01/11/2010 03:18 PM, Stefan Weil wrote:
> The current names of GPXE romfiles are something like
> pxe-e1000.bin, pxe-ne2k_pci.bin, pxe-rtl8139.bin.
>
> This was adequate when these names were computed
> by a simple rule using the device name.
>
> Today, an ethernet device can be associated to any
> romfile name.
>
> Etherboot's Rom-o-Matic (which creates qemu's romfiles)
> creates names like gpxe-0.9.9-80861209.rom.
>
> I don't think it would be good to use etherboot's names
> because they contain the gpxe version (0.9.9) which
> might change.
>
> But a modified name without the gpxe version like
> gpxe-80861209.rom would have some advantages:
>
> * gpxe* is better than pxe* because the files contain
>    a gPXE boot ROM - not a proprietary PXE ROM.
>
> * The romfiles are ROM files, not undefined binaries,
>    so *.rom looks better than *.bin.
>
> * For drivers like eepro100.c which implement several devices,
>    a naming rule based on PCI device and vendor id (80861209)
>    is better than a rule based on device names:
>    devices with same ids can share the same romfile.
>
> * Transforming an etherboot romfile name to a qemu romfile name
>    is simple when all you have to do is to remove the version.
>    This would also simplify pc-bios/README.
>
> The proposed new names should be used for new romfiles.
> Optionally, the existing romfiles could be renamed.
>
> Please tell me what you think of these suggestions.
>    

I don't feel strongly either way.

Regards,

Anthony Liguori