Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH RFC for-2.3 1/1] block: New command line option --no-format-probing

[Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com>]

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On 03/20/2015 08:19 AM, Markus Armbruster wrote:

>> If (a working version of) this makes it in 2.3, libvirt WILL use it in
>> the next release.  It will take me less than 5 minutes to write up the
>> libvirt patch, as long as the new option is advertised via
>> query-command-line-options (which means that QMP introspection of the
>> new option is a must for v2 :)

The real libvirt requirement is that the new option is accessible via
_some_ QMP command (doesn't have to be query-command-line-options, but
that is the most obvious).

> 
> query-command-line-options covers only options using QemuOpts.  Fixing
> that defect isn't in the cards for 2.3, which means I'll have to
> implement it with QemuOpts.

Makes sense, and is certainly easier than figuring out an alternative
QMP probing mechanism.

> 
> Ways to do that:
> 
> * Stick it into an existing QemuOpts option.  Is there one that fits?
>   --machine doesn't really fit.

Mostly agree; --machine is more for what the guest sees, while this has
no impact on the guest ABI.  On the other hand, things  like -machine
accel=[tcg|kvm] aren't necessarily guest visible either, so -machine has
tended to be a catch-all for other things.  But that doesn't mean it
should continue to be one.

> 
> * Create a new QemuOpts option for miscellaneous settings.  Would --misc
>   format-probing=off be too ugly?  Got a better name than --misc?

The only clients using the new option will be machine generated, so I
don't think ugly appearance is a show-stopper.  And -misc really does
sound like it is the most amenable to adding other random flags in the
future, so I can live with that name.

Unless anyone else has a better idea, '-misc format-probing=off' has my
vote and works for libvirt; it is only a two-line change to my libvirt
RFC patch:

diff --git i/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c w/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index b452a75..f7a46c1 100644
--- i/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ w/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -2517,7 +2517,7 @@ static struct virQEMUCapsCommandLineProps
virQEMUCapsCommandLine[] = {
     { "msg", "timestamp", QEMU_CAPS_MSG_TIMESTAMP },
     { "numa", NULL, QEMU_CAPS_NUMA },
     { "drive", "throttling.bps-total-max", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE_IOTUNE_MAX },
-    { "no-format-probing", NULL, QEMU_CAPS_NO_FORMAT_PROBING },
+    { "misc", "format-probing", QEMU_CAPS_NO_FORMAT_PROBING },
 };

 static int
diff --git i/src/qemu/qemu_command.c w/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 1085639..08f6560 100644
--- i/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ w/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -8674,7 +8674,7 @@ qemuBuildCommandLine(virConnectPtr conn,
     }
     if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_NO_FORMAT_PROBING) &&
         !cfg->allowDiskFormatProbing)
-        virCommandAddArg(cmd, "-no-format-probing");
+        virCommandAddArgList(cmd, "-misc", "format-probing=off", NULL);

     /* Serial graphics adapter */
     if (def->os.bios.useserial == VIR_TRISTATE_BOOL_YES) {


> 
>   Existing miscellaneous non-QemeOpts options could then (in 2.4!)
>   become sugar for something in this option group, thus become available
>   with -readconfig.

Nice way to plan for future cleanups.  I also agree that while this one
option about format-probing is reasonable to get into 2.3, that any
other sugar cleanups are better deferred until after the freeze.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org


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