Is network backend vde worth keeping? (was: Is network backend netmap worth keeping?)

[Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>]

Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com> writes:

> Please excuse the attention-grabbing subject.

Again.

[...]
> So, to make use of QEMU's netmap backend (CONFIG_NETMAP), you have to
> build and install netmap software from sources.  Which pretty much

CONFIG_VDE seems to be similarly cumbersome to build-test.

> ensures nobody uses it.  It was added in commit 58952137b0b (Nov 2013).
[...]

The vde backend was added in commit 8a16d273887 (Jul 2008).  The commit
message blames it on Luca Bigliardi.  Julia (cc'ed) fixed a bug in 2018.
Can't see any other VDE-specific activity since we split net/vde.c off
net.c in 2009.

I found a github repository virtualsquare/vde-2, which seems to be
pertinent.  Recent commits have been merged by
danielinux@users.noreply.github.com, which looks anti-social enough to
me not to bother with a cc.  Further digging coughed up Renzo Davoli
(cc'ed).

[...]
> Why is the QEMU netmap backend worth keeping?
>
> Who is using the netmap backend?
>
> How do they obtain a netmap-enabled QEMU?  Compile it from sources
> themselves?
>
> Would it make sense to have netmap packaged in common Linux distros?

Same questions for the QEMU vde backend.