[PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Oleksij Samorukov]

On FreeBSD the virtio-console port is a tty, unlike Linux's
/dev/virtio-ports which is a character device.  It defaults to canonical
mode with echo and software flow control enabled, so the QGA stream
protocol does not work: the initial guest-sync handshake is held in the
line discipline and the host eventually times out.

The existing FreeBSD-specific code only clears ECHO.  Configure the port
the same way as the ISA serial path: disable canonical mode, echo and
software flow control, and set VMIN/VTIME.  Use TCSANOW instead of
TCSAFLUSH so a handshake that arrives between open() and tcsetattr() is
not discarded.

Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 aarch64 under UTM/QEMU.  Before the change
utmctl ip-address timed out and the guest received zero bytes; after the
change QGA commands and guest-set-time work.

Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org
Fixes: c6cd588bb3a29a831c862780631a7d2145ade5de ("qga: Add initial FreeBSD support")
Signed-off-by: Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz>
---
 qga/channel-posix.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/qga/channel-posix.c b/qga/channel-posix.c
index 9ccc8b7..c6dfb2d 100644
--- a/qga/channel-posix.c
+++ b/qga/channel-posix.c
@@ -156,9 +156,10 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const gchar *path,
 #endif
 #ifdef __FreeBSD__
         /*
-         * In the default state channel sends echo of every command to a
-         * client. The client program doesn't expect this and raises an
-         * error. Suppress echo by resetting ECHO terminal flag.
+         * FreeBSD's virtio-console port is a tty (unlike Linux's
+         * /dev/virtio-ports, which is a character device) and defaults to
+         * canonical mode with echo and software flow control enabled.
+         * QGA uses a raw stream protocol, so put the port in raw mode.
          */
         struct termios tio;
         if (tcgetattr(fd, &tio) < 0) {
@@ -166,8 +167,19 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const gchar *path,
             close(fd);
             return false;
         }
-        tio.c_lflag &= ~ECHO;
-        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSAFLUSH, &tio) < 0) {
+        tio.c_iflag &= ~(IGNBRK | BRKINT | IGNPAR | PARMRK | INPCK | ISTRIP |
+                         INLCR | IGNCR | ICRNL | IXON | IXOFF | IXANY |
+                         IMAXBEL);
+        tio.c_oflag = 0;
+        tio.c_lflag = 0;
+        tio.c_cflag |= CLOCAL | CREAD;
+        tio.c_cc[VMIN] = 1;
+        tio.c_cc[VTIME] = 0;
+        /*
+         * Use TCSANOW rather than TCSAFLUSH: the host may already have sent
+         * the initial handshake between open() and tcsetattr().
+         */
+        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, &tio) < 0) {
             error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "error setting channel termios attrs");
             close(fd);
             return false;
-- 
2.54.0 (Apple Git-157)

Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Roman Bogorodskiy]

  Oleksij Samorukov wrote:

> On FreeBSD the virtio-console port is a tty, unlike Linux's
> /dev/virtio-ports which is a character device.  It defaults to canonical
> mode with echo and software flow control enabled, so the QGA stream
> protocol does not work: the initial guest-sync handshake is held in the
> line discipline and the host eventually times out.
> 
> The existing FreeBSD-specific code only clears ECHO.  Configure the port
> the same way as the ISA serial path: disable canonical mode, echo and
> software flow control, and set VMIN/VTIME.  Use TCSANOW instead of
> TCSAFLUSH so a handshake that arrives between open() and tcsetattr() is
> not discarded.
> 
> Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 aarch64 under UTM/QEMU.  Before the change
> utmctl ip-address timed out and the guest received zero bytes; after the
> change QGA commands and guest-set-time work.
> 
> Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org
> Fixes: c6cd588bb3a29a831c862780631a7d2145ade5de ("qga: Add initial FreeBSD support")
> Signed-off-by: Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz>
> ---
>  qga/channel-posix.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/qga/channel-posix.c b/qga/channel-posix.c
> index 9ccc8b7..c6dfb2d 100644
> --- a/qga/channel-posix.c
> +++ b/qga/channel-posix.c
> @@ -156,9 +156,10 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const gchar *path,
>  #endif
>  #ifdef __FreeBSD__
>          /*
> -         * In the default state channel sends echo of every command to a
> -         * client. The client program doesn't expect this and raises an
> -         * error. Suppress echo by resetting ECHO terminal flag.
> +         * FreeBSD's virtio-console port is a tty (unlike Linux's
> +         * /dev/virtio-ports, which is a character device) and defaults to
> +         * canonical mode with echo and software flow control enabled.
> +         * QGA uses a raw stream protocol, so put the port in raw mode.
>           */
>          struct termios tio;
>          if (tcgetattr(fd, &tio) < 0) {
> @@ -166,8 +167,19 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const gchar *path,
>              close(fd);
>              return false;
>          }
> -        tio.c_lflag &= ~ECHO;
> -        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSAFLUSH, &tio) < 0) {
> +        tio.c_iflag &= ~(IGNBRK | BRKINT | IGNPAR | PARMRK | INPCK | ISTRIP |
> +                         INLCR | IGNCR | ICRNL | IXON | IXOFF | IXANY |
> +                         IMAXBEL);
> +        tio.c_oflag = 0;
> +        tio.c_lflag = 0;
> +        tio.c_cflag |= CLOCAL | CREAD;
> +        tio.c_cc[VMIN] = 1;
> +        tio.c_cc[VTIME] = 0;
> +        /*
> +         * Use TCSANOW rather than TCSAFLUSH: the host may already have sent
> +         * the initial handshake between open() and tcsetattr().
> +         */
> +        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, &tio) < 0) {
>              error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "error setting channel termios attrs");
>              close(fd);
>              return false;
> -- 
> 2.54.0 (Apple Git-157)
> 

Interestingly, the issue does not apply to libvirt (bhyve and qemu
drivers) talking to the guest agent, likely because libvirt terminates
guest agent commands with '\n'.

Either way, I have tested this change on:

 - FreeBSD 16-CURRENT amd64 guest under libvirt/qemu
 - FreeBSD 14.4 amd64 guest under libvirt/bhyve
 - FreeBSD 15.0 aarch64 guest under libvirt/bhyve

and did not notice any regressions.

Tested-by: Roman Bogorodskiy <bogorodskiy@gmail.com>

Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Alex Samorukov]

On 18.10.2026 19:49, Roman Bogorodskiy wrote:
>>
> Interestingly, the issue does not apply to libvirt (bhyve and qemu
> drivers) talking to the guest agent, likely because libvirt terminates
> guest agent commands with '\n'.
>
> Either way, I have tested this change on:
>
>   - FreeBSD 16-CURRENT amd64 guest under libvirt/qemu
>   - FreeBSD 14.4 amd64 guest under libvirt/bhyve
>   - FreeBSD 15.0 aarch64 guest under libvirt/bhyve
>
> and did not notice any regressions.
>
> Tested-by: Roman Bogorodskiy <bogorodskiy@gmail.com>

Thank you for testing, i was also curious how it was tested/working 
before, and now i know :) I found this when was troubleshooting why time 
in UTM/FreeBSD is always wrong.

Hopefully it will be committed soon.

Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Roman Bogorodskiy]

  Alex Samorukov wrote:

> 
> On 18.10.2026 19:49, Roman Bogorodskiy wrote:
> > > 
> > Interestingly, the issue does not apply to libvirt (bhyve and qemu
> > drivers) talking to the guest agent, likely because libvirt terminates
> > guest agent commands with '\n'.
> > 
> > Either way, I have tested this change on:
> > 
> >   - FreeBSD 16-CURRENT amd64 guest under libvirt/qemu
> >   - FreeBSD 14.4 amd64 guest under libvirt/bhyve
> >   - FreeBSD 15.0 aarch64 guest under libvirt/bhyve
> > 
> > and did not notice any regressions.
> > 
> > Tested-by: Roman Bogorodskiy <bogorodskiy@gmail.com>
> 
> Thank you for testing, i was also curious how it was tested/working before,
> and now i know :) I found this when was troubleshooting why time in
> UTM/FreeBSD is always wrong.
> 
> Hopefully it will be committed soon.

FWIW, there's another issue I noticed with setting time which I tried to
address here: https://patchew.org/QEMU/20261015142342.50436-1-bogorodskiy@gmail.com/

Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Roman Bogorodskiy]

  Oleksij Samorukov wrote:

> On FreeBSD the virtio-console port is a tty, unlike Linux's
> /dev/virtio-ports which is a character device.  It defaults to canonical
> mode with echo and software flow control enabled, so the QGA stream
> protocol does not work: the initial guest-sync handshake is held in the
> line discipline and the host eventually times out.
> 
> The existing FreeBSD-specific code only clears ECHO.  Configure the port
> the same way as the ISA serial path: disable canonical mode, echo and
> software flow control, and set VMIN/VTIME.  Use TCSANOW instead of
> TCSAFLUSH so a handshake that arrives between open() and tcsetattr() is
> not discarded.
> 
> Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 aarch64 under UTM/QEMU.  Before the change
> utmctl ip-address timed out and the guest received zero bytes; after the
> change QGA commands and guest-set-time work.
> 
> Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org
> Fixes: c6cd588bb3a29a831c862780631a7d2145ade5de ("qga: Add initial FreeBSD support")
> Signed-off-by: Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz>
> ---
>  qga/channel-posix.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

Hi Kostiantyn,

Sorry to pester you, but is there a chance to pull this in while we're still
in a soft freeze?

Possibly along with the illumos build fixes [1].

1: https://patchew.org/QEMU/20261015173250.65942-1-bogorodskiy@gmail.com/

Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Kostiantyn Kostiuk]

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Hi Roman,

As this is a bug fix, we can merge it during the soft freeze.
I will pull this patch.

About the illumos build fixes, as it touches root meson, I want to see any
comments from maintainers of the build system.

Best Regards,
Kostiantyn Kostiuk.


On Mon, Nov 2, 2026 at 12:10 PM Roman Bogorodskiy <bogorodskiy@gmail.com>
wrote:

>   Oleksij Samorukov wrote:
>
> > On FreeBSD the virtio-console port is a tty, unlike Linux's
> > /dev/virtio-ports which is a character device.  It defaults to canonical
> > mode with echo and software flow control enabled, so the QGA stream
> > protocol does not work: the initial guest-sync handshake is held in the
> > line discipline and the host eventually times out.
> >
> > The existing FreeBSD-specific code only clears ECHO.  Configure the port
> > the same way as the ISA serial path: disable canonical mode, echo and
> > software flow control, and set VMIN/VTIME.  Use TCSANOW instead of
> > TCSAFLUSH so a handshake that arrives between open() and tcsetattr() is
> > not discarded.
> >
> > Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 aarch64 under UTM/QEMU.  Before the change
> > utmctl ip-address timed out and the guest received zero bytes; after the
> > change QGA commands and guest-set-time work.
> >
> > Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org
> > Fixes: c6cd588bb3a29a831c862780631a7d2145ade5de ("qga: Add initial
> FreeBSD support")
> > Signed-off-by: Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz>
> > ---
> >  qga/channel-posix.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
> >  1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> Hi Kostiantyn,
>
> Sorry to pester you, but is there a chance to pull this in while we're
> still
> in a soft freeze?
>
> Possibly along with the illumos build fixes [1].
>
> 1: https://patchew.org/QEMU/20261015173250.65942-1-bogorodskiy@gmail.com/
>
>

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Re: [PATCH] qga: set FreeBSD virtio-serial channel to raw mode

[Kostiantyn Kostiuk]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3224 bytes --]

Reviewed-by: Kostiantyn Kostiuk <kkostiuk@redhat.com>

On Sat, Oct 17, 2026 at 11:22 PM Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz> wrote:

> On FreeBSD the virtio-console port is a tty, unlike Linux's
> /dev/virtio-ports which is a character device.  It defaults to canonical
> mode with echo and software flow control enabled, so the QGA stream
> protocol does not work: the initial guest-sync handshake is held in the
> line discipline and the host eventually times out.
>
> The existing FreeBSD-specific code only clears ECHO.  Configure the port
> the same way as the ISA serial path: disable canonical mode, echo and
> software flow control, and set VMIN/VTIME.  Use TCSANOW instead of
> TCSAFLUSH so a handshake that arrives between open() and tcsetattr() is
> not discarded.
>
> Tested on FreeBSD 15.1 aarch64 under UTM/QEMU.  Before the change
> utmctl ip-address timed out and the guest received zero bytes; after the
> change QGA commands and guest-set-time work.
>
> Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org
> Fixes: c6cd588bb3a29a831c862780631a7d2145ade5de ("qga: Add initial FreeBSD
> support")
> Signed-off-by: Oleksij Samorukov <samm@net-art.cz>
> ---
>  qga/channel-posix.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/qga/channel-posix.c b/qga/channel-posix.c
> index 9ccc8b7..c6dfb2d 100644
> --- a/qga/channel-posix.c
> +++ b/qga/channel-posix.c
> @@ -156,9 +156,10 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const
> gchar *path,
>  #endif
>  #ifdef __FreeBSD__
>          /*
> -         * In the default state channel sends echo of every command to a
> -         * client. The client program doesn't expect this and raises an
> -         * error. Suppress echo by resetting ECHO terminal flag.
> +         * FreeBSD's virtio-console port is a tty (unlike Linux's
> +         * /dev/virtio-ports, which is a character device) and defaults to
> +         * canonical mode with echo and software flow control enabled.
> +         * QGA uses a raw stream protocol, so put the port in raw mode.
>           */
>          struct termios tio;
>          if (tcgetattr(fd, &tio) < 0) {
> @@ -166,8 +167,19 @@ static gboolean ga_channel_open(GAChannel *c, const
> gchar *path,
>              close(fd);
>              return false;
>          }
> -        tio.c_lflag &= ~ECHO;
> -        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSAFLUSH, &tio) < 0) {
> +        tio.c_iflag &= ~(IGNBRK | BRKINT | IGNPAR | PARMRK | INPCK |
> ISTRIP |
> +                         INLCR | IGNCR | ICRNL | IXON | IXOFF | IXANY |
> +                         IMAXBEL);
> +        tio.c_oflag = 0;
> +        tio.c_lflag = 0;
> +        tio.c_cflag |= CLOCAL | CREAD;
> +        tio.c_cc[VMIN] = 1;
> +        tio.c_cc[VTIME] = 0;
> +        /*
> +         * Use TCSANOW rather than TCSAFLUSH: the host may already have
> sent
> +         * the initial handshake between open() and tcsetattr().
> +         */
> +        if (tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, &tio) < 0) {
>              error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "error setting channel termios
> attrs");
>              close(fd);
>              return false;
> --
> 2.54.0 (Apple Git-157)
>
>
>

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