From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753903AbYKZMjd (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:39:33 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752248AbYKZMjW (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:39:22 -0500 Received: from mx2.redhat.com ([66.187.237.31]:38336 "EHLO mx2.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752227AbYKZMjV (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:39:21 -0500 Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:39:19 +0200 From: Gleb Natapov To: virtualization@lists.linux-foundation.org Cc: kvm@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org Subject: Host<->guest channel interface advice needed Message-ID: <20081126123919.GC3521@redhat.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hello, I'd like to ask what would be the best user space interface for generic guest<->host communication channel. The channel will be used to pass mouse events to/from a guest or by managements software to communicate with agents running in a guests or for something similar. The interfaces that are being considered are netlink socket (only datagram semantics, linux specific), new socket family or character device with different minor number for each channel. Which one better suits for the purpose? Is there other kind of interface to consider? New socket family looks like a good choice, but it would be nice to hear other opinions before starting to work on it. Thanks, -- Gleb.