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From: Jamie Lokier <jamie@shareable.org>
To: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>
Cc: Kevin Wolf <kwolf@redhat.com>,
	Christoph Hellwig <chellwig@redhat.com>,
	qemu-devel@nongnu.org, Luiz Capitulino <lcapitulino@redhat.com>,
	Gerd Hoffmann <kraxel@redhat.com>, Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] Re: block: format vs. protocol, and how they stack
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:46:06 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20100622164606.GE4371@shareable.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <m3k4psg99a.fsf@blackfin.pond.sub.org>

Markus Armbruster wrote:
> A possible reason why we currently expose format and protocol at the
> user interface is to avoid stacking there.

Pragmatic solution?: A few generic flags in each stacking module
("format/protocol/transport"), which govern which other modules are
allowed to stack on top or underneath.

For example, vvfat may provide a blockdev-like abstraction, along with
flags STACK_ABOVE_ONLY_RAW | STACK_BELOW_ONLY_DIRECTORY, which means
"raw" and "blkdebug" are allowed above (of course ;-) but other things
like the image formats shouldn't be.  And below, it can't stack on a
blockdev-like abstraction, but needs a directory and uses filesystem
operations on it - the thing that Plan9fs needs.

Btw, I think we expose "format" because "virtual disk image file
format" is a useful and meaningful concept to users.  When someone
needs to use a .VMDK file, they know it as a "VMDK format file", not
"I must use the VMDK protocol with this file".

-- Jamie

  reply	other threads:[~2010-06-22 16:46 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 31+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2010-06-18 12:59 [Qemu-devel] block: format vs. protocol, and how they stack Markus Armbruster
2010-06-20 10:51 ` [Qemu-devel] " Avi Kivity
2010-06-21  7:00   ` Markus Armbruster
2010-06-22 16:46     ` Jamie Lokier [this message]
2010-06-21  8:19   ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-21 13:09     ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 13:30       ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-21 13:37         ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 14:01           ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-21 14:51             ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 14:52               ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 15:00               ` Christoph Hellwig
2010-06-21 15:22                 ` Paul Brook
2010-06-21 15:37                 ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 16:01                   ` Christoph Hellwig
2010-06-21 16:09                     ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 16:36                     ` Markus Armbruster
2010-06-21 16:21                 ` Markus Armbruster
2010-06-22  8:32                   ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-22 14:24                     ` Markus Armbruster
2010-06-28 10:28                   ` Christoph Hellwig
2010-06-22 16:30                 ` Jamie Lokier
2010-06-21 15:34             ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-22  8:10               ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-22 12:39                 ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-22 12:57                   ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-22 13:07                     ` Anthony Liguori
2010-06-21 15:56             ` Markus Armbruster
2010-06-22  8:22               ` Kevin Wolf
2010-06-22 16:40                 ` Jamie Lokier
2010-06-22 16:56                   ` Daniel P. Berrange

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