Re: [Qemu-devel] plugins

[Bartosz Fabianowski <bartosz@fabianowski.de>]

> With a plugin system (all it takes is 2 files: an text/XML file which 
> contains the info on this plugin, and a .so file which is the plugin

Binary plugins, especially closed source ones, always create the problem 
of binary compatibility. QEMU's 0.5 version number already indicates 
that although it works very well already, it is nowhere near finished. 
Features change very quickly in CVS, just think about how pci was an 
experimental option a short while back and now it's the default. I think 
it would be really hard to come up with an API that would remain stable 
for multiple releases at this point. Also, the need to maintain 
backwards compatibility would hamper QEMU's development. And finally, 
creating and maintaining an API would drain lots of resources from QEMU 
development while benefiting only very few people who want to distribute 
closed source plugins. Maybe at a much later stage, when QEMU is stable 
and mature, binary plugins will make sense. But for now, it seems like 
the source code extensibility QEMU offers is good enough.

- Bartosz