Re: [Qemu-devel] QEMU/pc and scsi disks

[Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>]

Anthony Liguori wrote:
>>
>> 1.  Any option should be settable either in the config file or 
>> command line.  In other words, the user should not be forced to use a 
>> config file.  This is useful for management programs who keep all 
>> options in an internal database, and for users who can experiment via 
>> a ^P edit edit edit <enter>.
>
> I think we should still provide the ability to set the most common 
> options via the command line.  I'm also fine with specifying single 
> options on the command line.  I suspect though that being able to do 
> -config - is more useful for management tools than building large 
> strings of command line options.

Out of curiosity, why?  If the options are store in some database, as is 
likely, surely it is easier to generate a longish command line than to 
generate a unique name for a file, remove it if it already exists, write 
out the data, launch qemu, and clean up the file later?  And for 
migration, you have to regenerate it, since some options may have 
changed (cdrom media).

Of course the config file is very useful for a user maintaining a few 
virtual machines on their own, but when qemu is part of a longer food 
chain, I think it's just a complication.

-- 
Do not meddle in the internals of kernels, for they are subtle and quick to panic.