Re[2]: [Qemu-devel] Poor Qemu documentation for Windows host

[Paul Sokolovsky <pmiscml@gmail.com>]

Hello Alexey,

Monday, September 18, 2006, 10:17:05 PM, you wrote:

>> See also:
>> http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/ (Documentation section below)

> Thank you very much.

> I have found something useful: TAP for Windows - that is - virtual
> ethernet network driver for Win NT based systems.

> So basically only those docs were relevant:
> http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/TapWin32-en.html
> http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/HowToNetwork-en.html

> But unfortunately, it comes separately from Qemu package, inside
> "OpenVPN" software.

  Don't you think that you should go to OpenVPN and lobby *them* to
provide standalone package then?

> So my recommendation is to:
> 1) "get" the TAP driver out of "OpenVPN" package, and
> 2) put it into Qemu setup, and
> 3) update user docs with that.

[]

> But if it's just few files, then it's doable.

  Sure, many things are doable. ;-)

> alternatively it is possible to just:
> 1) update the docs,

> that will say it is included in different package. But while this is
> accpetable practise in the Linux world, (to have dependencies) this is
> unacceptable behavior in Windows world. (in Windows, the standard is
> to have the package be dependent only on the OS itself, and all else
> dependencies must come in the setup)

  Unacceptable behavior? Windows world? Who defines what's acceptable
and what's not? You don't want to say it's Microsoft, huh? ;-)


  Well, anyway, you maybe noticed that QEMU author does not provide
Win32 build *at all*. It is done by another person (Kazu, win32
maintainer), and hosted elsewhere (though linked). The reason for that
must be rather simple: the author does not have resources to support
Windows version, unfortunately.


> Here is the "setup-virtual-ethernet-tap.exe":
> http://download.yousendit.com/E73E60032A75C3DF
> 
> NOTE: This download location is temporarily and will expire soon, by
> then I hope to move else, to normal HTTP server.
> 
> Next step, I can build an integrated Qemu setup package for Windows,
> that has TAP-Win32 drivers in it. (that way I will follow the standard
> rule of Windows to depend *just* on the OS itself)
> But I will only do this setup, if you agree to list it on Qemu homesite.

  And again, it comes not to doing something, but to maintaining and
supporting that. Because otherwise, in a year, only broken links will
remind of good intentions, or in the best case, outdated binaries of
unknown origin.


  So, however it may seem overcomplicated, more sustained way to get
better Windows support is indeed to submit doc patches, cooperate with
Win32 maintainer on improving his site/packaging, or start your own
Win32 port project and see if you can do better.


  Anyway, I really hope that I'm wrong and your packaging contribution
will be accepted without much hassle, to rejoice of all us, Windows
users.



>>Maybe you like to check if QEMU Wiki
>>http://kidsquid.com/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/QemuOnWindows

> I have checked this wiki - this stuff is really nooby, so there was
> really nothing new compared to the "Official End-User documentation of
> Qemu".

> ============
> Bottom line:

> if I succeed in case one, this would be best, otherwise (in case 2)
> it's not-so-good, but better than having poor docs as we have now.

-- 
Best regards,
 Paul                            mailto:pmiscml@gmail.com