From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NwBPT-00040l-6s for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:37:27 -0400 Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=42774 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1NwBPR-00040D-Nw for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:37:26 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NwBPP-00039Z-Te for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:37:25 -0400 Received: from fmmailgate01.web.de ([217.72.192.221]:39937) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NwBPP-00039I-E7 for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:37:23 -0400 Message-ID: <4BB074C8.4070102@web.de> Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:37:12 +0200 From: Jan Kiszka MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] qemu-img: add FUSE-based image access References: <4BABA2FB.8050505@web.de> <20100328110248.GA9094@lst.de> <4BB05AD6.9060408@web.de> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="------------enigF9239998277C41DB135C66A8" Sender: jan.kiszka@web.de List-Id: qemu-devel.nongnu.org List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , To: Alexander Graf Cc: Christoph Hellwig , qemu-devel This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enigF9239998277C41DB135C66A8 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Alexander Graf wrote: > On 29.03.2010, at 09:46, Jan Kiszka wrote: >=20 >> Christoph Hellwig wrote: >>> On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 06:52:59PM +0100, Jan Kiszka wrote: >>>> This adds the "map" subcommand to qemu-img. It is able to expose the= raw >>>> content of a disk image via a FUSE filesystem. Both the whole disk c= an >>>> be accessed, e.g. to run partitioning tools against it, as well as >>>> individual partitions. This allows to create new filesystems in the >>>> image or loop-back mount exiting ones. Using the great mountlo tool >>>> from the FUSE collection [1][2], the latter can even be done by non-= root >>>> users (the former anyway). >>> Is there a good reason to throw this into qemu-img instead of making >>> a separate qemu-fuse or similar tool? It's doing something quite >>> different than the rest of qemu-img. >>> >> qemu-img is the swiss knife for QEMU disk image manipulation (like git= >> is for everything around a git repository). So, IHMO, mapping the imag= e >> content into the host filesystem for further manipulation with standar= d >> tools belongs to this. >> >> If the "map" thing works out for most users, I could even imagine some= >> helper sub-command "mount" that encapsulates map and mountlo (or some >> other unprivileged mounting mechanism). This should make it easier for= >> users to explore all possibilities they have when working with disk im= ages. >=20 > We also have a tool called "qemu-ext2" lying around that allows you to = explore ext2 based file system contents in any qemu block layer supported= backend. "we" =3D=3D SUSE? [ Wow - just typed "qemu-ext2" into Big Brother's search bar and found the very same mail I'm just replying to. That's fast. ] >=20 > IMHO the best move to do here (Anthony's idea) is to somehow get the fu= ll block layer into a library, move it out of qemu into a separate projec= t and allow other tools in there too. >=20 > That move would vastly improve the situation of distributions too. I do= n't want to have a qemu-img each coming from the Xen, KVM and Qemu packag= es. One is enough :-). And it could enable block layer experienced people= to be the project maintainers, making that more valuable. >=20 Full ack. Jan --------------enigF9239998277C41DB135C66A8 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkuwdM8ACgkQitSsb3rl5xQH6wCeISUH9ues2mciih4IHe1AkTeR TE4Ani/uGtzi2A6Nc3dzxvGT3IjPy9on =4R3P -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enigF9239998277C41DB135C66A8--