Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH RFC] pyembed: integer python into QEMU

[Stefan Weil <sw@weilnetz.de>]

Am 16.01.2012 20:23, schrieb Anthony Liguori:
> On 01/16/2012 12:35 PM, Alex Bradbury wrote:
>> On 16 January 2012 18:22, Anthony Liguori<aliguori@us.ibm.com>  wrote:
>>> This is something I started during 1.0-rc on a lark and spent some 
>>> time last
>>> night actually making work.  I'm sending it only to show that (1) 
>>> it's possible
>>> and (2) to get some input about what other people think as a longer 
>>> term
>>> direction.
>>
>> At the risk of starting a language flame-war, have you considered
>> embedding something like Lua?The source of the core Lua interpreter is
>> small enough that it could be imported into the Qemu repository.
>
> Generally, I don't think importing external source code is a Good 
> Idea.  Part of the appeal to me about Python is the rich library that 
> it brings in.
>
> I'm less interested in Python for it's list comprehension syntax and 
> more interested in it for it's config parsing library, RPC 
> infrastructure, etc.
>
> Plus, I'm reasonably confident that most QEMU developers have some 
> experience with Python.  I'd wager that very few people have any 
> practical experience with LUA.
>
> So in terms of embedding, I think Python is the only reasonable path 
> forward (if we think we should even head in this direction).
>

5 years ago, I experimented with an embedded Ruby interpreter. Although 
it worked
(at least to some degree), that's not a reasonable path. Standalone Ruby 
is a
good interpreter language, but embedding a Ruby interpreter is horrible.

Embedding TCL works well, but TCL is a little old fashioned, so that's 
also not a
reasonable path.

If we need an embedded interpreter, Python is a good choice, but Lua is 
also an excellent
embedded interpreter which would be useful for QEMU.

I'd prefer a competition with both of them instead of a single "only 
reasonable path".
The overhead of supporting two interpreters won't be very high, and it 
will allow more
people to contribute scripts in their favorite language.

Cheers,
Stefan Weil