Re: [Qemu-devel] Adding Save States menu items

[Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com>]

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On 10/06/2016 03:10 PM, Programmingkid wrote:
> 
> On Oct 6, 2016, at 3:59 PM, Eric Blake wrote:
> 
>> On 10/06/2016 09:22 AM, Programmingkid wrote:
>>> Would you accept a patch that added "Save State" and "Restore State" menu items to the cocoa interface? They would allow the user to save the running state of the emulator.
>>
>> Doesn't virt-manager already do this?  What do we gain by duplicating
>> GUI functionality at this level that is already implemented at higher
>> levels?  Not that I'm opposed to the idea, but having a solid reason why
>> it is useful is important.
> 
> Virt-manager is a Linux exclusive. This program doesn't run on Windows or
> Mac OS.

Not true. I've seen it ported to Windows, and I'm sure Cole would
welcome a port to Mac.

> The savevm feature is anything but perfect, but that doesn't mean we
> shouldn't provide easy access to it. This feature is already there in
> QEMU, so why not help the user be able to use it?

If you want to HELP the user, then tell them to use a management app
that has already dealt with the problems of consistent snapshots, rather
than making the user reinvent it themselves by clicking a gui button
that does incomplete work.

Yes, qemu has a gui.  But I maintain that it is mostly a mistake, and
that time spent improving the gui in this project, rather than porting
and improving better upper-layer guis, is probably wasted.  The Unix
philosophy is "do one thing and do it well" - we don't always live up to
it, but on THIS mailing list, the thing we do well is emulation, not
guis.  You are going to be hard-pressed to find reviewers, even if you
spend time solving the technical issues.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org


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