Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] qemu-doc: Rework the network options chapter to make "-net" less prominent

[Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>]

On 09.03.2018 15:41, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> On 09/03/2018 07:13, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> +
>> +@item --nic none
>> +Indicate that no network devices should be configured. It is used to override
>> +the default configuration (default NIC with @option{--net user} backend) which
> 
> the default @option{--nic user} configuration (default model and
> user-mode networking backend), which...

Technically, this isn't true, is it? The default configuration is still
"-net nic -net user", i.e. you still get a "vlan" hub inbetween the two,
don't you?

>> +is activated if no other networking options are provided.
>> +
> 
>> -qemu-system-i386 -net user,hostfwd=tcp::5555-:23 [...]
>> +qemu-system-i386 --device e1000,netdev=n1 --netdev user,id=n1,hostfwd=tcp::5555-:23
> 
> I would use --nic here.  --device/--netdev is covered by
> docs/qdev-device-use.txt, which should be updated separately (it even
> has -usbdevice still).

I don't think that the average user looks at qdev-device-use.txt, so
IMHO we should give examples for both, --nic and --netdev/--device in
our qemu-doc.html. But ok, I've got a dedicated example in the first
paragraph about "--nic" already, so I think it should be fine to use
--nic in even more places.

>> -qemu -net 'user,guestfwd=tcp:10.0.2.100:1234-cmd:netcat 10.10.1.1 4321'
>> +qemu-system-i386 --device e1000,netdev=n1 \
>> +  --netdev 'user,id=n1,guestfwd=tcp:10.0.2.100:1234-cmd:netcat 10.10.1.1 4321'
> 
> Same here.
> 
> Single vs. double-dash options is a confusing one and I'm not sure how
> to proceed.  On one hand single-dash is what everyone uses, on the other
> double-dash is a bit more consistent with e.g. qemu-img.

I guess that QEMU newbies are also rather using double dashes since this
is what you're used to from other command line tools.

> But:
> 
> 1) the command-line of qemu-img is anyway completely different from QEMU's

Sure, but at least the basic handling should IMHO be similar.

> 2) mixing them is the worst of both worlds.
> 
> I honestly would use single-dashes, and add a note that double-dash
> options are supported as well.

If we decide to go with single dashes forever, we should urgently remove
the BiteSizeTask from the Wiki again.
But I think we rather should try to do switch to double dashes. It's
really just more consistent and less confusing for newbies.

 Thomas