Re: [Qemu-devel] Re: OT: Running qemu without host os?

[Karl Magdsick <kmagnum@gmail.com>]

> 
> qemu does not need to run in X.  Use the -nographic option.
>

Additionally, I believe QEMU only uses X11 through SDL.  I also
believe that SDL is primarily used in conjunction with device
emulation... so if you're getting rid of all emulated devices, it
would seem that the use or disuse of the -nographic option would be
irrelivant unless you went through a LOT of trouble to snoop and
interpret what the guest was writing to the graphics card.  By giving
the guest access to real graphics, sound, mouse, and keyboard
hardware, you are pretty much cutting SDL out of QEMU.

Presumably, you would have the host hide a NIC from the guest and
provide an emulated NIC or else a second physical NIC for the guest to
use.  You would then use the hidden NIC to remotely log all of the
data you were collecting while spying on the drivers.  The hidden NIC
would also presumably be the only way to interact with the minimalist
host.  You could also do something similar with HD controllers rather
than NICs and log everything to a hidden HD.  However, a flaw in your
virtualization/emulation would put local logs at risk for corruption.

A hidden NIC or an emulated keyboard chipset would almost be mandatory
in order to communicate with the minimalist host.


-Karl