Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH 01/11] QMP: Introduce specification file

[Stefano Stabellini]

On Mon, 29 Jun 2009, Anthony Liguori wrote:
> >
> > Yes, I meant { 'type': 'respose', 'id': 'foo', 'return': value }.  
> > 'type' is the new =, and 'id' is the tag.  If multiple return values 
> > are needed, value can be a list or dictionary.
> 
> I really don't like the syntax you proposed but that's an aesthetic 
> problem.  This is an interface consumed by non humans so I don't think 
> it's worth arguing about something that is just as easily parsed by a 
> computer even if it's hideously ugly :-)
> 
> So I'll defer to whatever Luiz (or whoever sends patches) decides to do 
> as long as it meets the same requirements.
> 
> The main thing missing from the first patchset that this thread has 
> revealed is a formal grammar for the data.  This is an important 
> requirement to ensure that it's reasonably parse-able by both ends.
> 

Even though it is not a fun thing to do I think the interface should be
written in a more formal specification language than a spec.txt or a C
header file.
We can even come up with our own language to do it as long as it forces
us to maintain a robust interface and allow us to write simple scripts
to validate the methods we use to implement the interface in our own
language of choice.