I thought the same initially. However, I noticed that the visitor
interfaces for
links is also a string. So, even if a block/char/netdev property later
becomes a
link<>, the interface would not change.
The semantics change though. A "drive" link takes a flat block device
name. When it's converted to a link, it will take a QOM path. Since
block devices will exist in their own directory, it will certainly still
be possible to use the flat block device name but since a paths will
also be supported, I think it's best to clearly distinguish the link
based property from the flat block device name property.