Re: [Qemu-devel] Mount image file feature

[Programmingkid]

On Aug 31, 2015, at 3:52 AM, Markus Armbruster wrote:

> Programmingkid <address@hidden> writes:
> 
>> On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:39 PM, Max Reitz wrote:
>> 
>>> On 29.08.2015 17:57, Programmingkid wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> On Aug 29, 2015, at 11:40 AM, Max Reitz wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On 27.08.2015 03:05, G 3 wrote:
>>>>>> I want to share files between my host and guest computer. A feature I
>>>>>> want to add would be a new menu item in the Machine menu called "Mount
>>>>>> Image File...". When the user selects it, a file open dialog box
>>>>>> displays. The user can then select the image file with the file he wants
>>>>>> to use. After pushing the OK button, the image file would be mounted
>>>>>> like a USB flash drive. This menu item would only show up if there is
>>>>>> usb support in the guest machine.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Would you be open to accepting such a feature?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Generally I'd expect this to be functionality exposed by the management
>>>>> layer. For instance using virt-manager, this can be achived as follows:
>>>>> Switch to "Details", then click "Add Hardware", choose "Storage" and
>>>>> "USB" as the "Bus type". Choose the image, click "Finish", done.
>>>> 
>>>> Isn't Libvirt only available on Linux? This mount image file feature would
>>>> only be on Mac OS X.
>>> 
>>> I'm not sure whether that sounds like a good idea, because then people
>>> using bare qemu on Linux would complain that it isn't available with
>>> Gtk. So if this was to be implemented, it would have to implemented
>>> cross-platform (or at least in a way so it can be used cross-platform
>>> later on).
>> 
>> If making QEMU more user-friendly is a crime, I plead guilty!
>> 
>> I'm not a Linux user. I am a proud Macintosh user. We Mac users
>> like our software easy to use. I know this goes against the Linux
>> way of life. That is why this patch would only work on Mac OS X. 
>> This will keep QEMU on Linux hard to use... just the way you guys
>> like it.
> 
> I think you've used up your "speculation on what Linux users like" quota
> on this list for 2015.  Now let's get back on topic.
> 
> [More snipped...]
> 
>>>>> The main problem I see with adding this functionality to qemu itself
>>>>> would be having to get even further into the GUI business, which hasn't
>>>>> worked out too well so far…
>>>> 
>>>> That is because of several reasons. One being maintainers not wanting to
>>>> advance the GUI because they feel another program should be QEMU's 
>>>> GUI. I'm sure there are plenty of good ideas that would advance QEMU's
>>>> GUI. These ideas just need to be accepted into QEMU rather than put off.
>>> 
>>> Another is that some people simply feel that qemu should focus on being
>>> a backend than having to mess with frontend work, too. See the recent
>>> discussion on the Gtk code setting the locale and thus breaking QMP for
>>> an example why they have a point.
>> 
>> We can have both. Command-line options are there that can turn on or
>> off the GUI.
>> Example: --disable-gtk.
>> 
>> Ideally I want QEMU's GUI to be similar to VirtualBox's GUI. Doing stuff like
>> freezing and restoring a session would be awesome and a real time saver.
>> 
>>> I guess you'll better talk to Markus about this. :-)
>>> 
>>> Quote: "We should've stayed out of the GUI business."
>>> 
>>> (http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2015-08/msg03049.html)
>> 
>> That is totally fine for the Linux users. If they want to use the
>> command-line only,
>> let them. They are only hurting themselves :)
> 
> You're attacking a strawman.

I think the word attack is a little strong. We were just having a little 
informal
conversation. Sorry if the Linux jokes weren't so funny.

>  Nobody is arguing against having a nice
> GUI.  My argument is that one application trying to do everything tends
> to result in the application doing most of it badly.

That's what you believe? Are you saying if we do add a few features to the GUI
it automatically becomes bad? Isn't that kind of pessimistic? Is all hope gone?

Running Virt-manager on Mac OS X isn't currently possible. So my only choice is 
to advance
the GUI. This feature would making transferring files from and to the guest 
actually easy
to do. That sounds like a good idea. This patch would only affect Mac OS X 
users, so Linux
users won't notice a difference. No harm done to them.