Re: [Qemu-devel] Deprecating the -net option (was: What's the next QEMU version after 2.9 ? (or: when is a good point in time to get rid of old interfaces))

[Thomas Huth]

On 27.03.2017 14:01, Stefan Hajnoczi wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:06:09AM +0200, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> On 24.03.2017 23:10, John Snow wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 03/08/2017 03:26 AM, Thomas Huth wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Hi everybody,
>>>>
>>>> what will be the next version of QEMU after 2.9? Will we go for a 2.10
>>>> (as I've seen it mentioned a couple of times on the mailing list
>>>> already), or do we dare to switch to 3.0 instead?
>>>>
>>>> I personally dislike two-digit minor version numbers like 2.10 since the
>>>> non-experienced users sometimes mix it up with 2.1 ... and there have
>>>> been a couple of new cool features in the past releases that would
>>>> justify a 3.0 now, too, I think.
>>>>
>>>> But anyway, the more important thing that keeps me concerned is: Someone
>>>>  once told me that we should get rid of old parameters and interfaces
>>>> (like HMP commands) primarily only when we're changing to a new major
>>>> version number. As you all know, QEMU has a lot of legacy options, which
>>>> are likely rather confusing than helpful for the new users nowadays,
>>>> e.g. things like the "-net channel" option (which is fortunately even
>>>> hardly documented), but maybe also even the whole vlan/hub concept in
>>>> the net code, or legacy parameters like "-usbdevice". If we switch to
>>>> version 3.0, could we agree to remove at least some of them?
>>>>
>>>>  Thomas
>>>>
>>>
>>> As others have stated, we need a few releases to deprecate things first.
>>>
>>> Maybe we should develop a serious plan to develop some of our legacy
>>> interfaces first.
>>>
>>> Maybe 2.10 can introduce a list of things we want to deprecate,
>>> 2.11 can be the transition release,
>>> and then 3.0 can cut the cord and free of us our terrible burden?
>>>
>>> I have a list of things I want to axe...
>>
>> I've started a Wiki page with such a list here:
>>
>> http://wiki.qemu-project.org/Features/LegacyRemoval
> 
> It would be nice to get rid of the legacy -net option in 3.0.0.  I have
> added it and included pointers to loose ends.  I think this is doable
> but will require some time to achieve.

Not sure whether we really can get rid of the -net option completely,
since AFAIK it is the only way to configure on-board NICs at the moment,
and Paolo complains if he needs to type longer command lines
(https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2015-12/msg02448.html).

But maybe we could get rid of the VLANs here at least, e.g. by matching
"-net nic" and a following "-net user|bridge|tap|..." with an internal
netdev ID instead of creating a "VLAN" hub?

Or we could even turn the -net option into a full "convenience" option
instead (similar to "-hda" and friends), so that you even do not have to
specify "-net nic" anymore but create both, network source and sink with
one "-net" statement, e.g.:

 qemu-system-xxx -net user,model=e1000,hostfwd=...

Just my 0.02 €

 Thomas

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