[Libguestfs] Plans for nbdkit 1.18 release?

[Eric Blake]

On 2/20/20 3:37 PM, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> Hi Eric,
> 
> nbdkit 1.16 was released over 3 months ago, and there has been quite a
> lot of upstream development since then, so it could be about time for
> a new stable release.  Anything in particular that you would like to
> get in to 1.18?  Or anything we've added that you have reservations
> about supporting long-term?

My biggest worry is whether we want to make python API version 2 plugins 
support an optional flags parameter.  I think we decided that for 
version 1 plugins, making .zero's may_trim argument optional was not 
worth it.  But especially given that things like .pread currently always 
pass a flags=0 parameter, making it optional for API version 2 is still 
worth pursuing.  As you recall, I did post potential glue code for 
optional parameters, but it was different than the code we eventually 
took when adding API version 2 support, and I have not yet had time to 
rebase the salvageable parts of my patches.

On the other hand, releasing 1.18 with mandatory flags= parameter in 
python plugins, and later relaxing it when we figure out the glue code, 
shouldn't be a problem.  It is not backwards incompatible to make a 
once-required parameter become optional.  So I don't see it as holding 
up a release.

My proposal to add an NBD_INFO_INIT_STATE extension is still pending on 
multiple fronts (approval at the NBD spec, and a rewrite of both qemu 
and nbdkit patches to address review comments); I'm not worried if that 
misses 1.18.

-- 
Eric Blake, Principal Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc.           +1-919-301-3226
Virtualization:  qemu.org | libvirt.org