[libvirt] [PATCH] in vbox driver, interface type bridge should really be type ethernet

[Florian Vichot]

> So back to your original question - is the current VirtualBox bridge 
> impl 'correct'. If it is doing ethernet layer bridging, then I think 
> there is a strong argument that it is reasonably compliant. If there 
> is a way todo  bridging with VirtualBox + a bridge + TAP device (or 
> equivalent), then that would definitely want to use type=bridge.

> Thus the main question is whether to allow both modes to use
> type=bridge, or to change the existing mode to use type=ethernet. If
> we did the former, then one option is to add an extra attribute to
> the <source> device so you can indicate whether the source is a real
> bridge device, or a NIC with bridging done by magic inside the
> kernel.
> 
> I think I'd have a slight preference for the latter, since I like the
> fact that type=bridge is explicitly about layer-2 bridging, while
> type=ethernet is pretty much a generic catch-all, do-anything network
> mode.

Thank you for taking the time to clarify.

Ok now I get it. I would agree, type=bridge is compliant with what it
does. What got me confused is I assumed type bridge meant "use of a
brctl kinda of bridge" where in libvirt it really means "bridge between
the VM and the LAN".

> It is probably best if you just go ahead and implement your idea for
> doing Virtualbox bridging with a real bridge + tap device, while we
> consider the XML modelling problem in parallel.

Well I did a version for my app, so my need is taken care of. As I don't
think anyone has a need for it apart from me, and that it would take me
much longer to do a clean patch for libvirt, I'll probably keep my
non-libvirt version (which really is a workaround to some annoying
VirtualBox  behaviour anyway), and concentrate the little time I can
find to work on libvirt on more useful patches :)

so I guess you can drop the patch.

Thanks again,
Florian