[libvirt] [Qemu-devel] Re: Supporting hypervisor specific APIs in libvirt

[Gerd Hoffmann]

   Hi,

> Stepping back a bit first, there are the two core areas in which people can
> be limited by libvirt currently.

>   2. Command line flags

For me:  This one, and monitor access.

libvirt is very unfriendly to qemu hackers.  There is no easy way to add 
command line switches.  There is no easy way to get access to the 
monitor.  I can get it done by pointing <emulator> to a wrapper script 
and mangle the qemu command line there.  But this sucks big time.  And 
it doesn't integrate with libvirt at all.

When hacking qemu, especially when adding new command line options or 
monitor commands, I want to have a easy way to test this stuff.  Or I 
just wanna able to type some 'info $foo' commands for debugging and 
trouble shooting purposes.  libvirt makes it harder not easier to get 
the job done.

Image you could ask libvirt to create an additional monitor and expose 
it like a serial console.  virt-manager lists it as text console.  Two 
mouse clicks open a new window (or tab) with a terminal emulator linked 
to the monitor.  Wouldn't that be cool?

Other issues I've trap into:

-boot
   libvirt (or virt-manager?) supports only the very old single letter
   style.  You can't specify '-boot order=cd,menu=on'.

-enable-nested
   not available.

serial console doesn't work for remote connections.

cheers,
   Gerd