Re: [Xen-devel] [PATCH] Fix cd-insert problem not detecting type.

[Stefano Stabellini <stefano.stabellini@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 12 Mar 2013, Frediano Ziglio wrote:
> In 4.1 you could use prefixes that using a regex are
> 
> (phy|file|tap2?:(aio:)?(vhd|qcow|qcow2|raw)):
> 
> you could use similar syntax in Xml file. If you run just "xl cd-insert"
> output is

XML file? Are you sure that you are talking about xl and xm or something
else?


> 'xl cd-insert' requires at least 3 arguments.
> 
> Usage: xl [-vfN] cd-insert <Domain> <VirtualDevice> <type:path>
> 
> Insert a cdrom into a guest's cd drive.
> 
> 
> so anyway user still expect a similar syntax. block-attach support a
> different syntax where parameters are split using different command line
> arguments. Now it seems that code was changed trying to embed old syntax
> in new parameters way but target parameter was used which does not
> support old syntax.
> 
> It seems that libxlu_disk_l.l try even to emulate the old syntax but it
> does not set correctly "old" format and backend, for instance for raw
> should set backend to tap and format to raw while it just set format.

That is correct because libxl is able to figure out which one is the
best backend for "raw", that nowadays usually ends up being qemu.


> > My proposal is that we should bite this bullet and regularise the
> > parsing, so that xl cd-insert takes the same kind of argument as xl
> > block-attach.

I don't know if supporting the full disk-spec-component syntax is the
best thing to do here: for instance you are not supposed to pass a
devtype different from cdrom.
At the very least we need to clarify that devtype is not respected
when passed to cd-insert.


> > >   while updating internal code so perhaps the better option is to
> > > detect is user tried to give a specific type and add the correct
> > > "format" option to pass to parse_disk_config.  If you agree with
> > > this I can write a patch. Is not clear however which "types" are
> > > supported for xl cd-insert command. It seems a mix of backend (like
> > > "phy") and formats (like "raw"). Is this expected?
> > 
> > These "types" are a xend thing and are indeed a mixture of backend,
> > format, and other information.  In xl they are supported (where they
> > are) for backward compatibility, but they are not recommended.
> > 
> 
> By the way, do we want to break cd-insert command line syntax or just
> add a new format?
> Or is it better to add a new "block-change" command?
> Currently using 4.2 you can't specify as many format as 4.1.

I would hate to have to introduce yet another command to work around a
broken one.
I would rather break compatibility with the existing cd-insert.

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