Re: [Xen-devel] [PATCH v4 1/8] xen: import ring.h from xen

[Juergen Gross <jgross@xxxxxxxx>]

On 24/03/17 18:37, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2017, Juergen Gross wrote:
>> On 23/03/17 19:22, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
>>> On Thu, 23 Mar 2017, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
>>>> On 23/03/2017 14:55, Juergen Gross wrote:
>>>>> On 23/03/17 14:00, Greg Kurz wrote:
>>>>>> On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 11:19:05 -0700
>>>>>> Stefano Stabellini <sstabellini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Do not use the ring.h header installed on the system. Instead, import
>>>>>>> the header into the QEMU codebase. This avoids problems when QEMU is
>>>>>>> built against a Xen version too old to provide all the ring macros.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Signed-off-by: Stefano Stabellini <stefano@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>>>>> Reviewed-by: Greg Kurz <groug@xxxxxxxx>
>>>>>>> CC: anthony.perard@xxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> CC: jgross@xxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> NB: The new macros have not been committed to Xen yet. Do not apply this
>>>>>>> patch until they do.
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looking at your other series for the kernel part of this feature:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/3/22/761
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I realize that the ring.h header from Xen also exists in the kernel 
>>>>>> tree... 
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Shouldn't all the code that can be used in both kernel and userspace go 
>>>>>> to a
>>>>>> header file under include/uapi in the kernel tree ? And then we would 
>>>>>> import
>>>>>> it under include/standard-headers/linux in the QEMU tree and we could 
>>>>>> keep it
>>>>>> in sync using scripts/update-linux-headers.sh.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cc'ing Paolo for insights.
>>>>>
>>>>> As Xen isn't part of the kernel we don't want that. You can use and/or
>>>>> build qemu with xen-9pfs backend support on an old Linux kernel without
>>>>> the related frontend.
>>>>
>>>> As long as the header changes rarely, I guess it's fine not to go
>>>> through update-linux-headers.sh.
>>>
>>> Very rarely, last time ring.h was changed was 2015, and to introduce a
>>> new macro (which we don't necessarily need in QEMU).
>>>
>>>
>>>>> OTOH I don't see the advantage of not using the headers from Xen. This
>>>>> is working for qdisk and pvusb backends and for all the Xen libraries.
>>>>> Do you expect the 9pfs backend to be used for a qemu version built
>>>>> against a Xen version not supporting that backend?
>>>
>>> Yes, I think that is entirely possible: Xen and QEMU versions can mix
>>> and match.
>>>
>>> Keeping in mind that the 9pfs backend has actually no build dependencies
>>> on Xen, except for these new ring.h macros, we have the following
>>> options:
>>>
>>> 1) we build the 9pfs backend only for Xen >= 4.9, because of the new
>>>    macros in ring.h that we need
>>
>> Right. You have sent 9pfs support patches for Xen tools. So obviously
>> you need a proper Xen version to use 9pfs. Why not build qemu against
>> it? Do you really expect a new Xen being used with an old qemu while
>> wanting to use new features? That makes no sense for me.
>  
> Tools support is needed to setup the frontend/backend connection as
> usual, but that's not a requirement for building the 9pfs backend. In
> fact, the backend doesn't need any tools support for it to work. The
> macro themselves are just a convenience - the backend would work just
> fine without them. Why restrict the QEMU build gratuitously?

You are duplicating a header without any real benefit I can see. This
is adding future work for keeping both versions of the header in sync.

In which scenario would you want qemu to support xen-9pfs without being
built against a Xen version supporting xen-9pfs?

I am not completely against copying the header, I just don't see an
advantage for any distro or user in doing it.


Juergen


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