Empty name is not allowed by schema but qemu is able to start with such a config (and I guess some other hypervisors too). As a result name will be generated by kernel and have form 'tap<N>'. At the same time if target element is ommited in config the name will be generated by libvirt and have form 'vnet<N>'. Let's have only the latter pattern for autogenerated names by treating empty name as ommited. Signed-off-by: Nikolay Shirokovskiy <nshirokovskiy(a)virtuozzo.com&gt; --- There is a RFS for the issue - https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2019-September/msg00645.html src/conf/domain_conf.c | 2 ++ 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+) diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c index 76aaa63f57..7ff3972cbb 100644 --- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c +++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c @@ -11592,6 +11592,8 @@ virDomainNetDefParseXML(virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt, } else if (!ifname && virXMLNodeNameEqual(cur, "target")) { ifname = virXMLPropString(cur, "dev"); + if (ifname[0] == '\0') + VIR_FREE(ifname); managed_tap = virXMLPropString(cur, "managed"); } else if ((!ifname_guest || !ifname_guest_actual) && virXMLNodeNameEqual(cur, "guest")) { -- 2.23.0