Re: [libvirt] [qemu RFC] qapi: add "firmware.json"

On 04/10/18 08:27, Gerd Hoffmann wrote: > Hi, > >> - I considered adding wildcards (say, blacklist "all" i440fx machtypes, >> present and future, for SMM-requiring OVMF builds), but then you get >> into version sorting and similar mess. I considered fnmatch() -- >> basically simple ? and * wildcards -- but that's not expressive enough. > > I'd suggest whitelist with wildcards. So the smm builds would get > "pc-q35-*". > > libvirt knows about aliases, so it should be able to handle the "q35" > shortcut like "pc-q35-${latest}". > > Or do you see another issue? Well, one issue I see is version sorting; I should say "Q35 but no earlier than 2.4", and lexicographically, "2.11" sorts before "2.4". Anyway (also asking for Thomas's input here): if we run with your idea to refer to exact mapping methods / firmware *implementation* types that we know libvirt implements / supports as a "white box", do we still deem machine type identification necessary? Because, libvirt already knows (for example) that "ovmf_smm" requires pc-q35-2.4 or later. So we just have to make a *reference* to that knowledge in the JSON file.