Re: [libvirt] [PATCH 7/9] qemu: support unmanaged macvtap devices with <interface type='ethernet'>

Traditionally, macvtap devices are supported using <interface type='direct'>, but that type requires specifying a source device name and macvtap mode which can't be altered after the initial device creation (and may not even be available to the management software that's creating the XML config to feed to libvirt). But the attributes in the <source> are essentially describing how the device will be connected to the network, and if libvirt is to be supplied with the name of a macvtap device that has already been created, that device will also already be connected to the network (and the connection can't be changed). Thus it seems more appropriate to use type='ethernet', which was created explicitly for this purpose - for devices that have already been (or will be) connected to the external network by someone/something outside of libvirt. The fact that it is a *macv*tap rather than a contentional tap device is just a detail. This patch supports using an existing macvtap device with <interface type='ethernet'> by checking the supplied target dev name to see if it is a macvtap device and, when this is the case, calling virNetDevMacVLanTapOpen() instead of virNetDevTapCreate(). For consistency, this is only done when target managed='no'. Resolves: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1723367 (partially) Signed-off-by: Laine Stump <laine(a)redhat.com&gt; --- src/qemu/qemu_interface.c | 15 ++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)