Re: [Qemu-block] interactive qemu-img

[Jeff Cody]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 12:30:01PM -0400, Programmingkid wrote:
> 
> > On Jul 30, 2018, at 11:09 AM, Eric Blake <address@hidden> wrote:
> > 
> > On 07/28/2018 08:22 PM, Programmingkid wrote:
> >> I thought of a way to make qemu-img much more user-friendly. When the user 
> >> opens qemu-img without any arguments, we could present a prompt that 
> >> guides the user on making an image file.
> >> This illustrates what I think should happen.
> >> <after user double-clicks on qemu-img...>
> >> Please select a format (qcow, qcow2, raw, vdi, vhdx, vmdk, vpc, vvfat):
> >> qcow2
> >> Please enter a size (e.g. 100M, 10G):
> >> 4G
> >> Please enter a name:
> >> WinXP.qcow2
> >> Creating image file...done
> >> The interactive prompt would contain enough options to make a usable image 
> >> file. If the user wants to use some of the more advanced features of 
> >> qemu-img he or she would still need to use the command-line.
> >> Would such a patch be welcomed?
> > 
> > qemu-img is a command line tool, not a gui.  Bloating it with a gui dialog 
> > box is probably not a wise idea.
> There would be no gui dialog box. Qemu-img would still be a command-line 
> tool. The patch would be done in printf/scanf calls.
> 

Even without a GUI, this would still add a not insignificant bloat and
unnecessary complexity to qemu-img, that doesn't add to the core
purpose of the tool.

It is not that the idea of such a dialog-driven tool (command-line or
otherwise) is without merit; it is that it would be better served as a
wrapper around qemu-img rather than built into qemu-img.  And it probably
wouldn't belong as part of the QEMU codebase, either, but more like other
management tools (e.g. libvirt) that wrap QEMU and add higher-level features
like that.

(One example of sorts, albeit of a GUI, is virt-manager. If you explore the
storage management, you can create qemu images of various types).

> > Personally, I'm just fine with the current command line behavior:
> > 
> > $ qemu-img
> > qemu-img: Not enough arguments
> > Try 'qemu-img --help' for more information
> > 
> > as 'qemu-img --help' tells you how to properly use the command, without 
> > having to hand-hold you through the process.
> Hand holding feels way better than the coldness of the --help option.