Re: [PATCH v1 02/29] docs: collect the disparate device emulation docs into one section

[Markus Armbruster]

Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org> writes:

> While we are at it add a brief preamble that explains some of the
> common concepts in QEMU's device emulation which will hopefully lead
> to less confusing about our dizzying command line options.
>
> Signed-off-by: Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>
> Message-Id: <20210714182056.25888-3-alex.bennee@linaro.org>
> Cc: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>
> Cc: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
> Cc: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
> Cc: Eduardo Habkost <ehabkost@redhat.com>
>
> ---
> v2
>   - be a bit more precise about necessity of a buses
>   - add an example showing id/bus relations
> ---
>  docs/system/device-emulation.rst          | 89 +++++++++++++++++++++++
>  docs/system/{ => devices}/ivshmem.rst     |  0
>  docs/system/{ => devices}/net.rst         |  0
>  docs/system/{ => devices}/nvme.rst        |  0
>  docs/system/{ => devices}/usb.rst         |  0
>  docs/system/{ => devices}/virtio-pmem.rst |  0
>  docs/system/index.rst                     |  6 +-
>  7 files changed, 90 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>  create mode 100644 docs/system/device-emulation.rst
>  rename docs/system/{ => devices}/ivshmem.rst (100%)
>  rename docs/system/{ => devices}/net.rst (100%)
>  rename docs/system/{ => devices}/nvme.rst (100%)
>  rename docs/system/{ => devices}/usb.rst (100%)
>  rename docs/system/{ => devices}/virtio-pmem.rst (100%)
>
> diff --git a/docs/system/device-emulation.rst 
> b/docs/system/device-emulation.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..7af5dbefab
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/docs/system/device-emulation.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
> +.. _device-emulation:
> +
> +Device Emulation
> +----------------
> +
> +QEMU supports the emulation of a large number of devices from
> +peripherals such network cards and USB devices to integrated systems
> +on a chip (SoCs). Configuration of these is often a source of
> +confusion so it helps to have an understanding of some of the terms
> +used to describes devices within QEMU.
> +
> +Common Terms
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +
> +Device Front End
> +================
> +
> +A device front end is how a device is presented to the guest. The type
> +of device presented should match the hardware that the guest operating
> +system is expecting to see. All devices can be specified with the
> +``--device`` command line option. Running QEMU with the command line
> +options ``--device help`` will list all devices it is aware of. Using
> +the command line ``--device foo,help`` will list the additional
> +configuration options available for that device.
> +
> +A front end is often paired with a back end, which describes how the
> +host's resources are used in the emulation.
> +
> +Device Buses
> +============
> +
> +Most devices will exist on a BUS of some sort. Depending on the
> +machine model you choose (``-M foo``) a number of buses will have been
> +automatically created. In most cases the BUS a device is attached to
> +can be inferred, for example PCI devices are generally automatically
> +allocated to the next free address of first PCI bus found. However in
> +complicated configurations you can explicitly specify what bus
> +(``bus=ID``) a device is attached to along with its address
> +(``addr=N``).
> +
> +Some devices, for example a PCI SCSI host controller, will add an
> +additional buses to the system that other devices can be attached to.
> +A hypothetical chain of devices might look like:
> +
> +  --device foo,bus=pci.0,addr=0,id=foo
> +  --device bar,bus=foo.0,addr=1,id=baz

PCI bus address 0 is the PCI bridge.  Suggest to omit addr=0, or to use
another, non-special PCI address.  You might like addr=02.0 to hint at
the fact that the syntax of bus addresses depends on the bus.

> +
> +which would be a bar device (with the ID of baz) which is attached to
> +the first foo bus (foo.0) at address 1. The foo device which provides
> +that bus is itself is attached to the first PCI bus (pci.0).
> +
> +
> +Device Back End
> +===============
> +
> +The back end describes how the data from the emulated device will be
> +processed by QEMU. The configuration of the back end is usually
> +specific to the class of device being emulated. For example serial
> +devices will be backed by a ``--chardev`` which can redirect the data
> +to a file or socket or some other system. Storage devices are handled
> +by ``--blockdev`` which will specify how blocks are handled, for
> +example being stored in a qcow2 file or accessing a raw host disk
> +partition. Back ends can sometimes be stacked to implement features
> +like snapshots.
> +
> +While the choice of back end is generally transparent to the guest

Comma, I think.

> +there are cases where features will not be reported to the guest if
> +the back end is unable to support it.
> +
> +Device Pass Through
> +===================
> +
> +Device pass through is where the device is actually given access to
> +the underlying hardware. This can be as simple as exposing a single
> +USB device on the host system to the guest or dedicating a video card
> +in a PCI slot to the exclusive use of the guest.
> +
> +
> +Emulated Devices
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +
> +.. toctree::
> +   :maxdepth: 1
> +
> +   devices/ivshmem.rst
> +   devices/net.rst
> +   devices/nvme.rst
> +   devices/usb.rst
> +   devices/virtio-pmem.rst

[...]

Nothing serious, so
Reviewed-by: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>