[Qemu-devel] [RFC PATCH 0/6] chardev: convert to QOM

[Anthony Liguori]

Hi,

This has long been on my TODO list.  I wanted to put this forward since Gerd
has a chardev hotplug series.  I think there are a few good reasons to go the
QOM route here.  Most notably:

1) the conversion cleans up all of the printfs into proper error messages
2) it becomes possible to introspect available character device types
3) it becomes possible (albeit a little awkward) to programmatically query
   options for a type

There are quite a few things missing from this RFC although I think it can all
be done incrementally.  The continued items are:

A) Replace chardev properties in devices with links
B) Finish converting all usage of QemuOpts into proper properties
C) Use class methods instead of function pointers in objects
D) General cleanups

I think the main decision point here is whether we introduce a separate
chardev_add/chardev_del command or just use the qom-create command that has
been posted previously.

Please note, a few of these patches have long lines from a combination of code
motion and automated conversion via macros.