> On Jul 30, 2018, at 3:55 PM, Jeff Cody <jc...@redhat.com> wrote: > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 12:30:01PM -0400, Programmingkid wrote: >> >>> On Jul 30, 2018, at 11:09 AM, Eric Blake <ebl...@redhat.com> 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).
A wrapper around qemu-img might actually be a better idea than making qemu-img interactive. I'm currently not sure which route to travel. Maybe just improving the help of qemu-img might be good enough. > >>> 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.