On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 3:06 AM Helge Deller <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 1/26/26 23:29, Stefan Hajnoczi wrote: > > On Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 3:44 AM Marc-André Lureau > > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> Hi > >> > >> On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 7:46 PM Pierrick Bouvier > >> <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> On 1/22/26 3:28 AM, Marc-André Lureau wrote: > >>>> Hi > >>>> > >>>> On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 2:57 PM Daniel P. Berrangé <[email protected]> > >>>> wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> On Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 10:54:42AM +0000, Peter Maydell wrote: > >>>>>> On Thu, 22 Jan 2026 at 10:40, Daniel P. Berrangé <[email protected]> > >>>>>> wrote: > >>>>>>> Once we have written some scripts that can build gcc, binutils, linux, > >>>>>>> busybox we've opened the door to be able to support every machine type > >>>>>>> on every target, provided there has been a gcc/binutils/linux port at > >>>>>>> some time (which covers practically everything). Adding new machines > >>>>>>> becomes cheap then - just a matter of identifying the Linux Kconfig > >>>>>>> settings, and everything else stays the same. Adding new targets means > >>>>>>> adding a new binutils build target, which should again we relatively > >>>>>>> cheap, and also infrequent. This has potential to be massively more > >>>>>>> sustainable than a reliance on distros, and should put us on a pathway > >>>>>>> that would let us cover almost everything we ship. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Isn't that essentially reimplementing half of buildroot, or the > >>>>>> system image builder that Rob Landley uses to produce toybox > >>>>>> test images ? > >>>>> > >>>>> If we can use existing tools to achieve this, that's fine. > >>>>> > >>>> > >>>> Imho, both approaches are complementary. Building images from scratch, > >>>> like toybox, to cover esoteric minimal systems. And more complete and > >>>> common OSes with mkosi which allows you to have things like python, > >>>> mesa, networking, systemd, tpm tools, etc for testing.. We don't want > >>>> to build that from scratch, do we? > >>>> > >>> > >>> I ran into this need recently, and simply used podman (or docker) for > >>> this purpose. > >>> > >>> $ podman build -t rootfs - < Dockerfile > >>> $ container=$(podman create rootfs) > >>> $ podman export -o /dev/stdout $container | > >>> /sbin/mke2fs -t ext4 -d - out.ext4 10g > >>> $ podman rm -f $container > >>> > >>> It allows to create image for any distro (used it for alpine and > >>> debian), as long as they publish a docker container. As well, it gives > >>> flexibility to have a custom init, skipping a lengthy emulated boot with > >>> a full system. As a bonus, it's quick to build, and does not require > >>> recompiling the world to get something. > >>> > >>> You can debug things too by running the container on your host machine, > >>> which is convenient. > >>> > >> > >> Very nice! I didn't realize you could export and reuse a container that > >> way. > >> > >> I wonder how this workflow can be extended and compare to mkosi > >> (beside the limitation to produce tar/fs image) > >> > >> For qemu VM testing, it would fit better along with our Dockerfile & > >> lcitool usage. > >> > >> I wish a tool would help to (cross) create & boot such (reproducible) > >> images & vm easily. > > > > Hi Marc-André, > > I would like to submit QEMU's GSoC application in the next day or two. > > A minimum of 4 project ideas is mentioned in the latest guidelines > > from Google and we're currently at 3 ideas. > Stefan, I can provide another project, if needed. > I was struggling if I should make it a GSOC project, or just do it myself when > I find time somewhen. My main concern why I did not yet brought it up yet, is > that I think it's so specific that it will be hard to find a good candidate. > It's about adding a new machine type to the hppa/parisc > architecture to allow running the historic "MPE" operating system [1]. > I have prepared some wording for the project already, but am still waiting > for some feedback from some contacts I have. > So, if you need another project, I can provide one... :-)
Thanks for sharing! We have reached 4 project ideas now with the addition of the virtio-rtc project. You are welcome to add the MPE project idea if you want to mentor it this summer. It's okay if you are still waiting on responses from people you are in touch with. Now that QEMU has at least 4 project ideas I can go ahead and submit the GSoC org application and you can still add your idea later. Stefan
