--without-default-devices is a specialized option that should only be used
when configs/devices/ is changed manually.
Explain the model towards which we should tend, with respect to failures
to start guests and to run "make check".
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonz...@redhat.com>
---
docs/devel/kconfig.rst | 16 +++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/docs/devel/kconfig.rst b/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
index a68fbc142efc..01984ae9fa9c 100644
--- a/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
@@ -281,9 +281,19 @@ want to change some lines in the first group, for example
like this::
CONFIG_PCI_DEVICES=y
#CONFIG_TEST_DEVICES=n
-and/or pick a subset of the devices in those device groups. Right now
-there is no single place that lists all the optional devices for
-``CONFIG_PCI_DEVICES`` and ``CONFIG_TEST_DEVICES``. In the future,
+and/or pick a subset of the devices in those device groups. Without
+further modifications to ``configs/devices/``, a system emulator built
+without default devices might not do much more than start an empty
+machine, and even then only if ``--nodefaults`` is specified on the
+command line. Starting a VM *without* ``--nodefaults`` is allowed to
+fail, but should never abort. Failures in ``make check`` with
+``--without-default-devices`` are considered bugs in the test code:
+the tests should either use ``--nodefaults``, and should be skipped
+if a necessary device is not present in the build. Such failures
+should not be worked around with ``select`` directives.
+
+Right now there is no single place that lists all the optional devices
+for ``CONFIG_PCI_DEVICES`` and ``CONFIG_TEST_DEVICES``. In the future,
we expect that ``.mak`` files will be automatically generated, so that
they will include all these symbols and some help text on what they do.
--
2.40.0
