[virt-tools-list] virt-xml/start: Temporarily use another boot configuration

[Marc Hartmayer]

Hi all,

I’m planning to implement a functionality that allows the user to
temporarily use another boot configuration than defined in the
persistent XML. For example it should be possible to boot from another
kernel/initrd/cmdline (via direct boot) and it should also be possible
to select to boot from a network/disk/hostdev device.

So far so good but I’m unsure where this functionality fits in… First I
thought I could extend virt-xml, but since virt-xml is only used for
editing the domain definition and not for changing the state of a domain
(stopped->running) it might not be the best fit. Therefore I thought a
better option would be to add another tool aka 'virt-start' and refactor
shared code between 'virt-(install|xml)'.

 * What is your opinion about that?
 * How should the CLI look like?

The main motivation behind this is that the s390 architecture knows only
one boot device and therefore the boot order settings doesn't work the
way it would work on x86, for example. If the first boot device fails to
boot there is no trying to boot from the next boot device. In addition,
the architecture/BIOS has no support for interactively changing the boot
device during the boot/IPL process.

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards / Beste Grüße
   Marc Hartmayer

IBM Deutschland Research & Development GmbH
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