Hi, > If we get the qdev rework done then I think we're probably in > a better position to have a plugin framework for devices. (There > are some issues about API and ABI stability guarantees, of course.)
One of the qdev intended benefits is to have pretty much self-contained device emulation. If doesn't work equally well everythere. For alot of -- for example -- PCI devices it does work nicely though. Adding a device is simply a matter of dropping a file into the tree and a line into the Makefile and you are done. The device is available to be used via -device. So the cost of maintaining stuff out-of-tree isn't that big as you almost never have patch conflict issues. For embedded stuff it is usually a bit trickier as the device interconnects are hard-coded in the board creation bits and devices can't be hooked up using -device (or some other generic mechanism which uses -- say -- device trees) ... cheers, Gerd
