1[
2{ type: install
3  message: <<EOM
4FreeBSD host notes
5==================
6
7- Needs to set net.link.tap.user_open sysctl in order to use /dev/tap*
8  networking as non-root.  Don't forget to adjust device node permissions in
9  /etc/devfs.rules.
10
11- The -smb option (smb-export local dir to guest using the default
12  slirp networking) needs the samba port/package installed
13  in addition to qemu. (SAMBA knob.)
14
15- If you want to use usb devices connected to the host in the guest
16  yot can use usbredir over the network (see below); also unless you are
17  running qemu as root you then need to fix permissions for /dev/ugen*
18  device nodes: if you are on 5.x or later (devfs) put a rule in
19  /etc/devfs.rules, activate it in /etc/rc.conf and run /etc/rc.d/devfs
20  restart.  Example devfs.rules:
21
22	[ugen_ruleset=20]
23	add path 'ugen*' mode 660 group operator
24
25  corresponding rc.conf line:
26
27	devfs_system_ruleset="ugen_ruleset"
28
29- Still usb: since the hub is no longer attached to the uchi controller and
30  the wakeup mechanism, resume interrupt is not implemented yet linux guests
31  will suspend the bus, i.e. they wont see devices usb_add'ed after its
32  (linux') uhci module got loaded.  Workaround: either add devices before
33  linux loads the module or rmmod and modprobe it afterwards.  [Not sure
34  if this still applies to the new libusb host code used on recent
35  10-current.]
36
37- If you get repeated `atapi_poll called!' console messages with FreeBSD
38  guests or other weird cdrom problems then thats probably because the guest
39  has atapicam loaded, which for reasons still to be determined has problems
40  with qemu's now by default enabled cdrom dma. You can build the port with
41  CDROM_DMA disabled to disable it.  [Looks like this is fixed in recent
42  FreeBSD guest versions.]
43
44- qemu's network boot roms (-boot n) have a bug when bootfiles sizes are a
45  multiple of blksize, if this affects you (like with FreeBSD's /boot/pxeboot)
46  you can do like
47
48	cp /boot/pxeboot pxeboot-qemu && chmod +w pxeboot-qemu && echo >>pxeboot-qemu
49
50  and then use pxeboot-qemu.  Actually you need recent btx code
51  (from after 7.0 was released) because of the real mode boot
52  problem, so use at least pxeboot from there.  And I just did that
53  for the pxeboot extracted out of
54
55	ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/200805/7.0-STABLE-200805-i386-bootonly.iso
56
57  and placed it here:
58
59	http://people.freebsd.org/~nox/qemu/pxeboot-qemu
60
61- If you use slirp (usernet, the default) and want to mount nfs into the guest
62  and you are not running qemu as root, then mountd(8) on the exporting box
63  needs to be run with -n in order to accept requests from ports >= 1024.
64
65- (not FreeBSD-specific:) There have been reports of qcow2 corruption with (at
66  least) win2k guests on recent kvm (which uses similar qcow2 code than qemu
67  now, see this thread:
68
69	http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2009-02/msg00713.html -
70
71  the consensus on that thread seems to be that qcow(2) code has always been
72  experimental and you should use raw images if you want reliability; raw is
73  also usually faster.)  You should be able to migrate existing images to raw
74  using qemu-img(1)'s convert function; raw doesn't support advanced features
75  like snapshots tho.  [a few important qcow2 bugfixed have been committed in
76  the meantime so this _might_ be less of an issue now; and meanwhile there
77  also is the new qed format - I don't know how stable that one is.]
78
79- (also not FreeBSD-specific:)  It is recommended to pass raw images using the
80  new -drive syntax, specifying format=raw explicitly in order to avoid
81  malicious guests being able to exploit the format autodetection thats
82  otherwise getting used.  (Not that you should run malicious guests anyway,
83  but this eleminates at least a known attack vector.)
84
85- qemu now has improved physical cdrom support, but still there is at
86  least one known problem: you need to have the guest eject the disc if you
87  want to change it/take it out, or otherwise the guest may continue using
88  state (like size) of the old disc.  (You can also do like `change ide1-cd0
89  /dev/acd0' in the monitor after taking out the disc if a guest cannot eject
90  it itself.)
91
92EOM
93}
94]
95