fw_cfg: Adopt /opt/RFQDN convention

FW CFG's primary user is QEMU, which uses it to expose configuration
information (in the widest sense) to Firmware.  Thus the name FW CFG.

FW CFG can also be used by others for their own purposes.  QEMU is
merely acting as transport then.  Names starting with opt/ are
reserved for such uses.  There is no provision, however, to guide safe
sharing among different such users.

Fix that, loosely following QMP precedence: names should start with
opt/RFQDN/, where RFQDN is a reverse fully qualified domain name you
control.

Based on a more ambitious patch from Michael Tsirkin.

Cc: Gerd Hoffmann <[email protected]>
Cc: Gabriel L. Somlo <[email protected]>
Cc: Laszlo Ersek <[email protected]>
Cc: Michael S. Tsirkin <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Markus Armbruster <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <[email protected]>
Acked-by: Gabriel Somlo <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Laszlo Ersek <[email protected]>

diff --git a/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt b/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
index 5414140f33e0e63981f562258d38f2c214c8ecc8..7a5f8c7824ce41d6ee9214228aa7bf85667a7713 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
+++ b/docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt
@@ -210,29 +210,27 @@ the following syntax:
 
     -fw_cfg [name=]<item_name>,file=<path>
 
-where <item_name> is the fw_cfg item name, and <path> is the location
-on the host file system of a file containing the data to be inserted.
-
-Small enough items may be provided directly as strings on the command
-line, using the syntax:
+Or
 
     -fw_cfg [name=]<item_name>,string=<string>
 
-The terminating NUL character of the content <string> will NOT be
-included as part of the fw_cfg item data, which is consistent with
-the absence of a NUL terminator for items inserted via the file option.
+See QEMU man page for more documentation.
+
+Using item_name with plain ASCII characters only is recommended.
+
+Item names beginning with "opt/" are reserved for users.  QEMU will
+never create entries with such names unless explicitly ordered by the
+user.
 
-Both <item_name> and, if applicable, the content <string> are passed
-through by QEMU without any interpretation, expansion, or further
-processing. Any such processing (potentially performed e.g., by the shell)
-is outside of QEMU's responsibility; as such, using plain ASCII characters
-is recommended.
+To avoid clashes among different users, it is strongly recommended
+that you use names beginning with opt/RFQDN/, where RFQDN is a reverse
+fully qualified domain name you control.  For instance, if SeaBIOS
+wanted to define additional names, the prefix "opt/org.seabios/" would
+be appropriate.
 
-NOTE: Users *SHOULD* choose item names beginning with the prefix "opt/"
-when using the "-fw_cfg" command line option, to avoid conflicting with
-item names used internally by QEMU. For instance:
+For historical reasons, "opt/ovmf/" is reserved for OVMF firmware.
 
-    -fw_cfg name=opt/my_item_name,file=./my_blob.bin
+Prefix "opt/org.qemu/" is reserved for QEMU itself.
 
-Similarly, QEMU developers *SHOULD NOT* use item names prefixed with
-"opt/" when inserting items programmatically, e.g. via fw_cfg_add_file().
+Use of names not beginning with "opt/" is potentially dangerous and
+entirely unsupported.  QEMU will warn if you try.

diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 587de8f3cd57b93685b46324d932db5d9efb467b..6106520c56e01c7271d17cdb97130615c9d346b6 100644 (file)
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -2864,18 +2864,32 @@ ETEXI
 
 DEF("fw_cfg", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_fwcfg,
     "-fw_cfg [name=]<name>,file=<file>\n"
-    "                add named fw_cfg entry from file\n"
+    "                add named fw_cfg entry with contents from file\n"
     "-fw_cfg [name=]<name>,string=<str>\n"
-    "                add named fw_cfg entry from string\n",
+    "                add named fw_cfg entry with contents from string\n",
     QEMU_ARCH_ALL)
 STEXI
+
 @item -fw_cfg [name=]@var{name},file=@var{file}
 @findex -fw_cfg
-Add named fw_cfg entry from file. @var{name} determines the name of
-the entry in the fw_cfg file directory exposed to the guest.
+Add named fw_cfg entry with contents from file @var{file}.
 
 @item -fw_cfg [name=]@var{name},string=@var{str}
-Add named fw_cfg entry from string.
+Add named fw_cfg entry with contents from string @var{str}.
+
+The terminating NUL character of the contents of @var{str} will not be
+included as part of the fw_cfg item data. To insert contents with
+embedded NUL characters, you have to use the @var{file} parameter.
+
+The fw_cfg entries are passed by QEMU through to the guest.
+
+Example:
+@example
+    -fw_cfg name=opt/com.mycompany/blob,file=./my_blob.bin
+@end example
+creates an fw_cfg entry named opt/com.mycompany/blob with contents
+from ./my_blob.bin.
+
 ETEXI
 
 DEF("serial", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_serial, \