qemu/README.rst
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   1===========
   2QEMU README
   3===========
   4
   5QEMU is a generic and open source machine & userspace emulator and
   6virtualizer.
   7
   8QEMU is capable of emulating a complete machine in software without any
   9need for hardware virtualization support. By using dynamic translation,
  10it achieves very good performance. QEMU can also integrate with the Xen
  11and KVM hypervisors to provide emulated hardware while allowing the
  12hypervisor to manage the CPU. With hypervisor support, QEMU can achieve
  13near native performance for CPUs. When QEMU emulates CPUs directly it is
  14capable of running operating systems made for one machine (e.g. an ARMv7
  15board) on a different machine (e.g. an x86_64 PC board).
  16
  17QEMU is also capable of providing userspace API virtualization for Linux
  18and BSD kernel interfaces. This allows binaries compiled against one
  19architecture ABI (e.g. the Linux PPC64 ABI) to be run on a host using a
  20different architecture ABI (e.g. the Linux x86_64 ABI). This does not
  21involve any hardware emulation, simply CPU and syscall emulation.
  22
  23QEMU aims to fit into a variety of use cases. It can be invoked directly
  24by users wishing to have full control over its behaviour and settings.
  25It also aims to facilitate integration into higher level management
  26layers, by providing a stable command line interface and monitor API.
  27It is commonly invoked indirectly via the libvirt library when using
  28open source applications such as oVirt, OpenStack and virt-manager.
  29
  30QEMU as a whole is released under the GNU General Public License,
  31version 2. For full licensing details, consult the LICENSE file.
  32
  33
  34Building
  35========
  36
  37QEMU is multi-platform software intended to be buildable on all modern
  38Linux platforms, OS-X, Win32 (via the Mingw64 toolchain) and a variety
  39of other UNIX targets. The simple steps to build QEMU are:
  40
  41
  42.. code-block:: shell
  43
  44  mkdir build
  45  cd build
  46  ../configure
  47  make
  48
  49Additional information can also be found online via the QEMU website:
  50
  51* `<https://qemu.org/Hosts/Linux>`_
  52* `<https://qemu.org/Hosts/Mac>`_
  53* `<https://qemu.org/Hosts/W32>`_
  54
  55
  56Submitting patches
  57==================
  58
  59The QEMU source code is maintained under the GIT version control system.
  60
  61.. code-block:: shell
  62
  63   git clone https://git.qemu.org/git/qemu.git
  64
  65When submitting patches, one common approach is to use 'git
  66format-patch' and/or 'git send-email' to format & send the mail to the
  67qemu-devel@nongnu.org mailing list. All patches submitted must contain
  68a 'Signed-off-by' line from the author. Patches should follow the
  69guidelines set out in the CODING_STYLE.rst file.
  70
  71Additional information on submitting patches can be found online via
  72the QEMU website
  73
  74* `<https://qemu.org/Contribute/SubmitAPatch>`_
  75* `<https://qemu.org/Contribute/TrivialPatches>`_
  76
  77The QEMU website is also maintained under source control.
  78
  79.. code-block:: shell
  80
  81  git clone https://git.qemu.org/git/qemu-web.git
  82
  83* `<https://www.qemu.org/2017/02/04/the-new-qemu-website-is-up/>`_
  84
  85A 'git-publish' utility was created to make above process less
  86cumbersome, and is highly recommended for making regular contributions,
  87or even just for sending consecutive patch series revisions. It also
  88requires a working 'git send-email' setup, and by default doesn't
  89automate everything, so you may want to go through the above steps
  90manually for once.
  91
  92For installation instructions, please go to
  93
  94*  `<https://github.com/stefanha/git-publish>`_
  95
  96The workflow with 'git-publish' is:
  97
  98.. code-block:: shell
  99
 100  $ git checkout master -b my-feature
 101  $ # work on new commits, add your 'Signed-off-by' lines to each
 102  $ git publish
 103
 104Your patch series will be sent and tagged as my-feature-v1 if you need to refer
 105back to it in the future.
 106
 107Sending v2:
 108
 109.. code-block:: shell
 110
 111  $ git checkout my-feature # same topic branch
 112  $ # making changes to the commits (using 'git rebase', for example)
 113  $ git publish
 114
 115Your patch series will be sent with 'v2' tag in the subject and the git tip
 116will be tagged as my-feature-v2.
 117
 118Bug reporting
 119=============
 120
 121The QEMU project uses Launchpad as its primary upstream bug tracker. Bugs
 122found when running code built from QEMU git or upstream released sources
 123should be reported via:
 124
 125* `<https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/>`_
 126
 127If using QEMU via an operating system vendor pre-built binary package, it
 128is preferable to report bugs to the vendor's own bug tracker first. If
 129the bug is also known to affect latest upstream code, it can also be
 130reported via launchpad.
 131
 132For additional information on bug reporting consult:
 133
 134* `<https://qemu.org/Contribute/ReportABug>`_
 135
 136
 137Contact
 138=======
 139
 140The QEMU community can be contacted in a number of ways, with the two
 141main methods being email and IRC
 142
 143* `<mailto:qemu-devel@nongnu.org>`_
 144* `<https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/qemu-devel>`_
 145* #qemu on irc.oftc.net
 146
 147Information on additional methods of contacting the community can be
 148found online via the QEMU website:
 149
 150* `<https://qemu.org/Contribute/StartHere>`_
 151