Re: [virtio-comment] comments for the virtio spec - Introduction section

["Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 09:44:50AM -0500, Laura Novich wrote:
> If you can't open the document here are my comments

Thanks for the comment. No, we didn't get the attachment, but this text
seems clear. I assume you have no comments outside introduction.

> INTRODUCTION
> ===============
> 1. Remove The entire first paragraph with the exveption of the first sentence.
> 2. Replace with - A virtual device in its truest sense is not any different from a physical device. The virtual machine sees a virtual device just as a physical machine would see a physical one. As such, this document will treat virtual devices as physical devices.

This seems to make strong claims about all virtual devices
which i'm not sure are correct.

I think we can take away these points about the introduction:

1. they in "they are not all that different" is ambigious. One might think it means
   virtual environments (which one might take to mean all
   virtual devices) are like physical devices.
2. from what point of view is virtio like a physical device?
   it's very different from host POV
3. "the guest" appears out of nowhere. It's the guest that runs
   in the vm of course.
4. "not all that different" means similar so there's not need to be
   verbose
5. This in "This allows" is ambigious: what allows guest to use standard drivers?
   It's the device being like a physical one - not how this
   document is written.

So I think this will address this comment without making strong claims.

diff --git a/abstract.tex b/abstract.tex
index b42a0b6..6684540 100644
--- a/abstract.tex
+++ b/abstract.tex
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-This document describes the specifications of the “virtio” family of
-devices. These devices are found in virtual environments, yet by
-design they are not all that different from physical devices, and this
-document treats them as such. This allows the guest to use standard
-drivers and discovery mechanisms.
+This document describes the specifications of the “virtio” family of
+devices. These devices are found in virtual environments, yet by
+design from the point of view of the virtual machine guest
+virtio devices look similar to physical devices -
+and this document treats them as such.
+This similarity allows the guest to use standard
+drivers and discovery mechanisms.
 



> 3. The purpose of ...
> 4. replace rather than using boutique to  rather than using vendor-specific, per-environment, or per-OS mechanisms. 
> 
> 5. ADD -The categories described above are further defined as follows:
>   Straightforward: Revise last sentence to read - There aren’t any exotic page-flipping or COW mechanisms and it functions as a  normal device.[1]
> 6. Efficient: ADD to input and output (I/O),

No opinion on the above. Original wording seems clear enough and it's
shorter :)

> 7. effects from both guest and (not sure but i think you should ADD host) device writing to the same cache
>   lines.

no - it's the virtio device. Seems clear from context, not sure why
was this misunderstood.

> 8. Standard: CHANGE TO READ: Virtio makes no assumptions about the environment in which
>   it operates, beyond what is required in order to allow the bus to  attach the host device to the driver on the guest.  Virtio
>   devices are implemented over PCI and other buses, and earlier drafts that
>   have been implemented on other buses not included in this specification.[2]
> 
> Thanks!

It looks like "supporting the bus attaching the device" can be
misunderstood to mean we need to support attaching
the device. In reality this talks about supporting the bus.

This should address this:

-  it operates, beyond supporting the bus attaching the device.  Virtio
-  it operates, beyond supporting the bus to which the device is attached.  Virtio





> -- 
> Regards,
> Laura Novich
> 
> 
> ******************************************************
> *     Laura Novich                                   *
> *     RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) *
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