RustInQemu

For the old RustInQemu page, see RustInQemu/2022

Active effort

• Current state
• Documentation
• Past updates: January 2025 | November 2024

Past efforts

• [RFC v3 00/32] Rust binding for QAPI and qemu-ga QMP handler examples
  on patchew on lore
• Subject: [RFC 0/6] scripts: Rewrite simpletrace printer in Rust
Date: Mon, 27 May 2024 16:14:15 +0800
  RFC v1

Work in progress

Paolo

• Waiting for Meson 1.8.1: "objects:", rustdoc,
• Later: pinned_init... maybe use MaybeUninit as a first step?

Kevin

• Executing async code, block driver implementations
  • https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/20250211214328.640374-1-kwolf@redhat.com/

Bugs

• Add BQL abstraction for tests - avoid running them with "--test-threads 1"
• Distros would prefer to link libstd dynamically; Rust-enabled QEMU binaries are huge

Possible project targets

Nice things to have

• Remove need for manual "meson subprojects update --reset" when updating packagefiles/
• Improve tool integration
  • Run code checks a la "meson test --suite codecheck"? (clippy and rustfmt)
• Place rustdoc output for master somewhere?
• split qemu_api into multiple crates
• distros need dynamically linked libstd
  • rewrite all main()s in Rust and use -C prefer-dynamic?
  • or should Meson be able to link C programs with rlibs?

New code to write

• more QOM procedural macros
  • generate qdev properties
  • generate parts of TypeInfo?
  • monomorphization of T: IsA<Class> to &T (like the momo crate)
• feature parity for pl011
• safe object creation with pinned_init, originating from Linux)
• Generic Rust<->C interop, Error (https://github.com/bonzini/rust-qemu)
• DMA (investigate vm-memory?)
• Trace/log (Summer of Code)

Improved clippy coverage in CI?

• run clippy as part of "make check"
• add to CI a fallible job that runs on nightly clippy with -Dclippy::complexity -Dclippy::perf -Dclippy::suspicious -Dclippy::style -Dunknown_lints. the job should generally pass, and if a new lint triggers it probably should be added to Cargo.toml as either "allow" (rare) or "deny" (possibly after adding #[allow()] to the source).

Miscellanea

• qemu-bridge-helper.c Re-write SUID C executable with useful features.

Bindings

• visitors/QOM properties, could be interesting for hw/sensor/tmp105.c...
• complete vmstate bindings (needs const_refs_static in Rust 1.83.0, Zhao+Paolo have a prototype)

Devices

• hw/block/pflash_cfi01.c, hw/block/pflash_cfi02.c (claimed, WIP)
  • needs block bindings
• hw/timer/i8254.c (claimed, WIP)
• hw/mem/nvdimm.c (suggested by Manos)