Re: [PATCH 04/14] softmmu: remove '-usbdevice' command line option

[Thomas Huth]

On 24/02/2021 15.10, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 02:58:19PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > On 24/02/2021 14.11, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > > This was replaced by the '-device usb-DEV' option.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
> > > ---
> > >    docs/system/deprecated.rst       |  9 -------
> > >    docs/system/removed-features.rst |  9 +++++++
> > >    softmmu/vl.c                     | 42 --------------------------------
> > >    3 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)
> >
> > Last time I tried to remove -usbdevice, there was some concerns that
> > -usbdevice braille might still be useful for some people, see the thread
> > that started here:
> >
> >   https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2018-01/msg00651.html
> >
> > (and Gerd's summary here:
> > https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2018-01/msg01520.html )
>
> Urgh, so the current deprecation docs are a bit misleading by saying
> -usbdevice is directly mapped to -device.
>
> > So we might need a new "sugared" option like "-braille" instead before we
> > can fully remove -usbdevice? ... or we just keep -usbdevice as a bittersweet
> > remainder?
>
> I'm not going to implement new CLI options, and if that's needed, we
> ought to re-start the clock on the deprecation at that point. So this
> points towards just removing the deprecation warning that exists
> today. Or alternatively drop support for -usbdevice, except for the
> braille type.

After that discussion in 2018, I've removed all of the "annoying" -usbdevice 
parameters already (see commit 99761176eeaf8525). I then more or less waited 
for someone to step up and implement "-braille", but it never happened and I 
forgot about the removal of the remaining -usbdevice parameters. Thinking 
about this again, replacing "-usbdevice braille" with a "-braille usb" does 
indeed not buy us much, so I think the best is maybe to keep the simple 
devices and braille around, update our documentation and remove the 
deprecation warning instead.

 Thomas