[Libguestfs] [PATCH] cat: add -m option

[Pino Toscano]

On Monday 23 June 2014 12:29:07 Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 01:00:11PM +0200, Pino Toscano wrote:
> >  static int
> > 
> > +do_cat_simple (int argc, char *argv[])
> > +{
> > +  unsigned errors = 0;
> > +  int i;
> > +
> > +  for (i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
> > +    if (guestfs_download (g, argv[i], "/dev/stdout") == -1)
> > +      errors++;
> > +  }
> > +
> > +  return errors == 0 ? 0 : -1;
> > +}
> 
> The problem with this function is two-fold:
> 
>  - It disables Windows path support if using the -m option, which
>    seems a bit arbitrary.

I'm not sure: if I tell to mount an arbitrary partition/mountpoint, how 
can libguestfs detect it's from a Windows guest?

The main use cases I saw for this (and the other implementations for 
virt-ls and virt-edit) were
- handle partitions/disks which are parts of a guest (say the separate
  /var in another disk)
- handle data-only partitions (say the ones you put backups, etc)

So even if their filesystem is NTFS or something for Windows, there 
should be no need for handling Windows paths (with the drive letter), 
no?

>  - It duplicates parts of the original do_cat function.
> 
> What's wrong with modifying do_cat so it checks the global inspector
> variable?

My first version of this patch was like that, then I thought it would 
have been better to have inspection and no-inspection separated to avoid 
cluttering a single function. I can put them together if wanted.

-- 
Pino Toscano