QEMU command line generator XML fuzzing¶

Summary: Using fuzzing techniques to generate unusual XML to feed to QEMU command line generator

There are a huge number of potential variants of XML documents that can be fed into libvirt. Only a subset of these are valid for generating QEMU command lines. It is likely that there are cases where omitting certain attributes or XML elements will cause the QEMU command line generator to crash. Using fuzzing techniques to generate unusual XML documents which could then be fed through the test suite may identify crashes.

Details:

• Component: libvirt

• Skill level: intermediate

• Language: C

• Mentor:

• Suggested by: Daniel Berrange

Metadata support for all object schemas¶

Summary: Extend the domain XML <metadata> concept to all object schemas

The domain XML schema has support for storing arbitrary user/application specified information in a <metadata> element. Beneath this element, apps can add custom content isolated in a private XML namespace. Libvirt will treat this data as a black-box and store it with no modifications. e.g.

<metadata>
  <lcp:consoles xmlns:lcp="http://libvirt.org/schemas/console-proxy/1.0">
    <lcp:console token="999f5742-2fb5-491c-832b-282b3afdfe0c" type="spice" port="0" insecure="yes"/>
    <lcp:console token="6a92ef00-6f54-4c18-820d-2a2eaf9ac309" type="serial" port="0" insecure="yes"/>
    <lcp:console token="2a7cbf19-079e-4599-923a-8496ceb7cf4b" type="serial" port="1" insecure="yes"/>
    <lcp:console token="3d7bbde9-b9eb-4548-a414-d17fa1968aae" type="console" port="0" insecure="yes"/>
    <lcp:console token="393c6fdd-dbf7-4da9-9ea7-472d2f5ad34c" type="console" port="1" insecure="yes"/>
    <lcp:console token="7b037f4e-10ab-4c1c-8a49-4e33146c693e" type="console" port="2" insecure="yes"/>
  </lcp:consoles>
</metadata>

There is also a free form <title> and <description> element

There are also public APIs that let applications read/write this metadata on the fly, without having to redefine the entire XML config. Changes to this metadata triggered asynchronous event notifications.

The project idea is to extend this concept to all/most other object types, networks, nwfilters, interfaces, storage pools, storage volumes, node devices, secrets, etc. This involves

• Extending the XML schema & corresponding parser/formatter to read/write the <title>, <description> and <metadata> elements

• Add vir{OBJECT}SetMetadata & vir{OBJECT}GetMetadata public APIs for each object

• Add async event callback for each object to notify of changes

For networks, nwfilters, storage pools and secrets this work is mostly a matter of copying the existing code pattern used for domains. This part of the project is suitable for total beginners / novices to libvirt.

Storage volumes, interfaces and node devices are more difficult, since libvirt never stores the master XML anywhere itself - the XML is just generated on the fly from another place. We could declare that metadata for those objects is not supported. If we want to get adventurous though, we could provide custom logic. For example, for storage volumes, with file based volumes at least, we can use extended attributes on the file to record metadata. This part of the project is more advanced and so requires higher skill level. It should be considered optional. It would be a successful project to simply complete the first part, covering networks, nwfilters, storage pools and secrets.

Links:

Details:

• Skill level: beginner

• Language: C

• Suggested by: Daniel Berrange

libnbd bindings for Rust¶

Summary: Add Rust bindings for libnbd

libnbd is a client library for accessing NBD servers. It currently has bindings in C, OCaml, Python and Golang. We need someone to add bindings in Rust. To add extra excitement, the bindings must be generated by an OCaml script so they keep up to date with future changes to the API.

Links:

• https://github.com/libguestfs/libnbd

• Outline bindings: https://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2019-August/msg00416.html

Details:

• Skill level: intermediate or maybe advanced

• Language: Rust and a bit of OCaml

• Suggested by: Richard W.M. Jones <rjones@redhat.com>