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  • Markus Armbruster's avatar
    block: New BlockBackend · 26f54e9a
    Markus Armbruster authored
    A block device consists of a frontend device model and a backend.
    
    A block backend has a tree of block drivers doing the actual work.
    The tree is managed by the block layer.
    
    We currently use a single abstraction BlockDriverState both for tree
    nodes and the backend as a whole.  Drawbacks:
    
    * Its API includes both stuff that makes sense only at the block
      backend level (root of the tree) and stuff that's only for use
      within the block layer.  This makes the API bigger and more complex
      than necessary.  Moreover, it's not obvious which interfaces are
      meant for device models, and which really aren't.
    
    * Since device models keep a reference to their backend, the backend
      object can't just be destroyed.  But for media change, we need to
      replace the tree.  Our solution is to make the BlockDriverState
      generic, with actual driver state in a separate object, pointed to
      by member opaque.  That lets us replace the tree by deinitializing
      and reinitializing its root.  This special need of the root makes
      the data structure awkward everywhere in the tree.
    
    The general plan is to separate the APIs into "block backend", for use
    by device models, monitor and whatever other code dealing with block
    backends, and "block driver", for use by the block layer and whatever
    other code (if any) dealing with trees and tree nodes.
    
    Code dealing with block backends, device models in particular, should
    become completely oblivious of BlockDriverState.  This should let us
    clean up both APIs, and the tree data structures.
    
    This commit is a first step.  It creates a minimal "block backend"
    API: type BlockBackend and functions to create, destroy and find them.
    
    BlockBackend objects are created and destroyed exactly when root
    BlockDriverState objects are created and destroyed.  "Root" in the
    sense of "in bdrv_states".  They're not yet used for anything; that'll
    come shortly.
    
    A root BlockDriverState is created with bdrv_new_root(), so where to
    create a BlockBackend is obvious.  Where these roots get destroyed
    isn't always as obvious.
    
    It is obvious in qemu-img.c, qemu-io.c and qemu-nbd.c, and in error
    paths of blockdev_init(), blk_connect().  That leaves destruction of
    objects successfully created by blockdev_init() and blk_connect().
    
    blockdev_init() is used only by drive_new() and qmp_blockdev_add().
    Objects created by the latter are currently indestructible (see commit
    48f364dd "blockdev: Refuse to drive_del something added with
    blockdev-add" and commit 2d246f01
    
     "blockdev: Introduce
    DriveInfo.enable_auto_del").  Objects created by the former get
    destroyed by drive_del().
    
    Objects created by blk_connect() get destroyed by blk_disconnect().
    
    BlockBackend is reference-counted.  Its reference count never exceeds
    one so far, but that's going to change.
    
    In drive_del(), the BB's reference count is surely one now.  The BDS's
    reference count is greater than one when something else is holding a
    reference, such as a block job.  In this case, the BB is destroyed
    right away, but the BDS lives on until all extra references get
    dropped.
    
    Signed-off-by: default avatarMarkus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>
    Reviewed-by: default avatarMax Reitz <mreitz@redhat.com>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarKevin Wolf <kwolf@redhat.com>
    26f54e9a