1 @node Deprecated features
2 @appendix Deprecated features
4 In general features are intended to be supported indefinitely once
5 introduced into QEMU. In the event that a feature needs to be removed,
6 it will be listed in this appendix. The feature will remain functional
7 for 2 releases prior to actual removal. Deprecated features may also
8 generate warnings on the console when QEMU starts up, or if activated
9 via a monitor command, however, this is not a mandatory requirement.
11 Prior to the 2.10.0 release there was no official policy on how
12 long features would be deprecated prior to their removal, nor
13 any documented list of which features were deprecated. Thus
14 any features deprecated prior to 2.10.0 will be treated as if
15 they were first deprecated in the 2.10.0 release.
17 What follows is a list of all features currently marked as
20 @section System emulator command line arguments
22 @subsection -machine enforce-config-section=on|off (since 3.1)
24 The @option{enforce-config-section} parameter is replaced by the
25 @option{-global migration.send-configuration=@var{on|off}} option.
27 @subsection -no-kvm (since 1.3.0)
29 The ``-no-kvm'' argument is now a synonym for setting ``-accel tcg''.
31 @subsection -usbdevice (since 2.10.0)
33 The ``-usbdevice DEV'' argument is now a synonym for setting
34 the ``-device usb-DEV'' argument instead. The deprecated syntax
35 would automatically enable USB support on the machine type.
36 If using the new syntax, USB support must be explicitly
37 enabled via the ``-machine usb=on'' argument.
39 @subsection -drive file=json:@{...@{'driver':'file'@}@} (since 3.0)
41 The 'file' driver for drives is no longer appropriate for character or host
42 devices and will only accept regular files (S_IFREG). The correct driver
43 for these file types is 'host_cdrom' or 'host_device' as appropriate.
45 @subsection -net ...,name=@var{name} (since 3.1)
47 The @option{name} parameter of the @option{-net} option is a synonym
48 for the @option{id} parameter, which should now be used instead.
50 @subsection -smp (invalid topologies) (since 3.1)
52 CPU topology properties should describe whole machine topology including
55 However, historically it was possible to start QEMU with an incorrect topology
56 where @math{@var{n} <= @var{sockets} * @var{cores} * @var{threads} < @var{maxcpus}},
57 which could lead to an incorrect topology enumeration by the guest.
58 Support for invalid topologies will be removed, the user must ensure
59 topologies described with -smp include all possible cpus, i.e.
60 @math{@var{sockets} * @var{cores} * @var{threads} = @var{maxcpus}}.
62 @subsection -vnc acl (since 4.0.0)
64 The @code{acl} option to the @code{-vnc} argument has been replaced
65 by the @code{tls-authz} and @code{sasl-authz} options.
67 @subsection QEMU_AUDIO_ environment variables and -audio-help (since 4.0)
69 The ``-audiodev'' argument is now the preferred way to specify audio
70 backend settings instead of environment variables. To ease migration to
71 the new format, the ``-audiodev-help'' option can be used to convert
72 the current values of the environment variables to ``-audiodev'' options.
74 @subsection Creating sound card devices and vnc without audiodev= property (since 4.2)
76 When not using the deprecated legacy audio config, each sound card
77 should specify an @code{audiodev=} property. Additionally, when using
78 vnc, you should specify an @code{audiodev=} propery if you plan to
79 transmit audio through the VNC protocol.
81 @subsection -mon ...,control=readline,pretty=on|off (since 4.1)
83 The @code{pretty=on|off} switch has no effect for HMP monitors, but is
84 silently ignored. Using the switch with HMP monitors will become an
87 @subsection -realtime (since 4.1)
89 The @code{-realtime mlock=on|off} argument has been replaced by the
90 @code{-overcommit mem-lock=on|off} argument.
92 @subsection -numa node,mem=@var{size} (since 4.1)
94 The parameter @option{mem} of @option{-numa node} is used to assign a part of
95 guest RAM to a NUMA node. But when using it, it's impossible to manage specified
96 RAM chunk on the host side (like bind it to a host node, setting bind policy, ...),
97 so guest end-ups with the fake NUMA configuration with suboptiomal performance.
98 However since 2014 there is an alternative way to assign RAM to a NUMA node
99 using parameter @option{memdev}, which does the same as @option{mem} and adds
100 means to actualy manage node RAM on the host side. Use parameter @option{memdev}
101 with @var{memory-backend-ram} backend as an replacement for parameter @option{mem}
102 to achieve the same fake NUMA effect or a properly configured
103 @var{memory-backend-file} backend to actually benefit from NUMA configuration.
104 In future new machine versions will not accept the option but it will still
105 work with old machine types. User can check QAPI schema to see if the legacy
106 option is supported by looking at MachineInfo::numa-mem-supported property.
108 @subsection -numa node (without memory specified) (since 4.1)
110 Splitting RAM by default between NUMA nodes has the same issues as @option{mem}
111 parameter described above with the difference that the role of the user plays
112 QEMU using implicit generic or board specific splitting rule.
113 Use @option{memdev} with @var{memory-backend-ram} backend or @option{mem} (if
114 it's supported by used machine type) to define mapping explictly instead.
116 @subsection -mem-path fallback to RAM (since 4.1)
117 Currently if guest RAM allocation from file pointed by @option{mem-path}
118 fails, QEMU falls back to allocating from RAM, which might result
119 in unpredictable behavior since the backing file specified by the user
120 is ignored. In the future, users will be responsible for making sure
121 the backing storage specified with @option{-mem-path} can actually provide
122 the guest RAM configured with @option{-m} and QEMU will fail to start up if
123 RAM allocation is unsuccessful.
125 @subsection RISC-V -bios (since 4.1)
127 QEMU 4.1 introduced support for the -bios option in QEMU for RISC-V for the
128 RISC-V virt machine and sifive_u machine.
130 QEMU 4.1 has no changes to the default behaviour to avoid breakages. This
131 default will change in a future QEMU release, so please prepare now. All users
132 of the virt or sifive_u machine must change their command line usage.
134 QEMU 4.1 has three options, please migrate to one of these three:
135 1. ``-bios none`` - This is the current default behavior if no -bios option
136 is included. QEMU will not automatically load any firmware. It is up
137 to the user to load all the images they need.
138 2. ``-bios default`` - In a future QEMU release this will become the default
139 behaviour if no -bios option is specified. This option will load the
140 default OpenSBI firmware automatically. The firmware is included with
141 the QEMU release and no user interaction is required. All a user needs
142 to do is specify the kernel they want to boot with the -kernel option
143 3. ``-bios <file>`` - Tells QEMU to load the specified file as the firmwrae.
145 @section QEMU Machine Protocol (QMP) commands
147 @subsection change (since 2.5.0)
149 Use ``blockdev-change-medium'' or ``change-vnc-password'' instead.
151 @subsection migrate_set_downtime and migrate_set_speed (since 2.8.0)
153 Use ``migrate-set-parameters'' instead.
155 @subsection migrate-set-cache-size and query-migrate-cache-size (since 2.11.0)
157 Use ``migrate-set-parameters'' and ``query-migrate-parameters'' instead.
159 @subsection query-block result field dirty-bitmaps[i].status (since 4.0)
161 The ``status'' field of the ``BlockDirtyInfo'' structure, returned by
162 the query-block command is deprecated. Two new boolean fields,
163 ``recording'' and ``busy'' effectively replace it.
165 @subsection query-block result field dirty-bitmaps (Since 4.2)
167 The ``dirty-bitmaps`` field of the ``BlockInfo`` structure, returned by
168 the query-block command is itself now deprecated. The ``dirty-bitmaps``
169 field of the ``BlockDeviceInfo`` struct should be used instead, which is the
170 type of the ``inserted`` field in query-block replies, as well as the
171 type of array items in query-named-block-nodes.
173 Since the ``dirty-bitmaps`` field is optionally present in both the old and
174 new locations, clients must use introspection to learn where to anticipate
175 the field if/when it does appear in command output.
177 @subsection query-cpus (since 2.12.0)
179 The ``query-cpus'' command is replaced by the ``query-cpus-fast'' command.
181 @subsection query-cpus-fast "arch" output member (since 3.0.0)
183 The ``arch'' output member of the ``query-cpus-fast'' command is
184 replaced by the ``target'' output member.
186 @subsection cpu-add (since 4.0)
188 Use ``device_add'' for hotplugging vCPUs instead of ``cpu-add''. See
189 documentation of ``query-hotpluggable-cpus'' for additional
192 @subsection query-events (since 4.0)
194 The ``query-events'' command has been superseded by the more powerful
195 and accurate ``query-qmp-schema'' command.
197 @subsection chardev client socket with 'wait' option (since 4.0)
199 Character devices creating sockets in client mode should not specify
200 the 'wait' field, which is only applicable to sockets in server mode
202 @section Human Monitor Protocol (HMP) commands
204 @subsection The hub_id parameter of 'hostfwd_add' / 'hostfwd_remove' (since 3.1)
206 The @option{[hub_id name]} parameter tuple of the 'hostfwd_add' and
207 'hostfwd_remove' HMP commands has been replaced by @option{netdev_id}.
209 @subsection cpu-add (since 4.0)
211 Use ``device_add'' for hotplugging vCPUs instead of ``cpu-add''. See
212 documentation of ``query-hotpluggable-cpus'' for additional details.
214 @subsection acl_show, acl_reset, acl_policy, acl_add, acl_remove (since 4.0.0)
216 The ``acl_show'', ``acl_reset'', ``acl_policy'', ``acl_add'', and
217 ``acl_remove'' commands are deprecated with no replacement. Authorization
218 for VNC should be performed using the pluggable QAuthZ objects.
220 @section Guest Emulator ISAs
222 @subsection RISC-V ISA privledge specification version 1.09.1 (since 4.1)
224 The RISC-V ISA privledge specification version 1.09.1 has been deprecated.
225 QEMU supports both the newer version 1.10.0 and the ratified version 1.11.0, these
226 should be used instead of the 1.09.1 version.
228 @section System emulator CPUS
230 @subsection RISC-V ISA CPUs (since 4.1)
232 The RISC-V cpus with the ISA version in the CPU name have been depcreated. The
233 four CPUs are: ``rv32gcsu-v1.9.1``, ``rv32gcsu-v1.10.0``, ``rv64gcsu-v1.9.1`` and
234 ``rv64gcsu-v1.10.0``. Instead the version can be specified via the CPU ``priv_spec``
235 option when using the ``rv32`` or ``rv64`` CPUs.
237 @subsection RISC-V ISA CPUs (since 4.1)
239 The RISC-V no MMU cpus have been depcreated. The two CPUs: ``rv32imacu-nommu`` and
240 ``rv64imacu-nommu`` should no longer be used. Instead the MMU status can be specified
241 via the CPU ``mmu`` option when using the ``rv32`` or ``rv64`` CPUs.
243 @section System emulator devices
245 @subsection bluetooth (since 3.1)
247 The bluetooth subsystem is unmaintained since many years and likely bitrotten
248 quite a bit. It will be removed without replacement unless some users speaks
249 up at the @email{qemu-devel@@nongnu.org} mailing list with information about
252 @subsection ide-drive (since 4.2)
254 The 'ide-drive' device is deprecated. Users should use 'ide-hd' or
255 'ide-cd' as appropriate to get an IDE hard disk or CD-ROM as needed.
257 @subsection scsi-disk (since 4.2)
259 The 'scsi-disk' device is deprecated. Users should use 'scsi-hd' or
260 'scsi-cd' as appropriate to get a SCSI hard disk or CD-ROM as needed.
262 @section System emulator machines
264 @subsection mips r4k platform (since 4.2)
266 This machine type is very old and unmaintained. Users should use the 'malta'
267 machine type instead.
269 @subsection pc-0.12, pc-0.13, pc-0.14 and pc-0.15 (since 4.0)
271 These machine types are very old and likely can not be used for live migration
272 from old QEMU versions anymore. A newer machine type should be used instead.
274 @subsection prep (PowerPC) (since 3.1)
276 This machine type uses an unmaintained firmware, broken in lots of ways,
277 and unable to start post-2004 operating systems. 40p machine type should be
280 @subsection spike_v1.9.1 and spike_v1.10 (since 4.1)
282 The version specific Spike machines have been deprecated in favour of the
283 generic ``spike`` machine. If you need to specify an older version of the RISC-V
284 spec you can use the ``-cpu rv64gcsu,priv_spec=v1.9.1`` command line argument.
286 @section Device options
288 @subsection Block device options
290 @subsubsection "backing": "" (since 2.12.0)
292 In order to prevent QEMU from automatically opening an image's backing
293 chain, use ``"backing": null'' instead.
295 @subsubsection rbd keyvalue pair encoded filenames: "" (since 3.1.0)
297 Options for ``rbd'' should be specified according to its runtime options,
298 like other block drivers. Legacy parsing of keyvalue pair encoded
299 filenames is useful to open images with the old format for backing files;
300 These image files should be updated to use the current format.
302 Example of legacy encoding:
304 @code{json:@{"file.driver":"rbd", "file.filename":"rbd:rbd/name"@}}
306 The above, converted to the current supported format:
308 @code{json:@{"file.driver":"rbd", "file.pool":"rbd", "file.image":"name"@}}
310 @section Related binaries
312 @subsection qemu-nbd --partition (since 4.0.0)
314 The ``qemu-nbd --partition $digit'' code (also spelled @option{-P})
315 can only handle MBR partitions, and has never correctly handled
316 logical partitions beyond partition 5. If you know the offset and
317 length of the partition (perhaps by using @code{sfdisk} within the
318 guest), you can achieve the effect of exporting just that subset of
319 the disk by use of the @option{--image-opts} option with a raw
320 blockdev using the @code{offset} and @code{size} parameters layered on
321 top of any other existing blockdev. For example, if partition 1 is
322 100MiB long starting at 1MiB, the old command:
324 @code{qemu-nbd -t -P 1 -f qcow2 file.qcow2}
328 @code{qemu-nbd -t --image-opts driver=raw,offset=1M,size=100M,file.driver=qcow2,file.backing.driver=file,file.backing.filename=file.qcow2}
330 Alternatively, the @code{nbdkit} project provides a more powerful
331 partition filter on top of its nbd plugin, which can be used to select
332 an arbitrary MBR or GPT partition on top of any other full-image NBD
333 export. Using this to rewrite the above example results in:
335 @code{qemu-nbd -t -k /tmp/sock -f qcow2 file.qcow2 &}
336 @code{nbdkit -f --filter=partition nbd socket=/tmp/sock partition=1}
338 Note that if you are exposing the export via /dev/nbd0, it is easier
339 to just export the entire image and then mount only /dev/nbd0p1 than
340 it is to reinvoke @command{qemu-nbd -c /dev/nbd0} limited to just a
343 @subsection qemu-img convert -n -o (since 4.2.0)
345 All options specified in @option{-o} are image creation options, so
346 they have no effect when used with @option{-n} to skip image creation.
347 Silently ignored options can be confusing, so this combination of
348 options will be made an error in future versions.
350 @section Build system
352 @subsection Python 2 support (since 4.1.0)
354 In the future, QEMU will require Python 3 to be available at
355 build time. Support for Python 2 in scripts shipped with QEMU
358 @section Backwards compatibility
360 @subsection Runnability guarantee of CPU models (since 4.1.0)
362 Previous versions of QEMU never changed existing CPU models in
363 ways that introduced additional host software or hardware
364 requirements to the VM. This allowed management software to
365 safely change the machine type of an existing VM without
366 introducing new requirements ("runnability guarantee"). This
367 prevented CPU models from being updated to include CPU
368 vulnerability mitigations, leaving guests vulnerable in the
369 default configuration.
371 The CPU model runnability guarantee won't apply anymore to
372 existing CPU models. Management software that needs runnability
373 guarantees must resolve the CPU model aliases using te
374 ``alias-of'' field returned by the ``query-cpu-definitions'' QMP
378 @node Recently removed features
379 @appendix Recently removed features
381 What follows is a record of recently removed, formerly deprecated
382 features that serves as a record for users who have encountered
383 trouble after a recent upgrade.
385 @section QEMU Machine Protocol (QMP) commands
387 @subsection block-dirty-bitmap-add "autoload" parameter (since 4.2.0)
389 The "autoload" parameter has been ignored since 2.12.0. All bitmaps
390 are automatically loaded from qcow2 images.