Re: [Libguestfs] [virt-tools-list] [libvirt] Usability Enhancement: Import/Export VMs GUI

Martin Kletzander
2016-03-14T10:00:41Z

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 10:32:15PM +0000, bancfc@openmailbox.org
wrote:
>On 2016-03-10 15:43, Cole Robinson wrote:
>> On 03/10/2016 02:29 AM, Martin Kletzander wrote:
>>> On Fri, Mar 04, 2016 at 04:23:18PM +0000, bancfc@openmailbox.org
>>> wrote:
>>>> The single most important usability feature missed by our less
>>>> technical
>>>> users who migrate  from VirtualBox is a one click import/export
of
>>>> VMs
>>>> and their config settings.
>>>>
>>
>> Who are you users? I gather you work on tails/tor, name dropping the
>> project
>> and explaining the use case a bit might actually help drum up interest
>> :)
>>
>> - Cole
>
>Alright I'll introduce myself.
>
>I work on the Whonix Project [whonix.org] which is a Tor centric distro
>similar to TAILS but goes a step futher by leveraging the isolation
>properties of virtualizaiton for security.
>
>The setup is made up of two VMs a "Gateway" that runs Tor and
which all
>traffic from an untrusted "Workstation" VM is forced thru it. The
idea
>is that even if an attacker successfully roots the Workstation VM they
>still cannot deanonymize a user or infect the host. Its a fantastic
>project. You should try it and maybe even hack on it with us ;)
>
>Running on a secure and libre stack like KVM and Libvirt is awesome and
>wins half the battle. The rest of the way is about making the setup as
>easy as possible to expand the user base and to pull people away from
>proprietary hypervisors or fake opensource ones like VirtualBox.
>

Cool, now I'm wondering whether we also mention distros that are based
on leveraging libvirt on our apps page [1]

>The initial import process with virsh commands puts off many newbies who
>lack the technical skills to get up and running. This is the single most
>coveted feature that comes up. It would be great if you guys can make it
>happen at GSoC :)
>

Since virt-v2v can already quickly do that, I'm not sure the idea is big
enough that it would be enough for such project.  It would be basically
a file chooser, button and running 'virt-v2v' with proper parameters if
I'm not mistaken.

Martin

[1] https://libvirt.org/apps.html