libvirt users - Dec 2021 - Best way to install guest when it is not listed in output of osinfo-query os

Hello all,

I would like to install Debian Bullseye using virt-install, as part of
the command I usually specify the OS used with the option
'--os-variant'.
This works great untill Buster ('debian10'), but now the guest is
Bullseye ('debian11') and is not listed in the output of
'osinfo-query
os' (1).

If I don't use the '--os-variant' flag I get the following warning:

"WARNING  No operating system detected, VM performance may suffer.
Specify an OS with --os-variant for optimal results."


Should I ignore the warning or what is the best way forward to install a
Debian Bullseye guest?

Both the host and the guest are  Debian 11.

1)  https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/12/msg00742.html

--
John Doe

On 12/20/21 06:52, john doe wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I would like to install Debian Bullseye using virt-install, as part of
> the command I usually specify the OS used with the option
'--os-variant'.
> This works great untill Buster ('debian10'), but now the guest is
> Bullseye ('debian11') and is not listed in the output of
'osinfo-query
> os' (1).
> 
> If I don't use the '--os-variant' flag I get the following
warning:
> 
> "WARNING? No operating system detected, VM performance may suffer.
> Specify an OS with --os-variant for optimal results."
> 
> 
> Should I ignore the warning or what is the best way forward to install a
> Debian Bullseye guest?
> 
> Both the host and the guest are? Debian 11.
> 
> 1)? https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/12/msg00742.html
Debian 11 was added into the osinfo-db roughly 4 months ago:

https://gitlab.com/libosinfo/osinfo-db/-/commit/d729bd193947cc377c5ffc054222eef12a82e414

I'm not sure who maintains the package in debian, but I'd ask them to
refresh the package. Meanwhile, as a workaround I think it's safe to use
debian10 as --os-variant.

Michal

On Mon, Dec 20, 2021 at 06:52:46AM +0100, john doe
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I would like to install Debian Bullseye using virt-install, as part of
> the command I usually specify the OS used with the option
'--os-variant'.
> This works great untill Buster ('debian10'), but now the guest is
> Bullseye ('debian11') and is not listed in the output of
'osinfo-query
> os' (1).
>
> If I don't use the '--os-variant' flag I get the following
warning:
>
> "WARNING  No operating system detected, VM performance may suffer.
> Specify an OS with --os-variant for optimal results."
>
>
> Should I ignore the warning or what is the best way forward to install a
> Debian Bullseye guest?
>
> Both the host and the guest are  Debian 11.
>
> 1)  https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2021/12/msg00742.html
You can just use '--os-variant debian10', it will work fine.

Alternatively, you can install a newer version of the osinfo database
by using osinfo-db-import. Doing so is probably overkill for your use
case.


Pino, do you think it would make sense to rebase osinfo-db in the
next Debian 11 update? Or at least cherry-pick the debian11 entry so
that things work as expected when creating a Debian 11 VM on a Debian
11 host? https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=980744 was
AFAICT intended to achieve just that.

-- 
Andrea Bolognani / Red Hat / Virtualization