Re: [PATCH] docs: Add caveats for Windows as the build platform

[Stefan Weil]

Am 19.07.22 um 15:15 schrieb Bin Meng:

> Commit cf60ccc3306c ("cutils: Introduce bundle mechanism") introduced
> a Python script to populate a bundle directory using os.symlink() to
> point to the binaries in the pc-bios directory of the source tree.
> Commit 882084a04ae9 ("datadir: Use bundle mechanism") removed previous
> logic in pc-bios/meson.build to create a link/copy of pc-bios binaries
> in the build tree so os.symlink() is the way to go.
>
> However os.symlink() may fail [1] on Windows if an unprivileged Windows
> user started the QEMU build process, which results in QEMU executables
> generated in the build tree not able to load the default BIOS/firmware
> images due to symbolic links not present in the bundle directory.
>
> This commits updates the documentation by adding such caveats for users
> who want to build QEMU on the Windows platform.
>
> [1] https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html#os.symlink
>
> Signed-off-by: Bin Meng <bin.meng@windriver.com>
> ---
>
>   docs/about/build-platforms.rst | 10 +++++++++-
>   1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/docs/about/build-platforms.rst b/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
> index ebde20f981..1b297e87ee 100644
> --- a/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/build-platforms.rst
> @@ -94,8 +94,16 @@ not tested anymore, so it is recommended to use one of the 
> latest versions of
>   Windows instead.
>   
>   The project supports building QEMU with current versions of the MinGW
> -toolchain, either hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora) or via MSYS2 on Windows.
> +toolchain, either hosted on Linux (Debian/Fedora) or via `MSYS2`_ on Windows.
> +A more recent Windows version is always prefered as it is less likely to have


s/prefered/preferred/


> +problems with building via MSYS2. The building process of QEMU involves some
> +Python scripts that call os.symlink() which needs special attention for the
> +build process to successfully complete. On newer versions of Windows 10,
> +unprivileged accounts can create symlinks if Developer Mode is enabled.
> +When Developer Mode is not available/enabled, the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege
> +privilege is required, or the process must be run as an administrator.
>   
>   .. _Homebrew: https://brew.sh/
>   .. _MacPorts: https://www.macports.org/
> +.. _MSYS2: https://www.msys2.org/
>   .. _Repology: https://repology.org/


With the fix above:

Reviewed-by: Stefan Weil <sw@weilnetz.de

Thanks!