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List:       qubes-devel
Subject:    Re: [qubes-devel] How to develop new features for qubes-manager?
From:       Marek =?utf-8?Q?Marczykowski-G=C3=B3recki?= <marmarek () invisiblethingslab ! com>
Date:       2016-01-16 1:10:28
Message-ID: 20160116011028.GF2649 () mail-itl
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On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 09:50:31AM -0800, Jeremias E. wrote:
> Hello, 
> 
> I would like to help to implement "VM Description" 
> <https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/899> feature for the 
> qubes-manager in Qubes 4.0.
> My problem is, I have no idea where to start, how to execute the qubes 
> manager in a development environment
> and which repositories are required for the qubes-manager?

Generally take a look here:
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/development-workflow/

the first step would be setting up qubes-builder (link at the beginning
of above page). You will be able to build individual components then
(for example: "make manager" for Qubes Manager). It will print the path
of the built package, which you can copy to your test environment and
install there.

In case of Qubes Manager, it probably can be the same machine - in the
worst case you'll have broken Qubes Manager, but still working qvm-*
tools. But in case of more crucial components (like core-admin repo), it
is better to have a separate test system. Or at least have a backup
handy. In section "Copying Code to dom0" of that page you have scripts,
which handle that (you'll probably need to adjust VM names and paths
there).

Regarding "VM description", you'll probably need two packages to patch:
1. core-admin (core-modules/000QubesVM.py) - a backend side, to have
that field stored with VM data
2. manager - interface to display and modify it

The backend (core-admin) part would be trivial in R4.0 and change made
in R3.1 code base would not be portable to the new code. But change
in Qubes Manager probably can be trivially migrated to R4.0, even when
made on top of R3.1 code (there is no Qubes Manager for R4.0 yet).
So, I suggest starting with Qubes Manager (for now using some
placeholder, or simply assuming that vm.description property does
exists), then going to the backend part. And actually, having Qubes
Manager part done, I can handle the backend part, which would be really
one-liner change (knowing that code...).

- -- 
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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