man: virt-manager: document fork behavior and VIRT_MANAGER_DEFAULT_FORK

Signed-off-by: Cole Robinson <crobinso@redhat.com>
This commit is contained in:
Cole Robinson 2024-10-10 10:46:40 -04:00 committed by Pavel Hrdina
parent 5de632700f
commit 028fdf2c35

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@ -54,13 +54,14 @@ The following options are accepted when running ``virt-manager``
``--no-fork`` ``--no-fork``
Don't fork ``virt-manager`` off into the background: run it blocking the Don't fork ``virt-manager`` off into the background.
current terminal. Useful for seeing possible errors dumped to stdout/stderr. See ``VIRT-MANAGER, SSH, AND FORKING`` section for more info.
``--fork`` ``--fork``
Force forking ``virt-manager`` off into the background. Force forking ``virt-manager`` off into the background.
This is the default behavior. This is the default behavior.
See ``VIRT-MANAGER, SSH, AND FORKING`` section for more info.
DIALOG WINDOW OPTIONS DIALOG WINDOW OPTIONS
@ -104,6 +105,34 @@ manual ``--connect`` URI. But it supports ``--connect`` URI as well:
Launch virt-manager only in system tray Launch virt-manager only in system tray
VIRT-MANAGER, SSH, AND FORKING
==============================
On startup virt-manager will detach from the running
terminal and fork into the background. This is to force any usage of
ssh to call ssh-askpass when it needs a password, rather than silently
asking on a terminal the user probably isn't watching.
Users can opt out of this forking behavior with ``--no-fork``, or
by setting the ``VIRT_MANAGER_DEFAULT_FORK=no`` environment variable.
openssh 8.4p1 released in Sep 2020 added the SSH_ASKPASS_REQUIRE
environment variable that saves us from having to do the fork dance.
https://man.openbsd.org/ssh.1#SSH_ASKPASS_REQUIRE
virt-manager now sets SSH_ASKPASS_REQUIRE=force.
However to get this to work with libvirt ssh connections, you'll need
libvirt 10.8.0 released in October 1st 2024.
In the future, virt-manager will likely stop forking by default.
You can future proof request forking with ``--fork`` or by
settings the ``VIRT_MANAGER_DEFAULT_FORK=yes`` environment variable.
However if you find you need forking for a usecase other than temporarily
working around libvirt version issues, please let the virt-manager developers
know by filing a bug report.
BUGS BUGS
==== ====