docs: mark '-mon' as deprecated in favour of -object
The high level `-qmp` and `-monitor` options can remain as convenience wrappers, but the low level `-mon` is completed obsoleted by the new `-object` support with 'monitor-qmp' and 'monitor-hmp' types. Reviewed-by: Marc-André Lureau <marcandre.lureau@redhat.com> Tested-by: Peter Krempa <pkrempa@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com> Message-ID: <20260706135824.2623960-36-berrange@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com> [Editing accident fixed in qemu-options.hx] Signed-off-by: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>
Daniel P. Berrangé committed
Jul 6, 2026 at 14:58 UTC
58b70f21ba6364be4f79d9f9c56b334341051bfd
7 files changed
+27
-15
docs/about/deprecated.rst
+10
@@ -61,6 +61,16 @@ The ``debug-threads`` option of the ``-name`` argument is now
61
ignored. Thread naming is unconditionally enabled for all platforms
62
where it is supported.
63
64
+``-mon`` option (since 11.1)
65
+''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
66
+
67
+The ``-mon`` option was the generic mechanism for creating monitor
68
+objects if the convenience ``-qmp`` or ``-monitor`` options were not
69
+flexible enough. The monitor objects have been converted to QOM, so
70
+``-mon mode=readline`` is replaced by ``-object monitor-hmp`` and
71
+``-mon mode=control`` is replaced by ``-object monitor-qmp``. The
72
+short convenience options are not deprecated, only ``-mon``.
73
+
74
QEMU Machine Protocol (QMP) commands
75
------------------------------------
76
docs/devel/writing-monitor-commands.rst
+2
-2
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ shown here.
52
First, QEMU should be started like this::
53
54
# qemu-system-TARGET [...] \
55
- -chardev socket,id=qmp,port=4444,host=localhost,server=on \
56
- -mon chardev=qmp,mode=control,pretty=on
55
+ -chardev socket,id=chrqmp0,port=4444,host=localhost,server=on \
56
+ -object monitor-qmp,chardev=chrqmp0,pretty=on,id=qmp0
57
58
Then, in a different terminal::
59
docs/system/arm/xenpvh.rst
+2
-2
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ Sample QEMU xenpvh commands for running and connecting with Xen:
27
28
qemu-system-aarch64 -xen-domid 1 \
29
-chardev socket,id=libxl-cmd,path=qmp-libxl-1,server=on,wait=off \
30
- -mon chardev=libxl-cmd,mode=control \
30
+ -object monitor-qmp,id=qmp0,chardev=libxl-cmd \
31
-chardev socket,id=libxenstat-cmd,path=qmp-libxenstat-1,server=on,wait=off \
32
- -mon chardev=libxenstat-cmd,mode=control \
32
+ -object monitor-qmp,id=qmp1,chardev=libxenstat-cmd \
33
-xen-attach -name guest0 -vnc none -display none -nographic \
34
-machine xenpvh -m 1301 \
35
-chardev socket,id=chrtpm,path=tmp/vtpm2/swtpm-sock \
docs/system/i386/xen.rst
+2
-1
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ of type ``xen-console`` to connect to it. For the Xen console equivalent of
79
the handy ``-serial mon:stdio`` option, for example:
80
81
.. parsed-literal::
82
- -chardev stdio,mux=on,id=char0,signal=off -mon char0 \\
82
+ -chardev stdio,mux=on,id=char0,signal=off \\
83
+ -object monitor-hmp,chardev=char0,id=hmp0 \\
84
-device xen-console,chardev=char0
85
86
The Xen network device is ``xen-net-device``, which becomes the default NIC
docs/system/i386/xenpvh.rst
+2
-2
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ case you need to construct one manually:
33
34
qemu-system-i386 -xen-domid 3 -no-shutdown \
35
-chardev socket,id=libxl-cmd,path=/var/run/xen/qmp-libxl-3,server=on,wait=off \
36
- -mon chardev=libxl-cmd,mode=control \
36
+ -object monitor-qmp,id=qmp0,chardev=libxl-cmd \
37
-chardev socket,id=libxenstat-cmd,path=/var/run/xen/qmp-libxenstat-3,server=on,wait=off \
38
- -mon chardev=libxenstat-cmd,mode=control \
38
+ -object monitor-qmp,id=qmp1,chardev=libxenstat-cmd \
39
-nodefaults \
40
-no-user-config \
41
-xen-attach -name g0 \
qemu-options.hx
+7
-8
@@ -4154,7 +4154,7 @@ The general form of a character device option is:
4154
::
4155
4156
-chardev stdio,mux=on,id=char0 \
4157
- -mon chardev=char0,mode=readline \
4157
+ -object monitor-hmp,id=hmp0,chardev=char0 \
4158
-serial chardev:char0 \
4159
-serial chardev:char0
4160
@@ -4166,7 +4166,7 @@ The general form of a character device option is:
4166
::
4167
4168
-chardev stdio,mux=on,id=char0 \
4169
- -mon chardev=char0,mode=readline \
4169
+ -object monitor-hmp,id=hmp0,chardev=char0 \
4170
-parallel chardev:char0 \
4171
-chardev tcp,...,mux=on,id=char1 \
4172
-serial chardev:char1 \
@@ -5004,12 +5004,12 @@ SRST
5004
5005
enables the QMP monitor on localhost port 4444 with pretty-printing.
5006
5007
- The use of ``-mon mode=readline`` is syntactic sugar
5007
+ The use of ``-mon mode=readline`` is deprecated syntactic sugar
5008
for the new ``-object monitor-hmp`` option, each use of which
5009
creates an object with the ID ``compat_monitorNNN`` where ``NNN`` is
5010
a counter starting from 0.
5011
5012
- The use of ``-mon mode=control`` is syntactic sugar
5012
+ The use of ``-mon mode=control`` is deprecated syntactic sugar
5013
for the new ``-object monitor-qmp`` option, each use of which
5014
creates an object with the ID ``compat_monitorNNN`` where ``NNN`` is
5015
a counter starting from 0.
@@ -5771,8 +5771,7 @@ SRST
5771
to dynamically delete the monitor at runtime. Note
5772
that monitors created using the historical syntax
5773
will be allocated IDs following the pattern ``compat_monmitorNNN``.
5774
- Mixing ``-object`` with ``-monitor`` and ``-mon`` syntax is
5775
- discouraged.
5774
+ Mixing ``-object`` with ``-monitor`` syntax is discouraged.
5775
5776
The ``readline`` parameter, which defaults to ``on``,
5777
controls whether the monitor provides line editing.
@@ -5785,8 +5784,8 @@ SRST
5784
to dynamically delete the monitor at runtime. Note
5785
that monitors created using the historical syntax
5786
will be allocated IDs following the pattern ``compat_monitorNNN``.
5788
- Mixing ``-object`` with ``-qmp``, ``-qmp-pretty`` and
5789
- ``-mon`` syntax is discouraged.
5787
+ Mixing ``-object`` with ``-qmp`` and ``-qmp-pretty``
5788
+ syntax is discouraged.
5789
5790
The ``pretty`` parameter, which defaults to ``off``,
5791
controls whether the monitor responses are pretty
system/vl.c
+2
@@ -3239,6 +3239,8 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv)
3239
default_monitor = 0;
3240
break;
3241
case QEMU_OPTION_mon:
3242
+ warn_report_once("'-mon' is deprecated, use '-object' with "
3243
+ "'monitor-hmp' or 'monitor-qmp' types instead");
3244
if (!qemu_opts_parse_noisily(qemu_find_opts("mon"), optarg,
3245
true)) {
3246
exit(1);