[Pkg-libvirt-maintainers] Bug#567606: virt-manager: confusion about network devices when administering a remote host

[Zachary Palmer]

Package: virt-manager
Version: 0.7.0-2~bpo50+1
Severity: important


I am finding virt-manager impossible to use with a remote host.  Using SSH access, I log into the remote machine and attempt to add a virtual network.  Upon reaching the page where I am asked to select a physical network to which to NAT traffic, I see not the physical networks on the remote machine (eth0, eth1, eth2, etc.) but the physical networks on my laptop (wlan0, etc.).

Additionally, when asked to choose a file (whether it be installation media, a block device for a new virtual hard disk, etc.), I am given a "Choose Volume" dialog rather than a remote file chooser.  This makes it impossible to install the VM.

These problems do not arise when administering local VMs.  At the moment, my workaround is to install virt-manager on the remote machine and use an SSH tunnel to forward my X session.  This is, obviously, quite inefficient.

Thanks for reading.  :)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0.2
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-2-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages virt-manager depends on:
ii  libatk1.0-0            1.22.0-1          The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libc6                  2.7-18            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcairo2              1.6.4-7           The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libglib2.0-0           2.16.6-2          The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgtk2.0-0            2.12.12-1~lenny1  The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libpango1.0-0          1.20.5-5          Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  librsvg2-common        2.22.2-2lenny1    SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  python-dbus            0.82.4-2          simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  python-glade2          2.12.1-6          GTK+ bindings: Glade support
ii  python-gnome2          2.22.0-1          Python bindings for the GNOME desk
ii  python-gtk-vnc         0.3.8-2           A VNC viewer widget for GTK+ (Pyth
ii  python-gtk2            2.12.1-6          Python bindings for the GTK+ widge
ii  python-libvirt         0.4.6-10          libvirt Python bindings
ii  python-urlgrabber      3.1.0-4           A high-level cross-protocol url-gr
ii  python-vte             1:0.16.14-4       Python bindings for the VTE widget
ii  python2.5              2.5.2-15          An interactive high-level object-o
ii  virtinst               0.400.3-2~bpo50+1 Programs to create and clone virtu

Versions of packages virt-manager recommends:
ii  hal                           0.5.11-8   Hardware Abstraction Layer
ii  libvirt-bin                   0.4.6-10   the programs for the libvirt libra

Versions of packages virt-manager suggests:
ii  virt-viewer                   0.0.3-2    Displaying the graphical console o

-- no debconf information