"Missing character write event in the replay log" when trying rr=replay with snapshot Description of problem: Probably best to just illustrate with commands. Happy path: ```sh rm replay.bin snapshots.qcow2; qemu-img create -f qcow2 snapshots.qcow2 256M ~/src/qemu/build/qemu-system-x86_64 -nodefaults -nographic -serial stdio \ -icount shift=auto,rr=record,rrfile=replay.bin,rrsnapshot=init \ -drive file=snapshots.qcow2,if=none,id=rr \ -kernel ./.kunit/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -append "nokaslr console=ttyS0" # It runs, guest kernel crashes when realising it has no rootfs, all good du -sh snapshots.qcow2 # 976K # Repeat same command just switched to rr=replay ~/src/qemu/build/qemu-system-x86_64 -nodefaults -nographic -serial stdio \ -icount shift=auto,rr=replay,rrfile=replay.bin,rrsnapshot=init \ -drive file=snapshots.qcow2,if=none,id=rr \ -kernel ./.kunit/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -append "nokaslr console=ttyS0" # Much slower, but same result. All good ``` But, I want to take a snapshot later in boot. ```sh rm replay.bin snapshots.qcow2; qemu-img create -f qcow2 snapshots.qcow2 256M # This time, running with debug. Also have to switch to -monitor stdio because of # https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/2790 ~/src/qemu/build/qemu-system-x86_64 -nodefaults -nographic -monitor stdio \ -icount shift=auto,rr=record,rrfile=replay.bin,rrsnapshot=init \ -drive file=snapshots.qcow2,if=none,id=rr \ -kernel ./.kunit/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -append "nokaslr console=ttyS0" \ -s -S # In another terminal, attach a debugger, set a breakpoint, continue to the breakpoint gdb -ex "target remote localhost:1234" .kunit/vmlinux (gdb) hb start_kernel (gdb) continue # When the breakpoint is hit, back in the first terminal: (qemu) savevm test (qemu) quit du -sh snapshots.qcow2 # 21M # Now try to replay again ~/src/qemu/build/qemu-system-x86_64 -nodefaults -nographic -serial stdio \ -icount shift=auto,rr=replay,rrfile=replay.bin,rrsnapshot=init \ -drive file=snapshots.qcow2,if=none,id=rr \ -kernel ./.kunit/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -append "nokaslr console=ttyS0" ``` Result: ``` qemu-system-x86_64: Missing character write event in the replay log (insn total 1598039/586 left, event 886 is EVENT_INSTRUCTION) fish: Job 1, '~/src/qemu/build/qemu-system-x8…' terminated by signal -icount shift=auto,rr=repla… ( -drive file=snapshots.qcow2…) fish: Job -kernel ./.kunit/arch/x86/b…, 'SIGABRT' terminated by signal Abort () ``` Exit code is 134.