feat: add virtiofs support for Linux guests

README.md

@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ required to run the virtual machines.
 - **Nearly 1000 operating system editions are supported!**
 - Full SPICE support including host/guest clipboard sharing
 - VirtIO-webdavd file sharing for Linux and Windows guests
+- VirtIO-fs file sharing for Linux guests (*automatically preferred over 9p when `virtiofsd` is installed on the host*)
 - VirtIO-9p file sharing for Linux and macOS guests
 - [QEMU Guest Agent
   support](https://wiki.qemu.org/Features/GuestAgent); provides access

quickemu

@@ -167,12 +167,14 @@ function kill_vm() {
         rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.pid"
         rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.spice"
         rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.sock"
+        stop_virtiofsd
     elif [ -n "${VM_PID}" ]; then
         if kill -9 "${VM_PID}" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
             echo " - ${VMNAME} (${VM_PID}) killed."
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.pid"
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.spice"
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.sock"
+            stop_virtiofsd
         else
             echo " - ${VMNAME} (${VM_PID}) was not killed."
         fi
@@ -1544,15 +1546,16 @@ function configure_file_sharing() {
             *) echo " - WebDAV:   On guest: dav://localhost:9843/";;
         esac
 
-        # 9P
+        # virtiofs or 9p depending on host capability
         if [ "${guest_os}" != "windows" ] || [ "${guest_os}" == "windows-server" ]; then
-            echo -n " - 9P:       On guest: "
-            if [ "${guest_os}" == "linux" ]; then
-                echo "sudo mount -t 9p -o trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L,msize=104857600 ${PUBLIC_TAG} ~/$(basename "${PUBLIC}")"
+            if [ "${guest_os}" == "linux" ] && [ -n "${VIRTIOFSD}" ]; then
+                echo " - virtiofs: On guest: sudo mount -t virtiofs ${PUBLIC_TAG} ~/$(basename "${PUBLIC}")"
+            elif [ "${guest_os}" == "linux" ]; then
+                echo " - 9P:       On guest: sudo mount -t 9p -o trans=virtio,version=9p2000.L,msize=104857600 ${PUBLIC_TAG} ~/$(basename "${PUBLIC}")"
             elif [ "${guest_os}" == "macos" ]; then
                 # PUBLICSHARE needs to be world writeable for seamless integration with
                 # macOS. Test if it is world writeable, and prompt what to do if not.
-                echo "sudo mount_9p ${PUBLIC_TAG}"
+                echo " - 9P:       On guest: sudo mount_9p ${PUBLIC_TAG}"
                 if [ "${PUBLIC_PERMS}" != "drwxrwxrwx" ]; then
                     echo " - 9P:       On host:  chmod 777 ${PUBLIC}"
                     echo "             Required for macOS integration 👆"
@@ -1616,6 +1619,89 @@ function configure_cpu_pinning() {
     echo " - CPU Pinning: Bind guest cores to host cores (${GUEST_CPUS} -> ${CPU_PINNING})"
 }
 
+function start_virtiofsd() {
+    # Start virtiofsd as a background daemon and record its PID so it can be
+    # cleaned up when the VM exits. The socket path is placed alongside other
+    # VM runtime files in VMDIR.
+    if [ -z "${VIRTIOFSD}" ]; then
+        return
+    fi
+
+    VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET="${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.virtiofsd-sock"
+    # Remove any stale socket left by an unclean shutdown. quickemu already
+    # checks the PID file and refuses to start if the VM is running, so a
+    # live virtiofsd cannot be behind this socket at this point.
+    rm -f "${VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET}"
+    local virtiofsd_args=(
+        --socket-path="${VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET}"
+        --shared-dir="${PUBLIC}"
+        --announce-submounts
+    )
+
+    # Capture virtiofsd stderr separately so we can inspect it without
+    # false-matching stale entries from previous runs in the shared VM log.
+    local virtiofsd_stderr
+    virtiofsd_stderr=$(mktemp)
+    echo "${VIRTIOFSD} ${virtiofsd_args[*]} &" >> "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.sh"
+    ${VIRTIOFSD} "${virtiofsd_args[@]}" >> "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.log" 2>"${virtiofsd_stderr}" &
+    VIRTIOFSD_PID=$!
+    sleep 0.25
+
+    if ! kill -0 "${VIRTIOFSD_PID}" 2>/dev/null; then
+        if grep -q "Operation not permitted" "${virtiofsd_stderr}" 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo " - WARNING! virtiofsd failed to start (insufficient permissions); falling back to 9p."
+            echo "            Install the standalone virtiofsd package to enable virtiofs support."
+        else
+            echo " - WARNING! virtiofsd failed to start; falling back to 9p."
+        fi
+        cat "${virtiofsd_stderr}" >> "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.log"
+        rm -f "${virtiofsd_stderr}"
+        VIRTIOFSD=""
+        VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET=""
+        VIRTIOFSD_PID=""
+        return
+    fi
+    cat "${virtiofsd_stderr}" >> "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.log"
+    rm -f "${virtiofsd_stderr}"
+
+    echo "${VIRTIOFSD_PID}" > "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.virtiofsd-pid"
+    echo " - virtiofsd: ${VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET} (${VIRTIOFSD_PID})"
+}
+
+function stop_virtiofsd() {
+    local pid_file="${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.virtiofsd-pid"
+    local pid=""
+
+    if [ -n "${VIRTIOFSD_PID}" ]; then
+        pid="${VIRTIOFSD_PID}"
+    elif [ -r "${pid_file}" ]; then
+        pid=$(cat "${pid_file}")
+    fi
+
+    if [ -z "${pid}" ]; then
+        return
+    fi
+
+    if kill -0 "${pid}" 2>/dev/null; then
+        # Ask virtiofsd to shut down gracefully first; it will close the
+        # vhost-user socket and flush any pending I/O before exiting.
+        kill -TERM "${pid}" 2>/dev/null
+        local i
+        for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
+            kill -0 "${pid}" 2>/dev/null || break
+            sleep 0.2
+        done
+        # Force-kill only if it is still alive after the grace period.
+        if kill -0 "${pid}" 2>/dev/null; then
+            kill -KILL "${pid}" 2>/dev/null
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    rm -f "${pid_file}" "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.virtiofsd-sock"
+    VIRTIOFSD_PID=""
+    VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET=""
+}
+
 function vm_boot() {
     AUDIO_DEV=""
     BALLOON="-device virtio-balloon"
@@ -1666,6 +1752,7 @@ function vm_boot() {
 
     echo "Quickemu ${VERSION} using ${QEMU} v${QEMU_VER_LONG}"
     echo " - Host:     ${OS_RELEASE} running ${KERNEL_NAME} ${KERNEL_VER} ${KERNEL_NODE}"
+    start_virtiofsd
 
     # Force to lowercase.
     boot=${boot,,}
@@ -2053,12 +2140,23 @@ function vm_boot() {
         fi
     fi
 
+    # File sharing: prefer virtiofs (shared memory, lower latency) over 9p when
+    # virtiofsd is available; virtiofsd must already be running at this point.
     # https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/9psetup
     # https://askubuntu.com/questions/772784/9p-libvirt-qemu-share-modes
     if [ "${guest_os}" != "windows" ] || [ "${guest_os}" == "windows-server" ] && [ -n "${PUBLIC}" ]; then
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2054
-        args+=(-fsdev local,id=fsdev0,path="${PUBLIC}",security_model=mapped-xattr
-            -device virtio-9p-pci,fsdev=fsdev0,mount_tag="${PUBLIC_TAG}")
+        if [ -n "${VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET}" ]; then
+            # virtiofs requires a shared-memory backend; the size mirrors the VM RAM.
+            # shellcheck disable=SC2054
+            args+=(-object "memory-backend-file,id=mem,size=${RAM_VM},mem-path=/dev/shm,share=on"
+                -numa node,memdev=mem
+                -chardev "socket,id=char0,path=${VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET}"
+                -device "vhost-user-fs-pci,queue-size=1024,chardev=char0,tag=${PUBLIC_TAG}")
+        else
+            # shellcheck disable=SC2054
+            args+=(-fsdev local,id=fsdev0,path="${PUBLIC}",security_model=mapped-xattr
+                -device virtio-9p-pci,fsdev=fsdev0,mount_tag="${PUBLIC_TAG}")
+        fi
     fi
 
     if [ -n "${USB_PASSTHROUGH}" ]; then
@@ -2165,6 +2263,7 @@ function vm_boot() {
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.pid"
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.spice"
             rm -f "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.sock"
+            stop_virtiofsd
             echo && cat "${VMDIR}/${VMNAME}.log"
             exit 1
         fi
@@ -2469,6 +2568,21 @@ function fileshare_param_check() {
             PUBLIC_PERMS=$(${STAT}  -c "%A" "${PUBLIC}")
         fi
     fi
+
+    # Prefer virtiofs over 9p when the standalone virtiofsd is available and the
+    # guest is Linux. virtiofs uses shared memory rather than a transport protocol,
+    # giving much lower latency and higher throughput than 9p.
+    # NOTE: only the standalone virtiofsd (Rust) is supported — the legacy
+    # QEMU-bundled C daemon (/usr/lib/qemu/virtiofsd) uses incompatible CLI
+    # syntax and requires root, so it is intentionally ignored here.
+    # Skip virtiofs during OS installation: the required shared-memory NUMA
+    # backend can confuse installers and cause hangs. 9p is used instead.
+    if [ -n "${PUBLIC}" ] && [ "${guest_os}" == "linux" ] && [ -z "${iso}" ]; then
+        VIRTIOFSD=$(command -v virtiofsd 2>/dev/null)
+        if [ ! -x "${VIRTIOFSD}" ]; then
+            VIRTIOFSD=""
+        fi
+    fi
 }
 
 function parse_ports_from_file {
@@ -2579,6 +2693,9 @@ MONITOR_CMD=""
 PUBLIC=""
 PUBLIC_PERMS=""
 PUBLIC_TAG=""
+VIRTIOFSD=""
+VIRTIOFSD_PID=""
+VIRTIOFSD_SOCKET=""
 SHORTCUT_OPTIONS=""
 SNAPSHOT_ACTION=""
 SNAPSHOT_TAG=""