1 =head2 add-cdrom | cdrom
5 This function adds a virtual CD-ROM disk image to the guest.
7 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-cdrom filename>.
13 This function adds a virtual machine disk image C<filename> to the
14 guest. The first time you call this function, the disk appears as IDE
15 disk 0 (C</dev/sda>) in the guest, the second time as C</dev/sdb>, and
18 You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However
19 you obviously do need sufficient permissions to access the filename
20 for whatever operations you want to perform (ie. read access if you
21 just want to read the image or write access if you want to modify the
24 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-drive file=filename>.
30 Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources
31 used by it. After calling this, you have to call
32 C<aug-init> again before you can use any other
37 aug-defnode name expr val
39 Defines a variable C<name> whose value is the result of
42 If C<expr> evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created,
43 equivalent to calling C<aug-set> C<expr>, C<value>.
44 C<name> will be the nodeset containing that single node.
46 On success this returns a pair containing the
47 number of nodes in the nodeset, and a boolean flag
48 if a node was created.
54 Defines an Augeas variable C<name> whose value is the result
55 of evaluating C<expr>. If C<expr> is NULL, then C<name> is
58 On success this returns the number of nodes in C<expr>, or
59 C<0> if C<expr> evaluates to something which is not a nodeset.
65 Look up the value associated with C<path>. If C<path>
66 matches exactly one node, the C<value> is returned.
72 Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files.
73 If there was any previous Augeas handle associated with this
74 guestfs session, then it is closed.
76 You must call this before using any other C<aug-*>
79 C<root> is the filesystem root. C<root> must not be NULL,
82 The flags are the same as the flags defined in
83 E<lt>augeas.hE<gt>, the logical I<or> of the following
88 =item C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP> = 1
90 Keep the original file with a C<.augsave> extension.
92 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE> = 2
94 Save changes into a file with extension C<.augnew>, and
95 do not overwrite original. Overrides C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP>.
97 =item C<AUG_TYPE_CHECK> = 4
99 Typecheck lenses (can be expensive).
101 =item C<AUG_NO_STDINC> = 8
103 Do not use standard load path for modules.
105 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NOOP> = 16
107 Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
109 =item C<AUG_NO_LOAD> = 32
111 Do not load the tree in C<aug-init>.
115 To close the handle, you can call C<aug-close>.
117 To find out more about Augeas, see L<http://augeas.net/>.
121 aug-insert path label true|false
123 Create a new sibling C<label> for C<path>, inserting it into
124 the tree before or after C<path> (depending on the boolean
127 C<path> must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and
128 C<label> must be a label, ie. not contain C</>, C<*> or end
129 with a bracketed index C<[N]>.
135 Load files into the tree.
137 See C<aug_load> in the Augeas documentation for the full gory
144 This is just a shortcut for listing C<aug-match>
145 C<path/*> and sorting the resulting nodes into alphabetical order.
151 Returns a list of paths which match the path expression C<path>.
152 The returned paths are sufficiently qualified so that they match
153 exactly one node in the current tree.
159 Move the node C<src> to C<dest>. C<src> must match exactly
160 one node. C<dest> is overwritten if it exists.
166 Remove C<path> and all of its children.
168 On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
174 This writes all pending changes to disk.
176 The flags which were passed to C<aug-init> affect exactly
183 Set the value associated with C<path> to C<value>.
185 =head2 blockdev-flushbufs
187 blockdev-flushbufs device
189 This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated
192 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
194 =head2 blockdev-getbsz
196 blockdev-getbsz device
198 This returns the block size of a device.
200 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
201 I<filesystem block size>).
203 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
205 =head2 blockdev-getro
207 blockdev-getro device
209 Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only
210 (true if read-only, false if not).
212 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
214 =head2 blockdev-getsize64
216 blockdev-getsize64 device
218 This returns the size of the device in bytes.
220 See also C<blockdev-getsz>.
222 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
224 =head2 blockdev-getss
226 blockdev-getss device
228 This returns the size of sectors on a block device.
229 Usually 512, but can be larger for modern devices.
231 (Note, this is not the size in sectors, use C<blockdev-getsz>
234 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
236 =head2 blockdev-getsz
238 blockdev-getsz device
240 This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors
241 (even if the sectorsize isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
243 See also C<blockdev-getss> for the real sector size of
244 the device, and C<blockdev-getsize64> for the more
245 useful I<size in bytes>.
247 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
249 =head2 blockdev-rereadpt
251 blockdev-rereadpt device
253 Reread the partition table on C<device>.
255 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
257 =head2 blockdev-setbsz
259 blockdev-setbsz device blocksize
261 This sets the block size of a device.
263 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
264 I<filesystem block size>).
266 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
268 =head2 blockdev-setro
270 blockdev-setro device
272 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-only.
274 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
276 =head2 blockdev-setrw
278 blockdev-setrw device
280 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-write.
282 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
288 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
290 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
291 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
292 as end of string). For those you need to use the C<download>
293 function which has a more complex interface.
295 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
296 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
301 checksum csumtype path
303 This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the
306 The type of checksum to compute is given by the C<csumtype>
307 parameter which must have one of the following values:
313 Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX
314 for the C<cksum> command.
318 Compute the MD5 hash (using the C<md5sum> program).
322 Compute the SHA1 hash (using the C<sha1sum> program).
326 Compute the SHA224 hash (using the C<sha224sum> program).
330 Compute the SHA256 hash (using the C<sha256sum> program).
334 Compute the SHA384 hash (using the C<sha384sum> program).
338 Compute the SHA512 hash (using the C<sha512sum> program).
342 The checksum is returned as a printable string.
348 Change the mode (permissions) of C<path> to C<mode>. Only
349 numeric modes are supported.
353 chown owner group path
355 Change the file owner to C<owner> and group to C<group>.
357 Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use
358 names, you will need to locate and parse the password file
359 yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
363 command 'arguments ...'
365 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The
366 filesystem must be mounted, and must contain a compatible
367 operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same
368 or compatible processor architecture).
370 The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments.
371 The first element is the name of the program to run.
372 Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be
373 non-empty (ie. must contain a program name).
375 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
376 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
377 another location, you should provide the full path in the
380 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
381 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
382 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
383 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
388 command-lines 'arguments ...'
390 This is the same as C<command>, but splits the
391 result into a list of lines.
395 config qemuparam qemuvalue
397 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
398 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
399 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
400 parameters that we use.
402 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
404 C<value> can be NULL.
408 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
410 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
411 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
414 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
415 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
416 to find out what you can do.
420 download remotefilename (filename|-)
422 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
423 on the local machine.
425 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
427 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
429 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
435 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
436 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
438 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
444 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
445 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
446 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
448 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
449 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
456 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
457 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
459 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
460 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
468 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
472 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
473 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
477 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
482 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
488 Get the autosync flag.
494 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
501 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
508 Return the current search path.
510 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
511 return the default path.
517 Return the current qemu binary.
519 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
520 return the default qemu binary name.
526 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
527 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
529 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
535 This returns the verbose messages flag.
541 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
542 (in the C<BUSY> state).
544 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
550 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
551 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
553 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
559 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
560 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
561 other objects like files.
569 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
570 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
571 other objects like directories.
579 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
580 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
582 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
588 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
589 (in the C<READY> state).
591 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
593 =head2 kill-subprocess
597 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
603 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
606 You should call this after configuring the handle
607 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
613 List all the block devices.
615 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
617 =head2 list-partitions
621 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
623 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
625 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
632 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
633 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
635 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
636 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
642 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
643 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
644 hidden files are shown.
646 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
647 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
653 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
655 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
656 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
659 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
663 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
665 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
666 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
668 =head2 lvm-remove-all
672 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
673 and physical volumes.
675 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
676 can easily destroy all your data>.
682 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
683 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
685 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
686 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
692 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
693 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
695 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
696 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
698 See also C<lvs-full>.
704 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
705 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
711 Create a directory named C<path>.
717 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
718 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
724 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
725 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
730 mount device mountpoint
732 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
733 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
734 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
735 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
738 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
739 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
740 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
743 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
744 on the underlying device.
746 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
747 call, in order to improve reliability.
751 mount-options options device mountpoint
753 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
754 allows you to set the mount options as for the
755 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
759 mount-ro device mountpoint
761 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
762 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
766 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
768 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
769 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
770 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
776 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
777 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
779 Some internal mounts are not shown.
785 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
786 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
793 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
796 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
797 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
798 to remove those first.
804 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
805 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
807 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
808 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
810 See also C<pvs-full>.
816 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
817 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
823 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
825 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
826 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
828 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
829 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
830 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
831 function which has a more complex interface.
837 Remove the single file C<path>.
843 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
844 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
851 Remove the single directory C<path>.
853 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
855 set-autosync true|false
857 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
858 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
859 C<sync> when the handle is closed
860 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
862 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
867 set-e2label device label
869 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
870 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
873 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
874 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
878 set-e2uuid device uuid
880 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
881 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
882 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
883 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
885 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
886 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
888 =head2 set-path | path
892 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
894 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
895 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
897 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
898 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
900 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
902 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
906 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
908 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
911 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
912 environment variable.
914 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
915 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
917 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
919 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
921 set-verbose true|false
923 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
925 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
926 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
930 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
932 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
933 partitions on block devices.
935 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
937 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
938 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
939 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
940 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
941 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
942 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
943 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
945 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
946 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
948 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
949 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
950 the string C<,> (comma).
952 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
953 can easily destroy all your data>.
959 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
961 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
967 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
968 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
969 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
971 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
977 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
978 underlying disk image.
980 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
985 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
987 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
988 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
990 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
992 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
996 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
998 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
999 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1001 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1003 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1007 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1009 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1010 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1012 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1014 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1018 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1020 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1021 it to local file C<tarball>.
1023 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1025 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1031 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1032 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1033 to create a new zero-length file.
1039 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1040 superblock on C<device>.
1042 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1043 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1044 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1045 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1047 =head2 umount | unmount
1051 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1052 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1053 contains the filesystem.
1055 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1059 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1061 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1065 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1067 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1070 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1072 See also C<download>.
1074 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1078 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1080 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1081 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1087 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1089 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1096 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1097 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1099 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1100 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1102 See also C<vgs-full>.
1108 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1109 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1113 write-file path content size
1115 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1116 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1117 with length C<size>.
1119 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1120 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1121 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1123 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1124 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1131 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1133 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1134 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1135 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.