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 Get the autosync flag.
462 Return the current search path.
464 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
465 return the default path.
471 Return the current qemu binary.
473 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
474 return the default qemu binary name.
480 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
481 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
483 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
489 This returns the verbose messages flag.
495 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
496 (in the C<BUSY> state).
498 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
504 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
505 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
507 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
513 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
514 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
515 other objects like files.
523 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
524 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
525 other objects like directories.
533 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
534 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
536 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
542 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
543 (in the C<READY> state).
545 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
547 =head2 kill-subprocess
551 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
557 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
560 You should call this after configuring the handle
561 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
567 List all the block devices.
569 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
571 =head2 list-partitions
575 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
577 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
579 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
586 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
587 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
589 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
590 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
596 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
597 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
598 hidden files are shown.
600 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
601 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
607 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
609 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
610 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
613 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
617 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
619 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
620 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
622 =head2 lvm-remove-all
626 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
627 and physical volumes.
629 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
630 can easily destroy all your data>.
636 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
637 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
639 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
640 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
646 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
647 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
649 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
650 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
652 See also C<lvs-full>.
658 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
659 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
665 Create a directory named C<path>.
671 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
672 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
678 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
679 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
684 mount device mountpoint
686 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
687 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
688 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
689 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
692 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
693 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
694 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
697 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
698 on the underlying device.
700 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
701 call, in order to improve reliability.
705 mount-options options device mountpoint
707 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
708 allows you to set the mount options as for the
709 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
713 mount-ro device mountpoint
715 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
716 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
720 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
722 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
723 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
724 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
730 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
731 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
733 Some internal mounts are not shown.
739 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
740 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
747 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
750 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
751 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
752 to remove those first.
758 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
759 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
761 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
762 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
764 See also C<pvs-full>.
770 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
771 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
777 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
779 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
780 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
782 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
783 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
784 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
785 function which has a more complex interface.
791 Remove the single file C<path>.
797 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
798 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
805 Remove the single directory C<path>.
807 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
809 set-autosync true|false
811 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
812 best effort attempt to run C<sync> when the handle is closed
813 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
815 =head2 set-path | path
819 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
821 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
822 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
824 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
825 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
827 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
829 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
833 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
835 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
838 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
839 environment variable.
841 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
842 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
844 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
846 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
848 set-verbose true|false
850 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
852 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
853 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
857 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
859 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
860 partitions on block devices.
862 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
864 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
865 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
866 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
867 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
868 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
869 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
870 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
872 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
873 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
875 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
876 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
877 the string C<,> (comma).
879 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
880 can easily destroy all your data>.
886 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
888 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
894 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
895 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
896 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
898 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
904 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
905 underlying disk image.
907 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
912 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
914 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
915 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
917 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
919 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
923 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
925 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
926 it to local file C<tarfile>.
928 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
930 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
934 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
936 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
937 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
939 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
941 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
945 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
947 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
948 it to local file C<tarball>.
950 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
952 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
958 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
959 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
960 to create a new zero-length file.
966 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
967 superblock on C<device>.
969 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
970 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
971 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
972 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
974 =head2 umount | unmount
978 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
979 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
980 contains the filesystem.
982 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
986 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
988 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
992 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
994 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
997 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
999 See also C<download>.
1001 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1005 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1007 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1008 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1014 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1016 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1023 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1024 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1026 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1027 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1029 See also C<vgs-full>.
1035 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1036 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1040 write-file path content size
1042 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1043 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1044 with length C<size>.
1046 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1047 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1048 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1050 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1051 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use