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>.
9 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
10 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
11 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
12 the general C<config> call instead.
14 =head2 add-drive | add
18 This function adds a virtual machine disk image C<filename> to the
19 guest. The first time you call this function, the disk appears as IDE
20 disk 0 (C</dev/sda>) in the guest, the second time as C</dev/sdb>, and
23 You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However
24 you obviously do need sufficient permissions to access the filename
25 for whatever operations you want to perform (ie. read access if you
26 just want to read the image or write access if you want to modify the
29 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-drive file=filename>.
31 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
32 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
33 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
34 the general C<config> call instead.
36 =head2 add-drive-ro | add-ro
40 This adds a drive in snapshot mode, making it effectively
43 Note that writes to the device are allowed, and will be seen for
44 the duration of the guestfs handle, but they are written
45 to a temporary file which is discarded as soon as the guestfs
46 handle is closed. We don't currently have any method to enable
47 changes to be committed, although qemu can support this.
49 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter
50 C<-drive file=filename,snapshot=on>.
52 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
53 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
54 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
55 the general C<config> call instead.
61 Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources
62 used by it. After calling this, you have to call
63 C<aug-init> again before you can use any other
68 aug-defnode name expr val
70 Defines a variable C<name> whose value is the result of
73 If C<expr> evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created,
74 equivalent to calling C<aug-set> C<expr>, C<value>.
75 C<name> will be the nodeset containing that single node.
77 On success this returns a pair containing the
78 number of nodes in the nodeset, and a boolean flag
79 if a node was created.
85 Defines an Augeas variable C<name> whose value is the result
86 of evaluating C<expr>. If C<expr> is NULL, then C<name> is
89 On success this returns the number of nodes in C<expr>, or
90 C<0> if C<expr> evaluates to something which is not a nodeset.
96 Look up the value associated with C<path>. If C<path>
97 matches exactly one node, the C<value> is returned.
103 Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files.
104 If there was any previous Augeas handle associated with this
105 guestfs session, then it is closed.
107 You must call this before using any other C<aug-*>
110 C<root> is the filesystem root. C<root> must not be NULL,
113 The flags are the same as the flags defined in
114 E<lt>augeas.hE<gt>, the logical I<or> of the following
119 =item C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP> = 1
121 Keep the original file with a C<.augsave> extension.
123 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE> = 2
125 Save changes into a file with extension C<.augnew>, and
126 do not overwrite original. Overrides C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP>.
128 =item C<AUG_TYPE_CHECK> = 4
130 Typecheck lenses (can be expensive).
132 =item C<AUG_NO_STDINC> = 8
134 Do not use standard load path for modules.
136 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NOOP> = 16
138 Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
140 =item C<AUG_NO_LOAD> = 32
142 Do not load the tree in C<aug-init>.
146 To close the handle, you can call C<aug-close>.
148 To find out more about Augeas, see L<http://augeas.net/>.
152 aug-insert path label true|false
154 Create a new sibling C<label> for C<path>, inserting it into
155 the tree before or after C<path> (depending on the boolean
158 C<path> must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and
159 C<label> must be a label, ie. not contain C</>, C<*> or end
160 with a bracketed index C<[N]>.
166 Load files into the tree.
168 See C<aug_load> in the Augeas documentation for the full gory
175 This is just a shortcut for listing C<aug-match>
176 C<path/*> and sorting the resulting nodes into alphabetical order.
182 Returns a list of paths which match the path expression C<path>.
183 The returned paths are sufficiently qualified so that they match
184 exactly one node in the current tree.
190 Move the node C<src> to C<dest>. C<src> must match exactly
191 one node. C<dest> is overwritten if it exists.
197 Remove C<path> and all of its children.
199 On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
205 This writes all pending changes to disk.
207 The flags which were passed to C<aug-init> affect exactly
214 Set the value associated with C<path> to C<value>.
216 =head2 blockdev-flushbufs
218 blockdev-flushbufs device
220 This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated
223 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
225 =head2 blockdev-getbsz
227 blockdev-getbsz device
229 This returns the block size of a device.
231 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
232 I<filesystem block size>).
234 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
236 =head2 blockdev-getro
238 blockdev-getro device
240 Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only
241 (true if read-only, false if not).
243 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
245 =head2 blockdev-getsize64
247 blockdev-getsize64 device
249 This returns the size of the device in bytes.
251 See also C<blockdev-getsz>.
253 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
255 =head2 blockdev-getss
257 blockdev-getss device
259 This returns the size of sectors on a block device.
260 Usually 512, but can be larger for modern devices.
262 (Note, this is not the size in sectors, use C<blockdev-getsz>
265 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
267 =head2 blockdev-getsz
269 blockdev-getsz device
271 This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors
272 (even if the sectorsize isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
274 See also C<blockdev-getss> for the real sector size of
275 the device, and C<blockdev-getsize64> for the more
276 useful I<size in bytes>.
278 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
280 =head2 blockdev-rereadpt
282 blockdev-rereadpt device
284 Reread the partition table on C<device>.
286 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
288 =head2 blockdev-setbsz
290 blockdev-setbsz device blocksize
292 This sets the block size of a device.
294 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
295 I<filesystem block size>).
297 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
299 =head2 blockdev-setro
301 blockdev-setro device
303 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-only.
305 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
307 =head2 blockdev-setrw
309 blockdev-setrw device
311 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-write.
313 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
319 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
321 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
322 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
323 as end of string). For those you need to use the C<download>
324 function which has a more complex interface.
326 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
327 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
332 checksum csumtype path
334 This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the
337 The type of checksum to compute is given by the C<csumtype>
338 parameter which must have one of the following values:
344 Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX
345 for the C<cksum> command.
349 Compute the MD5 hash (using the C<md5sum> program).
353 Compute the SHA1 hash (using the C<sha1sum> program).
357 Compute the SHA224 hash (using the C<sha224sum> program).
361 Compute the SHA256 hash (using the C<sha256sum> program).
365 Compute the SHA384 hash (using the C<sha384sum> program).
369 Compute the SHA512 hash (using the C<sha512sum> program).
373 The checksum is returned as a printable string.
379 Change the mode (permissions) of C<path> to C<mode>. Only
380 numeric modes are supported.
384 chown owner group path
386 Change the file owner to C<owner> and group to C<group>.
388 Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use
389 names, you will need to locate and parse the password file
390 yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
394 command 'arguments ...'
396 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The
397 filesystem must be mounted, and must contain a compatible
398 operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same
399 or compatible processor architecture).
401 The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments.
402 The first element is the name of the program to run.
403 Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be
404 non-empty (ie. must contain a program name). Note that
405 the command runs directly, and is I<not> invoked via
406 the shell (see C<sh>).
408 The return value is anything printed to I<stdout> by
411 If the command returns a non-zero exit status, then
412 this function returns an error message. The error message
413 string is the content of I<stderr> from the command.
415 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
416 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
417 another location, you should provide the full path in the
420 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
421 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
422 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
423 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
426 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
427 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
432 command-lines 'arguments ...'
434 This is the same as C<command>, but splits the
435 result into a list of lines.
437 See also: C<sh-lines>
439 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
440 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
445 config qemuparam qemuvalue
447 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
448 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
449 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
450 parameters that we use.
452 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
454 C<value> can be NULL.
460 This copies a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
461 either a destination filename or destination directory.
467 This copies a file or directory from C<src> to C<dest>
468 recursively using the C<cp -a> command.
472 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
474 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
475 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
478 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
479 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
480 to find out what you can do.
486 This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
487 the guest kernel. This is sometimes useful for extended
488 debugging of problems.
490 Another way to get the same information is to enable
491 verbose messages with C<set-verbose> or by setting
492 the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
497 download remotefilename (filename|-)
499 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
500 on the local machine.
502 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
504 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
506 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
510 drop-caches whattodrop
512 This instructs the guest kernel to drop its page cache,
513 and/or dentries and inode caches. The parameter C<whattodrop>
514 tells the kernel what precisely to drop, see
515 L<http://linux-mm.org/Drop_Caches>
517 Setting C<whattodrop> to 3 should drop everything.
519 This automatically calls L<sync(2)> before the operation,
520 so that the maximum guest memory is freed.
526 This runs C<e2fsck -p -f device>, ie. runs the ext2/ext3
527 filesystem checker on C<device>, noninteractively (C<-p>),
528 even if the filesystem appears to be clean (C<-f>).
530 This command is only needed because of C<resize2fs>
531 (q.v.). Normally you should use C<fsck>.
537 This compares the two files C<file1> and C<file2> and returns
538 true if their content is exactly equal, or false otherwise.
540 The external L<cmp(1)> program is used for the comparison.
546 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
547 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
549 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
555 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
556 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
557 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
559 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
560 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
567 This command lists out all files and directories, recursively,
568 starting at C<directory>. It is essentially equivalent to
569 running the shell command C<find directory -print> but some
570 post-processing happens on the output, described below.
572 This returns a list of strings I<without any prefix>. Thus
573 if the directory structure was:
579 then the returned list from C<find> C</tmp> would be
587 If C<directory> is not a directory, then this command returns
590 The returned list is sorted.
596 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
597 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
599 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
600 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
608 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
612 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
613 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
617 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
622 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
628 Return the additional kernel options which are added to the
629 guest kernel command line.
631 If C<NULL> then no options are added.
637 Get the autosync flag.
643 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
650 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
657 Return the current search path.
659 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
660 return the default path.
666 Return the current qemu binary.
668 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
669 return the default qemu binary name.
675 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
676 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
678 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
684 This returns the verbose messages flag.
690 This command searches for all the pathnames matching
691 C<pattern> according to the wildcard expansion rules
694 If no paths match, then this returns an empty list
695 (note: not an error).
697 It is just a wrapper around the C L<glob(3)> function
698 with flags C<GLOB_MARK|GLOB_BRACE>.
699 See that manual page for more details.
703 grub-install root device
705 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
706 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
712 This runs C<hexdump -C> on the given C<path>. The result is
713 the human-readable, canonical hex dump of the file.
715 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
716 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
723 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
724 (in the C<BUSY> state).
726 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
732 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
733 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
735 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
741 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
742 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
743 other objects like files.
751 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
752 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
753 other objects like directories.
761 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
762 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
764 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
770 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
771 (in the C<READY> state).
773 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
775 =head2 kill-subprocess
779 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
785 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
788 You should call this after configuring the handle
789 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
795 List all the block devices.
797 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
799 =head2 list-partitions
803 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
805 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
807 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
814 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
815 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
817 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
818 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
824 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
825 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
826 hidden files are shown.
828 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
829 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
835 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
837 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
838 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
841 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
845 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
847 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
848 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
850 =head2 lvm-remove-all
854 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
855 and physical volumes.
857 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
858 can easily destroy all your data>.
864 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
865 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
867 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
868 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
872 lvresize device mbytes
874 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM logical
875 volume to C<mbytes>. When reducing, data in the reduced part
882 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
883 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
885 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
886 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
888 See also C<lvs-full>.
894 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
895 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
901 Create a directory named C<path>.
907 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
908 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
914 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
915 or LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
920 mount device mountpoint
922 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
923 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
924 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
925 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
928 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
929 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
930 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
933 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
934 on the underlying device.
936 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
937 call, in order to improve reliability.
941 mount-options options device mountpoint
943 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
944 allows you to set the mount options as for the
945 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
949 mount-ro device mountpoint
951 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
952 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
956 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
958 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
959 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
960 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
966 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
967 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
969 Some internal mounts are not shown.
975 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
976 either a destination filename or destination directory.
980 ntfs-3g-probe true|false device
982 This command runs the L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> command which probes
983 an NTFS C<device> for mountability. (Not all NTFS volumes can
984 be mounted read-write, and some cannot be mounted at all).
986 C<rw> is a boolean flag. Set it to true if you want to test
987 if the volume can be mounted read-write. Set it to false if
988 you want to test if the volume can be mounted read-only.
990 The return value is an integer which C<0> if the operation
991 would succeed, or some non-zero value documented in the
992 L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> manual page.
998 This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside
999 the qemu subprocess. Calling this function checks that the
1000 daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
1001 or attached block device(s) in any other way.
1007 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
1008 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
1015 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
1018 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
1019 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
1020 to remove those first.
1026 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM physical
1027 volume to match the new size of the underlying device.
1033 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1034 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
1036 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
1037 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
1039 See also C<pvs-full>.
1045 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1046 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1052 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
1054 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
1055 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
1057 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
1058 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
1059 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
1060 function which has a more complex interface.
1066 This resizes an ext2 or ext3 filesystem to match the size of
1067 the underlying device.
1069 I<Note:> It is sometimes required that you run C<e2fsck-f>
1070 on the C<device> before calling this command. For unknown reasons
1071 C<resize2fs> sometimes gives an error about this and sometimes not.
1072 In any case, it is always safe to call C<e2fsck-f> before
1073 calling this function.
1079 Remove the single file C<path>.
1085 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
1086 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
1093 Remove the single directory C<path>.
1095 =head2 set-append | append
1099 This function is used to add additional options to the
1100 guest kernel command line.
1102 The default is C<NULL> unless overridden by setting
1103 C<LIBGUESTFS_APPEND> environment variable.
1105 Setting C<append> to C<NULL> means I<no> additional options
1106 are passed (libguestfs always adds a few of its own).
1108 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
1110 set-autosync true|false
1112 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
1113 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
1114 C<sync> when the handle is closed
1115 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
1117 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
1118 enabled by default).
1122 set-e2label device label
1124 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
1125 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
1128 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
1129 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
1133 set-e2uuid device uuid
1135 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
1136 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
1137 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
1138 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
1140 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
1141 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
1143 =head2 set-path | path
1147 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
1149 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
1150 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
1152 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
1154 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
1158 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
1160 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
1163 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
1164 environment variable.
1166 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
1168 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
1170 set-verbose true|false
1172 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
1174 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
1175 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
1179 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
1181 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
1182 partitions on block devices.
1184 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
1186 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
1187 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
1188 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
1189 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
1190 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
1191 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
1192 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
1194 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
1195 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
1197 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
1198 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
1199 the string C<,> (comma).
1201 See also: C<sfdisk-l>, C<sfdisk-N>
1203 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1204 can easily destroy all your data>.
1208 sfdisk-N device n cyls heads sectors line
1210 This runs L<sfdisk(8)> option to modify just the single
1211 partition C<n> (note: C<n> counts from 1).
1213 For other parameters, see C<sfdisk>. You should usually
1214 pass C<0> for the cyls/heads/sectors parameters.
1216 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1217 can easily destroy all your data>.
1219 =head2 sfdisk-disk-geometry
1221 sfdisk-disk-geometry device
1223 This displays the disk geometry of C<device> read from the
1224 partition table. Especially in the case where the underlying
1225 block device has been resized, this can be different from the
1226 kernel's idea of the geometry (see C<sfdisk-kernel-geometry>).
1228 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1231 =head2 sfdisk-kernel-geometry
1233 sfdisk-kernel-geometry device
1235 This displays the kernel's idea of the geometry of C<device>.
1237 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1244 This displays the partition table on C<device>, in the
1245 human-readable output of the L<sfdisk(8)> command. It is
1246 not intended to be parsed.
1252 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem via the
1255 This is like C<command>, but passes the command to:
1257 /bin/sh -c "command"
1259 Depending on the guest's shell, this usually results in
1260 wildcards being expanded, shell expressions being interpolated
1263 All the provisos about C<command> apply to this call.
1269 This is the same as C<sh>, but splits the result
1270 into a list of lines.
1272 See also: C<command-lines>
1278 Sleep for C<secs> seconds.
1284 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
1286 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
1292 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
1293 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
1294 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
1296 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
1302 This runs the L<strings(1)> command on a file and returns
1303 the list of printable strings found.
1305 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1306 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1311 strings-e encoding path
1313 This is like the C<strings> command, but allows you to
1314 specify the encoding.
1316 See the L<strings(1)> manpage for the full list of encodings.
1318 Commonly useful encodings are C<l> (lower case L) which will
1319 show strings inside Windows/x86 files.
1321 The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
1323 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1324 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1331 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
1332 underlying disk image.
1334 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
1339 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
1341 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1342 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1344 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
1346 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1350 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1352 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1353 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1355 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1357 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1361 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1363 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1364 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1366 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1368 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1372 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1374 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1375 it to local file C<tarball>.
1377 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1379 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1385 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1386 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1387 to create a new zero-length file.
1393 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1394 superblock on C<device>.
1396 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1397 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1398 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1399 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1401 =head2 umount | unmount
1405 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1406 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1407 contains the filesystem.
1409 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1413 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1415 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1419 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1421 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1424 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1426 See also C<download>.
1428 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1432 vg-activate true|false 'volgroups ...'
1434 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1435 all logical volumes in the listed volume groups C<volgroups>.
1436 If activated, then they are made known to the
1437 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1438 then those devices disappear.
1440 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n volgroups...>
1442 Note that if C<volgroups> is an empty list then B<all> volume groups
1443 are activated or deactivated.
1445 =head2 vg-activate-all
1447 vg-activate-all true|false
1449 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1450 all logical volumes in all volume groups.
1451 If activated, then they are made known to the
1452 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1453 then those devices disappear.
1455 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n>
1459 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1461 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1462 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1468 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1470 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1477 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1478 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1480 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1481 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1483 See also C<vgs-full>.
1489 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1490 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1494 write-file path content size
1496 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1497 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1498 with length C<size>.
1500 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1501 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1502 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1504 I<NB.> Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL
1505 characters does I<not> work, even if the length is specified.
1506 We hope to resolve this bug in a future version. In the meantime
1509 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1510 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1517 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1519 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1520 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1521 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1527 This runs the I<zerofree> program on C<device>. This program
1528 claims to zero unused inodes and disk blocks on an ext2/3
1529 filesystem, thus making it possible to compress the filesystem
1532 You should B<not> run this program if the filesystem is
1535 It is possible that using this program can damage the filesystem
1536 or data on the filesystem.