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.
539 grub-install root device
541 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
542 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
548 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
549 (in the C<BUSY> state).
551 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
557 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
558 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
560 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
566 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
567 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
568 other objects like files.
576 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
577 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
578 other objects like directories.
586 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
587 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
589 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
595 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
596 (in the C<READY> state).
598 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
600 =head2 kill-subprocess
604 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
610 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
613 You should call this after configuring the handle
614 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
620 List all the block devices.
622 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
624 =head2 list-partitions
628 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
630 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
632 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
639 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
640 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
642 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
643 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
649 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
650 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
651 hidden files are shown.
653 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
654 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
660 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
662 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
663 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
666 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
670 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
672 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
673 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
675 =head2 lvm-remove-all
679 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
680 and physical volumes.
682 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
683 can easily destroy all your data>.
689 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
690 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
692 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
693 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
699 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
700 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
702 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
703 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
705 See also C<lvs-full>.
711 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
712 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
718 Create a directory named C<path>.
724 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
725 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
731 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
732 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
737 mount device mountpoint
739 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
740 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
741 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
742 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
745 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
746 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
747 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
750 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
751 on the underlying device.
753 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
754 call, in order to improve reliability.
758 mount-options options device mountpoint
760 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
761 allows you to set the mount options as for the
762 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
766 mount-ro device mountpoint
768 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
769 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
773 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
775 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
776 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
777 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
783 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
784 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
786 Some internal mounts are not shown.
792 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
793 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
800 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
803 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
804 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
805 to remove those first.
811 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
812 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
814 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
815 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
817 See also C<pvs-full>.
823 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
824 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
830 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
832 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
833 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
835 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
836 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
837 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
838 function which has a more complex interface.
844 Remove the single file C<path>.
850 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
851 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
858 Remove the single directory C<path>.
860 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
862 set-autosync true|false
864 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
865 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
866 C<sync> when the handle is closed
867 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
869 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
874 set-e2label device label
876 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
877 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
880 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
881 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
885 set-e2uuid device uuid
887 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
888 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
889 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
890 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
892 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
893 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
895 =head2 set-path | path
899 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
901 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
902 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
904 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
905 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
907 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
909 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
913 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
915 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
918 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
919 environment variable.
921 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
922 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
924 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
926 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
928 set-verbose true|false
930 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
932 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
933 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
937 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
939 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
940 partitions on block devices.
942 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
944 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
945 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
946 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
947 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
948 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
949 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
950 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
952 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
953 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
955 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
956 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
957 the string C<,> (comma).
959 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
960 can easily destroy all your data>.
966 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
968 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
974 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
975 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
976 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
978 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
984 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
985 underlying disk image.
987 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
992 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
994 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
995 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
997 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
999 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1003 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1005 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1006 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1008 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1010 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1014 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1016 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1017 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1019 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1021 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1025 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1027 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1028 it to local file C<tarball>.
1030 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1032 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1038 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1039 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1040 to create a new zero-length file.
1046 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1047 superblock on C<device>.
1049 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1050 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1051 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1052 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1054 =head2 umount | unmount
1058 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1059 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1060 contains the filesystem.
1062 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1066 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1068 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1072 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1074 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1077 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1079 See also C<download>.
1081 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1085 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1087 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1088 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1094 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1096 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1103 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1104 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1106 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1107 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1109 See also C<vgs-full>.
1115 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1116 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1120 write-file path content size
1122 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1123 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1124 with length C<size>.
1126 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1127 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1128 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1130 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1131 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1138 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1140 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1141 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1142 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.