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,cache=off>.
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 command runs the C<df> command to report disk space used.
488 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
489 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
490 Use C<statvfs> from programs.
496 This command runs the C<df -h> command to report disk space used
497 in human-readable format.
499 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
500 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
501 Use C<statvfs> from programs.
507 This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
508 the guest kernel. This is sometimes useful for extended
509 debugging of problems.
511 Another way to get the same information is to enable
512 verbose messages with C<set-verbose> or by setting
513 the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
518 download remotefilename (filename|-)
520 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
521 on the local machine.
523 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
525 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
527 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
531 drop-caches whattodrop
533 This instructs the guest kernel to drop its page cache,
534 and/or dentries and inode caches. The parameter C<whattodrop>
535 tells the kernel what precisely to drop, see
536 L<http://linux-mm.org/Drop_Caches>
538 Setting C<whattodrop> to 3 should drop everything.
540 This automatically calls L<sync(2)> before the operation,
541 so that the maximum guest memory is freed.
547 This command runs the C<du -s> command to estimate file space
550 C<path> can be a file or a directory. If C<path> is a directory
551 then the estimate includes the contents of the directory and all
552 subdirectories (recursively).
554 The result is the estimated size in I<kilobytes>
555 (ie. units of 1024 bytes).
561 This runs C<e2fsck -p -f device>, ie. runs the ext2/ext3
562 filesystem checker on C<device>, noninteractively (C<-p>),
563 even if the filesystem appears to be clean (C<-f>).
565 This command is only needed because of C<resize2fs>
566 (q.v.). Normally you should use C<fsck>.
572 This compares the two files C<file1> and C<file2> and returns
573 true if their content is exactly equal, or false otherwise.
575 The external L<cmp(1)> program is used for the comparison.
581 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
582 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
584 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
590 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
591 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
592 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
594 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
595 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
602 This command lists out all files and directories, recursively,
603 starting at C<directory>. It is essentially equivalent to
604 running the shell command C<find directory -print> but some
605 post-processing happens on the output, described below.
607 This returns a list of strings I<without any prefix>. Thus
608 if the directory structure was:
614 then the returned list from C<find> C</tmp> would be
622 If C<directory> is not a directory, then this command returns
625 The returned list is sorted.
631 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
632 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
634 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
635 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
643 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
647 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
648 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
652 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
657 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
663 Return the additional kernel options which are added to the
664 guest kernel command line.
666 If C<NULL> then no options are added.
672 Get the autosync flag.
678 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
685 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
692 Return the current search path.
694 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
695 return the default path.
701 Return the current qemu binary.
703 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
704 return the default qemu binary name.
710 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
711 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
713 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
719 This returns the verbose messages flag.
725 This command searches for all the pathnames matching
726 C<pattern> according to the wildcard expansion rules
729 If no paths match, then this returns an empty list
730 (note: not an error).
732 It is just a wrapper around the C L<glob(3)> function
733 with flags C<GLOB_MARK|GLOB_BRACE>.
734 See that manual page for more details.
738 grub-install root device
740 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
741 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
747 This command returns up to the first 10 lines of a file as
750 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
751 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
758 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a positive number, this returns the first
759 C<nrlines> lines of the file C<path>.
761 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a negative number, this returns lines
762 from the file C<path>, excluding the last C<nrlines> lines.
764 If the parameter C<nrlines> is zero, this returns an empty list.
766 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
767 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
774 This runs C<hexdump -C> on the given C<path>. The result is
775 the human-readable, canonical hex dump of the file.
777 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
778 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
785 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
786 (in the C<BUSY> state).
788 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
794 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
795 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
797 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
803 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
804 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
805 other objects like files.
813 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
814 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
815 other objects like directories.
823 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
824 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
826 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
832 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
833 (in the C<READY> state).
835 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
837 =head2 kill-subprocess
841 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
847 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
850 You should call this after configuring the handle
851 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
857 List all the block devices.
859 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
861 =head2 list-partitions
865 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
867 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
869 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
876 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
877 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
879 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
880 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
886 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
887 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
888 hidden files are shown.
890 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
891 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
897 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
899 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
900 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
903 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
907 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
909 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
910 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
912 =head2 lvm-remove-all
916 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
917 and physical volumes.
919 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
920 can easily destroy all your data>.
926 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
927 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
929 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
930 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
934 lvresize device mbytes
936 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM logical
937 volume to C<mbytes>. When reducing, data in the reduced part
944 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
945 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
947 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
948 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
950 See also C<lvs-full>.
956 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
957 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
963 Create a directory named C<path>.
969 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
970 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
976 This command creates a temporary directory. The
977 C<template> parameter should be a full pathname for the
978 temporary directory name with the final six characters being
981 For example: "/tmp/myprogXXXXXX" or "/Temp/myprogXXXXXX",
982 the second one being suitable for Windows filesystems.
984 The name of the temporary directory that was created
987 The temporary directory is created with mode 0700
988 and is owned by root.
990 The caller is responsible for deleting the temporary
991 directory and its contents after use.
993 See also: L<mkdtemp(3)>
999 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
1000 or LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
1005 mount device mountpoint
1007 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
1008 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
1009 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
1010 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
1013 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
1014 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
1015 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
1018 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
1019 on the underlying device.
1021 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
1022 call, in order to improve reliability.
1024 =head2 mount-options
1026 mount-options options device mountpoint
1028 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1029 allows you to set the mount options as for the
1030 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
1034 mount-ro device mountpoint
1036 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1037 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
1041 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
1043 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1044 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
1045 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
1051 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
1052 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
1054 Some internal mounts are not shown.
1060 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
1061 either a destination filename or destination directory.
1063 =head2 ntfs-3g-probe
1065 ntfs-3g-probe true|false device
1067 This command runs the L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> command which probes
1068 an NTFS C<device> for mountability. (Not all NTFS volumes can
1069 be mounted read-write, and some cannot be mounted at all).
1071 C<rw> is a boolean flag. Set it to true if you want to test
1072 if the volume can be mounted read-write. Set it to false if
1073 you want to test if the volume can be mounted read-only.
1075 The return value is an integer which C<0> if the operation
1076 would succeed, or some non-zero value documented in the
1077 L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> manual page.
1083 This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside
1084 the qemu subprocess. Calling this function checks that the
1085 daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
1086 or attached block device(s) in any other way.
1092 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
1093 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
1100 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
1103 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
1104 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
1105 to remove those first.
1111 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM physical
1112 volume to match the new size of the underlying device.
1118 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1119 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
1121 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
1122 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
1124 See also C<pvs-full>.
1130 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1131 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1137 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
1139 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
1140 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
1142 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
1143 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
1144 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
1145 function which has a more complex interface.
1151 This resizes an ext2 or ext3 filesystem to match the size of
1152 the underlying device.
1154 I<Note:> It is sometimes required that you run C<e2fsck-f>
1155 on the C<device> before calling this command. For unknown reasons
1156 C<resize2fs> sometimes gives an error about this and sometimes not.
1157 In any case, it is always safe to call C<e2fsck-f> before
1158 calling this function.
1164 Remove the single file C<path>.
1170 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
1171 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
1178 Remove the single directory C<path>.
1184 This command writes patterns over C<device> to make data retrieval
1187 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1188 manual page for more details.
1190 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1191 can easily destroy all your data>.
1197 This command writes patterns over a file to make data retrieval
1200 The file is I<removed> after scrubbing.
1202 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1203 manual page for more details.
1205 =head2 scrub-freespace
1209 This command creates the directory C<dir> and then fills it
1210 with files until the filesystem is full, and scrubs the files
1211 as for C<scrub-file>, and deletes them.
1212 The intention is to scrub any free space on the partition
1215 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1216 manual page for more details.
1218 =head2 set-append | append
1222 This function is used to add additional options to the
1223 guest kernel command line.
1225 The default is C<NULL> unless overridden by setting
1226 C<LIBGUESTFS_APPEND> environment variable.
1228 Setting C<append> to C<NULL> means I<no> additional options
1229 are passed (libguestfs always adds a few of its own).
1231 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
1233 set-autosync true|false
1235 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
1236 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
1237 C<sync> when the handle is closed
1238 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
1240 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
1241 enabled by default).
1245 set-e2label device label
1247 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
1248 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
1251 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
1252 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
1256 set-e2uuid device uuid
1258 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
1259 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
1260 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
1261 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
1263 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
1264 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
1266 =head2 set-path | path
1270 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
1272 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
1273 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
1275 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
1277 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
1281 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
1283 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
1286 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
1287 environment variable.
1289 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
1291 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
1293 set-verbose true|false
1295 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
1297 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
1298 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
1302 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
1304 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
1305 partitions on block devices.
1307 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
1309 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
1310 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
1311 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
1312 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
1313 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
1314 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
1315 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
1317 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
1318 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
1320 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
1321 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
1322 the string C<,> (comma).
1324 See also: C<sfdisk-l>, C<sfdisk-N>
1326 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1327 can easily destroy all your data>.
1331 sfdisk-N device partnum cyls heads sectors line
1333 This runs L<sfdisk(8)> option to modify just the single
1334 partition C<n> (note: C<n> counts from 1).
1336 For other parameters, see C<sfdisk>. You should usually
1337 pass C<0> for the cyls/heads/sectors parameters.
1339 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1340 can easily destroy all your data>.
1342 =head2 sfdisk-disk-geometry
1344 sfdisk-disk-geometry device
1346 This displays the disk geometry of C<device> read from the
1347 partition table. Especially in the case where the underlying
1348 block device has been resized, this can be different from the
1349 kernel's idea of the geometry (see C<sfdisk-kernel-geometry>).
1351 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1354 =head2 sfdisk-kernel-geometry
1356 sfdisk-kernel-geometry device
1358 This displays the kernel's idea of the geometry of C<device>.
1360 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1367 This displays the partition table on C<device>, in the
1368 human-readable output of the L<sfdisk(8)> command. It is
1369 not intended to be parsed.
1375 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem via the
1378 This is like C<command>, but passes the command to:
1380 /bin/sh -c "command"
1382 Depending on the guest's shell, this usually results in
1383 wildcards being expanded, shell expressions being interpolated
1386 All the provisos about C<command> apply to this call.
1392 This is the same as C<sh>, but splits the result
1393 into a list of lines.
1395 See also: C<command-lines>
1401 Sleep for C<secs> seconds.
1407 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
1409 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
1415 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
1416 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
1417 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
1419 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
1425 This runs the L<strings(1)> command on a file and returns
1426 the list of printable strings found.
1428 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1429 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1434 strings-e encoding path
1436 This is like the C<strings> command, but allows you to
1437 specify the encoding.
1439 See the L<strings(1)> manpage for the full list of encodings.
1441 Commonly useful encodings are C<l> (lower case L) which will
1442 show strings inside Windows/x86 files.
1444 The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
1446 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1447 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1454 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
1455 underlying disk image.
1457 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
1464 This command returns up to the last 10 lines of a file as
1467 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1468 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1475 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a positive number, this returns the last
1476 C<nrlines> lines of the file C<path>.
1478 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a negative number, this returns lines
1479 from the file C<path>, starting with the C<-nrlines>th line.
1481 If the parameter C<nrlines> is zero, this returns an empty list.
1483 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1484 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1489 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
1491 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1492 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1494 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
1496 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1500 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1502 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1503 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1505 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1507 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1511 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1513 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1514 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1516 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1518 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1522 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1524 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1525 it to local file C<tarball>.
1527 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1529 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1535 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1536 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1537 to create a new zero-length file.
1543 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1544 superblock on C<device>.
1546 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1547 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1548 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1549 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1551 =head2 umount | unmount
1555 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1556 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1557 contains the filesystem.
1559 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1563 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1565 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1569 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1571 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1574 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1576 See also C<download>.
1578 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1582 vg-activate true|false 'volgroups ...'
1584 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1585 all logical volumes in the listed volume groups C<volgroups>.
1586 If activated, then they are made known to the
1587 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1588 then those devices disappear.
1590 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n volgroups...>
1592 Note that if C<volgroups> is an empty list then B<all> volume groups
1593 are activated or deactivated.
1595 =head2 vg-activate-all
1597 vg-activate-all true|false
1599 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1600 all logical volumes in all volume groups.
1601 If activated, then they are made known to the
1602 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1603 then those devices disappear.
1605 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n>
1609 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1611 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1612 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1618 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1620 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1627 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1628 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1630 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1631 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1633 See also C<vgs-full>.
1639 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1640 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1646 This command counts the characters in a file, using the
1647 C<wc -c> external command.
1653 This command counts the lines in a file, using the
1654 C<wc -l> external command.
1660 This command counts the words in a file, using the
1661 C<wc -w> external command.
1665 write-file path content size
1667 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1668 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1669 with length C<size>.
1671 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1672 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1673 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1675 I<NB.> Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL
1676 characters does I<not> work, even if the length is specified.
1677 We hope to resolve this bug in a future version. In the meantime
1680 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1681 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1688 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1690 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1691 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1692 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1694 See also: C<scrub-device>.
1700 This runs the I<zerofree> program on C<device>. This program
1701 claims to zero unused inodes and disk blocks on an ext2/3
1702 filesystem, thus making it possible to compress the filesystem
1705 You should B<not> run this program if the filesystem is
1708 It is possible that using this program can damage the filesystem
1709 or data on the filesystem.