1 =head2 add-cdrom | cdrom
5 This function adds a virtual CD-ROM disk image to the guest.
7 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-cdrom filename>.
13 This function adds a virtual machine disk image C<filename> to the
14 guest. The first time you call this function, the disk appears as IDE
15 disk 0 (C</dev/sda>) in the guest, the second time as C</dev/sdb>, and
18 You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However
19 you obviously do need sufficient permissions to access the filename
20 for whatever operations you want to perform (ie. read access if you
21 just want to read the image or write access if you want to modify the
24 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-drive file=filename>.
30 Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources
31 used by it. After calling this, you have to call
32 C<aug-init> again before you can use any other
37 aug-defnode name expr val
39 Defines a variable C<name> whose value is the result of
42 If C<expr> evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created,
43 equivalent to calling C<aug-set> C<expr>, C<value>.
44 C<name> will be the nodeset containing that single node.
46 On success this returns a pair containing the
47 number of nodes in the nodeset, and a boolean flag
48 if a node was created.
54 Defines an Augeas variable C<name> whose value is the result
55 of evaluating C<expr>. If C<expr> is NULL, then C<name> is
58 On success this returns the number of nodes in C<expr>, or
59 C<0> if C<expr> evaluates to something which is not a nodeset.
65 Look up the value associated with C<path>. If C<path>
66 matches exactly one node, the C<value> is returned.
72 Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files.
73 If there was any previous Augeas handle associated with this
74 guestfs session, then it is closed.
76 You must call this before using any other C<aug-*>
79 C<root> is the filesystem root. C<root> must not be NULL,
82 The flags are the same as the flags defined in
83 E<lt>augeas.hE<gt>, the logical I<or> of the following
88 =item C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP> = 1
90 Keep the original file with a C<.augsave> extension.
92 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE> = 2
94 Save changes into a file with extension C<.augnew>, and
95 do not overwrite original. Overrides C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP>.
97 =item C<AUG_TYPE_CHECK> = 4
99 Typecheck lenses (can be expensive).
101 =item C<AUG_NO_STDINC> = 8
103 Do not use standard load path for modules.
105 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NOOP> = 16
107 Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
109 =item C<AUG_NO_LOAD> = 32
111 Do not load the tree in C<aug-init>.
115 To close the handle, you can call C<aug-close>.
117 To find out more about Augeas, see L<http://augeas.net/>.
121 aug-insert path label true|false
123 Create a new sibling C<label> for C<path>, inserting it into
124 the tree before or after C<path> (depending on the boolean
127 C<path> must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and
128 C<label> must be a label, ie. not contain C</>, C<*> or end
129 with a bracketed index C<[N]>.
135 Load files into the tree.
137 See C<aug_load> in the Augeas documentation for the full gory
144 This is just a shortcut for listing C<aug-match>
145 C<path/*> and sorting the resulting nodes into alphabetical order.
151 Returns a list of paths which match the path expression C<path>.
152 The returned paths are sufficiently qualified so that they match
153 exactly one node in the current tree.
159 Move the node C<src> to C<dest>. C<src> must match exactly
160 one node. C<dest> is overwritten if it exists.
166 Remove C<path> and all of its children.
168 On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
174 This writes all pending changes to disk.
176 The flags which were passed to C<aug-init> affect exactly
183 Set the value associated with C<path> to C<value>.
185 =head2 blockdev-flushbufs
187 blockdev-flushbufs device
189 This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated
192 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
194 =head2 blockdev-getbsz
196 blockdev-getbsz device
198 This returns the block size of a device.
200 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
201 I<filesystem block size>).
203 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
205 =head2 blockdev-getro
207 blockdev-getro device
209 Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only
210 (true if read-only, false if not).
212 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
214 =head2 blockdev-getsize64
216 blockdev-getsize64 device
218 This returns the size of the device in bytes.
220 See also C<blockdev-getsz>.
222 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
224 =head2 blockdev-getss
226 blockdev-getss device
228 This returns the size of sectors on a block device.
229 Usually 512, but can be larger for modern devices.
231 (Note, this is not the size in sectors, use C<blockdev-getsz>
234 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
236 =head2 blockdev-getsz
238 blockdev-getsz device
240 This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors
241 (even if the sectorsize isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
243 See also C<blockdev-getss> for the real sector size of
244 the device, and C<blockdev-getsize64> for the more
245 useful I<size in bytes>.
247 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
249 =head2 blockdev-rereadpt
251 blockdev-rereadpt device
253 Reread the partition table on C<device>.
255 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
257 =head2 blockdev-setbsz
259 blockdev-setbsz device blocksize
261 This sets the block size of a device.
263 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
264 I<filesystem block size>).
266 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
268 =head2 blockdev-setro
270 blockdev-setro device
272 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-only.
274 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
276 =head2 blockdev-setrw
278 blockdev-setrw device
280 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-write.
282 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
288 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
290 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
291 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
292 as end of string). For those you need to use the C<download>
293 function which has a more complex interface.
295 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
296 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
301 checksum csumtype path
303 This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the
306 The type of checksum to compute is given by the C<csumtype>
307 parameter which must have one of the following values:
313 Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX
314 for the C<cksum> command.
318 Compute the MD5 hash (using the C<md5sum> program).
322 Compute the SHA1 hash (using the C<sha1sum> program).
326 Compute the SHA224 hash (using the C<sha224sum> program).
330 Compute the SHA256 hash (using the C<sha256sum> program).
334 Compute the SHA384 hash (using the C<sha384sum> program).
338 Compute the SHA512 hash (using the C<sha512sum> program).
342 The checksum is returned as a printable string.
348 Change the mode (permissions) of C<path> to C<mode>. Only
349 numeric modes are supported.
353 chown owner group path
355 Change the file owner to C<owner> and group to C<group>.
357 Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use
358 names, you will need to locate and parse the password file
359 yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
363 command 'arguments ...'
365 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The
366 filesystem must be mounted, and must contain a compatible
367 operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same
368 or compatible processor architecture).
370 The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments.
371 The first element is the name of the program to run.
372 Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be
373 non-empty (ie. must contain a program name).
375 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
376 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
377 another location, you should provide the full path in the
380 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
381 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
382 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
383 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
388 command-lines 'arguments ...'
390 This is the same as C<command>, but splits the
391 result into a list of lines.
395 config qemuparam qemuvalue
397 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
398 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
399 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
400 parameters that we use.
402 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
404 C<value> can be NULL.
408 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
410 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
411 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
414 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
415 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
416 to find out what you can do.
420 download remotefilename (filename|-)
422 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
423 on the local machine.
425 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
427 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
429 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
435 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
436 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
438 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
444 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
445 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
446 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
448 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
449 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
456 Get the autosync flag.
462 Return the current search path.
464 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
465 return the default path.
471 Return the current qemu binary.
473 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
474 return the default qemu binary name.
480 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
481 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
483 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
489 This returns the verbose messages flag.
495 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
496 (in the C<BUSY> state).
498 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
504 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
505 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
507 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
513 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
514 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
515 other objects like files.
523 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
524 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
525 other objects like directories.
533 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
534 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
536 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
542 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
543 (in the C<READY> state).
545 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
547 =head2 kill-subprocess
551 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
557 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
560 You should call this after configuring the handle
561 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
567 List all the block devices.
569 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
571 =head2 list-partitions
575 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
577 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
579 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
586 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
587 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
589 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
590 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
596 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
597 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
598 hidden files are shown.
600 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
601 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
607 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
609 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
610 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
613 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
617 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
619 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
620 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
622 =head2 lvm-remove-all
626 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
627 and physical volumes.
629 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
630 can easily destroy all your data>.
636 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
637 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
639 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
640 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
642 See also C<lvs-full>.
648 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
649 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
655 Create a directory named C<path>.
661 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
662 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
668 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
669 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
674 mount device mountpoint
676 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
677 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
678 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
679 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
682 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
683 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
684 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
687 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
688 on the underlying device.
690 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
691 call, in order to improve reliability.
695 mount-options options device mountpoint
697 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
698 allows you to set the mount options as for the
699 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
703 mount-ro device mountpoint
705 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
706 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
710 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
712 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
713 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
714 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
720 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
721 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
723 Some internal mounts are not shown.
729 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
730 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
737 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
738 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
740 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
741 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
743 See also C<pvs-full>.
749 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
750 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
756 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
758 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
759 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
761 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
762 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
763 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
764 function which has a more complex interface.
770 Remove the single file C<path>.
776 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
777 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
784 Remove the single directory C<path>.
786 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
788 set-autosync true|false
790 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
791 best effort attempt to run C<sync> when the handle is closed
792 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
794 =head2 set-path | path
798 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
800 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
801 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
803 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
804 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
806 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
808 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
812 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
814 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
817 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
818 environment variable.
820 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
821 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
823 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
825 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
827 set-verbose true|false
829 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
831 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
832 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
836 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
838 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
839 partitions on block devices.
841 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
843 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
844 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
845 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
846 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
847 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
848 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
849 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
851 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
852 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
854 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
855 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
856 the string C<,> (comma).
858 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
859 can easily destroy all your data>.
865 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
867 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
873 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
874 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
875 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
877 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
883 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
884 underlying disk image.
886 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
891 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
893 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
894 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
896 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
898 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
902 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
904 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
905 it to local file C<tarfile>.
907 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
909 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
913 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
915 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
916 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
918 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
920 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
924 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
926 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
927 it to local file C<tarball>.
929 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
931 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
937 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
938 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
939 to create a new zero-length file.
945 This returns the contents of the ext2 or ext3 filesystem superblock
948 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
949 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
950 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
951 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
953 =head2 umount | unmount
957 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
958 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
959 contains the filesystem.
961 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
965 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
967 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
971 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
973 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
976 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
978 See also C<download>.
980 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
984 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
986 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
987 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
993 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
994 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
996 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
997 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
999 See also C<vgs-full>.
1005 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1006 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1010 write-file path content size
1012 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1013 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1014 with length C<size>.
1016 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1017 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1018 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1020 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1021 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use