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.
410 This copies a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
411 either a destination filename or destination directory.
417 This copies a file or directory from C<src> to C<dest>
418 recursively using the C<cp -a> command.
422 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
424 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
425 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
428 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
429 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
430 to find out what you can do.
434 download remotefilename (filename|-)
436 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
437 on the local machine.
439 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
441 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
443 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
449 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
450 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
452 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
458 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
459 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
460 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
462 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
463 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
470 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
471 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
473 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
474 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
482 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
486 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
487 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
491 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
496 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
502 Get the autosync flag.
508 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
515 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
522 Return the current search path.
524 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
525 return the default path.
531 Return the current qemu binary.
533 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
534 return the default qemu binary name.
540 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
541 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
543 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
549 This returns the verbose messages flag.
553 grub-install root device
555 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
556 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
562 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
563 (in the C<BUSY> state).
565 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
571 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
572 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
574 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
580 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
581 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
582 other objects like files.
590 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
591 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
592 other objects like directories.
600 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
601 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
603 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
609 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
610 (in the C<READY> state).
612 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
614 =head2 kill-subprocess
618 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
624 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
627 You should call this after configuring the handle
628 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
634 List all the block devices.
636 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
638 =head2 list-partitions
642 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
644 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
646 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
653 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
654 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
656 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
657 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
663 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
664 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
665 hidden files are shown.
667 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
668 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
674 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
676 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
677 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
680 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
684 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
686 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
687 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
689 =head2 lvm-remove-all
693 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
694 and physical volumes.
696 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
697 can easily destroy all your data>.
703 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
704 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
706 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
707 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
713 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
714 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
716 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
717 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
719 See also C<lvs-full>.
725 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
726 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
732 Create a directory named C<path>.
738 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
739 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
745 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
746 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
751 mount device mountpoint
753 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
754 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
755 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
756 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
759 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
760 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
761 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
764 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
765 on the underlying device.
767 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
768 call, in order to improve reliability.
772 mount-options options device mountpoint
774 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
775 allows you to set the mount options as for the
776 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
780 mount-ro device mountpoint
782 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
783 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
787 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
789 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
790 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
791 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
797 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
798 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
800 Some internal mounts are not shown.
806 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
807 either a destination filename or destination directory.
813 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
814 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
821 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
824 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
825 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
826 to remove those first.
832 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
833 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
835 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
836 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
838 See also C<pvs-full>.
844 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
845 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
851 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
853 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
854 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
856 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
857 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
858 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
859 function which has a more complex interface.
865 Remove the single file C<path>.
871 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
872 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
879 Remove the single directory C<path>.
881 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
883 set-autosync true|false
885 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
886 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
887 C<sync> when the handle is closed
888 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
890 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
895 set-e2label device label
897 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
898 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
901 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
902 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
906 set-e2uuid device uuid
908 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
909 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
910 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
911 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
913 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
914 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
916 =head2 set-path | path
920 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
922 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
923 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
925 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
926 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
928 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
930 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
934 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
936 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
939 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
940 environment variable.
942 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
943 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
945 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
947 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
949 set-verbose true|false
951 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
953 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
954 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
958 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
960 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
961 partitions on block devices.
963 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
965 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
966 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
967 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
968 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
969 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
970 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
971 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
973 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
974 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
976 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
977 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
978 the string C<,> (comma).
980 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
981 can easily destroy all your data>.
987 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
989 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
995 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
996 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
997 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
999 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
1005 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
1006 underlying disk image.
1008 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
1013 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
1015 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1016 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1018 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
1020 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1024 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1026 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1027 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1029 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1031 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1035 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1037 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1038 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1040 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1042 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1046 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1048 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1049 it to local file C<tarball>.
1051 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1053 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1059 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1060 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1061 to create a new zero-length file.
1067 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1068 superblock on C<device>.
1070 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1071 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1072 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1073 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1075 =head2 umount | unmount
1079 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1080 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1081 contains the filesystem.
1083 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1087 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1089 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1093 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1095 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1098 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1100 See also C<download>.
1102 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1106 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1108 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1109 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1115 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1117 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1124 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1125 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1127 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1128 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1130 See also C<vgs-full>.
1136 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1137 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1141 write-file path content size
1143 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1144 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1145 with length C<size>.
1147 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1148 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1149 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1151 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1152 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1159 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1161 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1162 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1163 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.