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 return value is anything printed to I<stdout> by
378 If the command returns a non-zero exit status, then
379 this function returns an error message. The error message
380 string is the content of I<stderr> from the command.
382 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
383 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
384 another location, you should provide the full path in the
387 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
388 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
389 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
390 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
393 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
394 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
399 command-lines 'arguments ...'
401 This is the same as C<command>, but splits the
402 result into a list of lines.
404 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
405 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
410 config qemuparam qemuvalue
412 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
413 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
414 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
415 parameters that we use.
417 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
419 C<value> can be NULL.
425 This copies a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
426 either a destination filename or destination directory.
432 This copies a file or directory from C<src> to C<dest>
433 recursively using the C<cp -a> command.
437 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
439 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
440 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
443 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
444 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
445 to find out what you can do.
451 This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
452 the guest kernel. This is sometimes useful for extended
453 debugging of problems.
455 Another way to get the same information is to enable
456 verbose messages with C<set-verbose> or by setting
457 the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
462 download remotefilename (filename|-)
464 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
465 on the local machine.
467 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
469 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
471 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
475 drop-caches whattodrop
477 This instructs the guest kernel to drop its page cache,
478 and/or dentries and inode caches. The parameter C<whattodrop>
479 tells the kernel what precisely to drop, see
480 L<http://linux-mm.org/Drop_Caches>
482 Setting C<whattodrop> to 3 should drop everything.
484 This automatically calls L<sync(2)> before the operation,
485 so that the maximum guest memory is freed.
491 This runs C<e2fsck -p -f device>, ie. runs the ext2/ext3
492 filesystem checker on C<device>, noninteractively (C<-p>),
493 even if the filesystem appears to be clean (C<-f>).
495 This command is only needed because of C<resize2fs>
496 (q.v.). Normally you should use C<fsck>.
502 This compares the two files C<file1> and C<file2> and returns
503 true if their content is exactly equal, or false otherwise.
505 The external L<cmp(1)> program is used for the comparison.
511 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
512 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
514 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
520 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
521 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
522 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
524 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
525 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
532 This command lists out all files and directories, recursively,
533 starting at C<directory>. It is essentially equivalent to
534 running the shell command C<find directory -print> but some
535 post-processing happens on the output, described below.
537 This returns a list of strings I<without any prefix>. Thus
538 if the directory structure was:
544 then the returned list from C<find> C</tmp> would be
552 If C<directory> is not a directory, then this command returns
555 The returned list is sorted.
561 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
562 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
564 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
565 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
573 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
577 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
578 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
582 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
587 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
593 Return the additional kernel options which are added to the
594 guest kernel command line.
596 If C<NULL> then no options are added.
602 Get the autosync flag.
608 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
615 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
622 Return the current search path.
624 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
625 return the default path.
631 Return the current qemu binary.
633 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
634 return the default qemu binary name.
640 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
641 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
643 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
649 This returns the verbose messages flag.
653 grub-install root device
655 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
656 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
662 This runs C<hexdump -C> on the given C<path>. The result is
663 the human-readable, canonical hex dump of the file.
665 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
666 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
673 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
674 (in the C<BUSY> state).
676 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
682 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
683 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
685 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
691 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
692 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
693 other objects like files.
701 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
702 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
703 other objects like directories.
711 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
712 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
714 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
720 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
721 (in the C<READY> state).
723 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
725 =head2 kill-subprocess
729 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
735 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
738 You should call this after configuring the handle
739 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
745 List all the block devices.
747 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
749 =head2 list-partitions
753 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
755 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
757 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
764 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
765 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
767 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
768 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
774 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
775 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
776 hidden files are shown.
778 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
779 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
785 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
787 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
788 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
791 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
795 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
797 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
798 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
800 =head2 lvm-remove-all
804 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
805 and physical volumes.
807 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
808 can easily destroy all your data>.
814 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
815 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
817 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
818 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
822 lvresize device mbytes
824 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM logical
825 volume to C<mbytes>. When reducing, data in the reduced part
832 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
833 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
835 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
836 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
838 See also C<lvs-full>.
844 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
845 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
851 Create a directory named C<path>.
857 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
858 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
864 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
865 or LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
870 mount device mountpoint
872 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
873 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
874 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
875 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
878 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
879 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
880 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
883 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
884 on the underlying device.
886 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
887 call, in order to improve reliability.
891 mount-options options device mountpoint
893 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
894 allows you to set the mount options as for the
895 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
899 mount-ro device mountpoint
901 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
902 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
906 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
908 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
909 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
910 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
916 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
917 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
919 Some internal mounts are not shown.
925 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
926 either a destination filename or destination directory.
932 This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside
933 the qemu subprocess. Calling this function checks that the
934 daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
935 or attached block device(s) in any other way.
941 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
942 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
949 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
952 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
953 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
954 to remove those first.
960 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM physical
961 volume to match the new size of the underlying device.
967 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
968 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
970 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
971 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
973 See also C<pvs-full>.
979 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
980 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
986 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
988 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
989 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
991 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
992 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
993 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
994 function which has a more complex interface.
1000 This resizes an ext2 or ext3 filesystem to match the size of
1001 the underlying device.
1003 I<Note:> It is sometimes required that you run C<e2fsck-f>
1004 on the C<device> before calling this command. For unknown reasons
1005 C<resize2fs> sometimes gives an error about this and sometimes not.
1006 In any case, it is always safe to call C<e2fsck-f> before
1007 calling this function.
1013 Remove the single file C<path>.
1019 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
1020 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
1027 Remove the single directory C<path>.
1029 =head2 set-append | append
1033 This function is used to add additional options to the
1034 guest kernel command line.
1036 The default is C<NULL> unless overridden by setting
1037 C<LIBGUESTFS_APPEND> environment variable.
1039 Setting C<append> to C<NULL> means I<no> additional options
1040 are passed (libguestfs always adds a few of its own).
1042 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
1044 set-autosync true|false
1046 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
1047 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
1048 C<sync> when the handle is closed
1049 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
1051 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
1052 enabled by default).
1056 set-e2label device label
1058 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
1059 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
1062 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
1063 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
1067 set-e2uuid device uuid
1069 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
1070 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
1071 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
1072 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
1074 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
1075 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
1077 =head2 set-path | path
1081 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
1083 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
1084 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
1086 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
1088 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
1092 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
1094 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
1097 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
1098 environment variable.
1100 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
1102 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
1104 set-verbose true|false
1106 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
1108 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
1109 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
1113 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
1115 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
1116 partitions on block devices.
1118 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
1120 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
1121 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
1122 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
1123 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
1124 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
1125 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
1126 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
1128 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
1129 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
1131 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
1132 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
1133 the string C<,> (comma).
1135 See also: C<sfdisk-l>, C<sfdisk-N>
1137 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1138 can easily destroy all your data>.
1142 sfdisk-N device n cyls heads sectors line
1144 This runs L<sfdisk(8)> option to modify just the single
1145 partition C<n> (note: C<n> counts from 1).
1147 For other parameters, see C<sfdisk>. You should usually
1148 pass C<0> for the cyls/heads/sectors parameters.
1150 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1151 can easily destroy all your data>.
1153 =head2 sfdisk-disk-geometry
1155 sfdisk-disk-geometry device
1157 This displays the disk geometry of C<device> read from the
1158 partition table. Especially in the case where the underlying
1159 block device has been resized, this can be different from the
1160 kernel's idea of the geometry (see C<sfdisk-kernel-geometry>).
1162 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1165 =head2 sfdisk-kernel-geometry
1167 sfdisk-kernel-geometry device
1169 This displays the kernel's idea of the geometry of C<device>.
1171 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1178 This displays the partition table on C<device>, in the
1179 human-readable output of the L<sfdisk(8)> command. It is
1180 not intended to be parsed.
1186 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
1188 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
1194 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
1195 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
1196 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
1198 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
1204 This runs the L<strings(1)> command on a file and returns
1205 the list of printable strings found.
1207 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1208 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1213 strings-e encoding path
1215 This is like the C<strings> command, but allows you to
1216 specify the encoding.
1218 See the L<strings(1)> manpage for the full list of encodings.
1220 Commonly useful encodings are C<l> (lower case L) which will
1221 show strings inside Windows/x86 files.
1223 The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
1225 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1226 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1233 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
1234 underlying disk image.
1236 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
1241 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
1243 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1244 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1246 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
1248 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1252 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1254 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1255 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1257 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1259 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1263 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1265 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1266 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1268 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1270 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1274 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1276 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1277 it to local file C<tarball>.
1279 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1281 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1287 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1288 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1289 to create a new zero-length file.
1295 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1296 superblock on C<device>.
1298 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1299 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1300 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1301 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1303 =head2 umount | unmount
1307 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1308 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1309 contains the filesystem.
1311 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1315 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1317 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1321 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1323 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1326 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1328 See also C<download>.
1330 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1334 vg-activate true|false 'volgroups ...'
1336 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1337 all logical volumes in the listed volume groups C<volgroups>.
1338 If activated, then they are made known to the
1339 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1340 then those devices disappear.
1342 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n volgroups...>
1344 Note that if C<volgroups> is an empty list then B<all> volume groups
1345 are activated or deactivated.
1347 =head2 vg-activate-all
1349 vg-activate-all true|false
1351 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1352 all logical volumes in all volume groups.
1353 If activated, then they are made known to the
1354 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1355 then those devices disappear.
1357 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n>
1361 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1363 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1364 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1370 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1372 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1379 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1380 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1382 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1383 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1385 See also C<vgs-full>.
1391 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1392 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1396 write-file path content size
1398 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1399 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1400 with length C<size>.
1402 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1403 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1404 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1406 I<NB.> Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL
1407 characters does I<not> work, even if the length is specified.
1408 We hope to resolve this bug in a future version. In the meantime
1411 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1412 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1419 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1421 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1422 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1423 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1429 This runs the I<zerofree> program on C<device>. This program
1430 claims to zero unused inodes and disk blocks on an ext2/3
1431 filesystem, thus making it possible to compress the filesystem
1434 You should B<not> run this program if the filesystem is
1437 It is possible that using this program can damage the filesystem
1438 or data on the filesystem.