5 guestfs - Library for accessing and modifying virtual machine images
11 guestfs_h *handle = guestfs_create ();
12 guestfs_add_drive (handle, "guest.img");
13 guestfs_launch (handle);
14 guestfs_mount (handle, "/dev/sda1", "/");
15 guestfs_touch (handle, "/hello");
16 guestfs_sync (handle);
17 guestfs_close (handle);
21 Libguestfs is a library for accessing and modifying guest disk images.
22 Amongst the things this is good for: making batch configuration
23 changes to guests, getting disk used/free statistics (see also:
24 virt-df), migrating between virtualization systems (see also:
25 virt-p2v), performing partial backups, performing partial guest
26 clones, cloning guests and changing registry/UUID/hostname info, and
29 Libguestfs uses Linux kernel and qemu code, and can access any type of
30 guest filesystem that Linux and qemu can, including but not limited
31 to: ext2/3/4, btrfs, FAT and NTFS, LVM, many different disk partition
32 schemes, qcow, qcow2, vmdk.
34 Libguestfs provides ways to enumerate guest storage (eg. partitions,
35 LVs, what filesystem is in each LV, etc.). It can also run commands
36 in the context of the guest. Also you can access filesystems over FTP.
38 Libguestfs is a library that can be linked with C and C++ management
39 programs (or management programs written in OCaml, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java
40 or Haskell). You can also use it from shell scripts or the command line.
42 You don't need to be root to use libguestfs, although obviously you do
43 need enough permissions to access the disk images.
45 Libguestfs is a large API because it can do many things. For a gentle
46 introduction, please read the L</API OVERVIEW> section next.
50 This section provides a gentler overview of the libguestfs API. We
51 also try to group API calls together, where that may not be obvious
52 from reading about the individual calls below.
56 Before you can use libguestfs calls, you have to create a handle.
57 Then you must add at least one disk image to the handle, followed by
58 launching the handle, then performing whatever operations you want,
59 and finally closing the handle. So the general structure of all
60 libguestfs-using programs looks like this:
62 guestfs_h *handle = guestfs_create ();
64 /* Call guestfs_add_drive additional times if there are
65 * multiple disk images.
67 guestfs_add_drive (handle, "guest.img");
69 /* Most manipulation calls won't work until you've launched
70 * the handle. You have to do this _after_ adding drives
71 * and _before_ other commands.
73 guestfs_launch (handle);
75 /* Now you can examine what partitions, LVs etc are available.
77 char **partitions = guestfs_list_partitions (handle);
78 char **logvols = guestfs_lvs (handle);
80 /* To access a filesystem in the image, you must mount it.
82 guestfs_mount (handle, "/dev/sda1", "/");
84 /* Now you can perform filesystem actions on the guest
87 guestfs_touch (handle, "/hello");
89 /* You only need to call guestfs_sync if you have made
90 * changes to the guest image.
92 guestfs_sync (handle);
94 /* Close the handle. */
95 guestfs_close (handle);
97 The code above doesn't include any error checking. In real code you
98 should check return values carefully for errors. In general all
99 functions that return integers return C<-1> on error, and all
100 functions that return pointers return C<NULL> on error. See section
101 L</ERROR HANDLING> below for how to handle errors, and consult the
102 documentation for each function call below to see precisely how they
103 return error indications.
107 The image filename (C<"guest.img"> in the example above) could be a
108 disk image from a virtual machine, a L<dd(1)> copy of a physical hard
109 disk, an actual block device, or simply an empty file of zeroes that
110 you have created through L<posix_fallocate(3)>. Libguestfs lets you
111 do useful things to all of these.
113 You can add a disk read-only using C<guestfs_add_drive_ro>, in which
114 case libguestfs won't modify the file.
116 Be extremely cautious if the disk image is in use, eg. if it is being
117 used by a virtual machine. Adding it read-write will almost certainly
118 cause disk corruption, but adding it read-only is safe.
120 You must add at least one disk image, and you may add multiple disk
121 images. In the API, the disk images are usually referred to as
122 C</dev/sda> (for the first one you added), C</dev/sdb> (for the second
125 Once C<guestfs_launch> has been called you cannot add any more images.
126 You can call C<guestfs_list_devices> to get a list of the device
127 names, in the order that you added them. See also L</BLOCK DEVICE
132 Before you can read or write files, create directories and so on in a
133 disk image that contains filesystems, you have to mount those
134 filesystems using C<guestfs_mount>. If you already know that a disk
135 image contains (for example) one partition with a filesystem on that
136 partition, then you can mount it directly:
138 guestfs_mount (handle, "/dev/sda1", "/");
140 where C</dev/sda1> means literally the first partition (C<1>) of the
141 first disk image that we added (C</dev/sda>). If the disk contains
142 Linux LVM2 logical volumes you could refer to those instead (eg. C</dev/VG/LV>).
144 If you are given a disk image and you don't know what it contains then
145 you have to find out. Libguestfs can do that too: use
146 C<guestfs_list_partitions> and C<guestfs_lvs> to list possible
147 partitions and LVs, and either try mounting each to see what is
148 mountable, or else examine them with C<guestfs_file>. But you might
149 find it easier to look at higher level programs built on top of
150 libguestfs, in particular L<virt-inspector(1)>.
152 To mount a disk image read-only, use C<guestfs_mount_ro>. There are
153 several other variations of the C<guestfs_mount_*> call.
155 =head2 FILESYSTEM ACCESS AND MODIFICATION
157 The majority of the libguestfs API consists of fairly low-level calls
158 for accessing and modifying the files, directories, symlinks etc on
159 mounted filesystems. There are over a hundred such calls which you
160 can find listed in detail below in this man page, and we don't even
161 pretend to cover them all in this overview.
163 Specify filenames as full paths including the mount point.
165 For example, if you mounted a filesystem at C<"/"> and you want to
166 read the file called C<"etc/passwd"> then you could do:
168 char *data = guestfs_cat (handle, "/etc/passwd");
170 This would return C<data> as a newly allocated buffer containing the
171 full content of that file (with some conditions: see also
172 L</DOWNLOADING> below), or C<NULL> if there was an error.
174 As another example, to create a top-level directory on that filesystem
175 called C<"var"> you would do:
177 guestfs_mkdir (handle, "/var");
179 To create a symlink you could do:
181 guestfs_ln_s (handle, "/etc/init.d/portmap",
182 "/etc/rc3.d/S30portmap");
184 Libguestfs will reject attempts to use relative paths. There is no
185 concept of a current working directory. Libguestfs can return errors
186 in many situations: for example if the filesystem isn't writable, or
187 if a file or directory that you requested doesn't exist. If you are
188 using the C API (documented here) you have to check for those error
189 conditions after each call. (Other language bindings turn these
190 errors into exceptions).
192 File writes are affected by the per-handle umask, set by calling
193 C<guestfs_umask> and defaulting to 022.
197 Libguestfs contains API calls to read, create and modify partition
198 tables on disk images.
200 In the common case where you want to create a single partition
201 covering the whole disk, you should use the C<guestfs_part_disk>
204 const char *parttype = "mbr";
205 if (disk_is_larger_than_2TB)
207 guestfs_part_disk (g, "/dev/sda", parttype);
209 Obviously this effectively wipes anything that was on that disk image
212 In general MBR partitions are both unnecessarily complicated and
213 depend on archaic details, namely the Cylinder-Head-Sector (CHS)
214 geometry of the disk. C<guestfs_sfdiskM> can be used to
215 create more complex arrangements where the relative sizes are
216 expressed in megabytes instead of cylinders, which is a small win.
217 C<guestfs_sfdiskM> will choose the nearest cylinder to approximate the
218 requested size. There's a lot of crazy stuff to do with IDE and
219 virtio disks having different, incompatible CHS geometries, that you
220 probably don't want to know about.
222 My advice: make a single partition to cover the whole disk, then use
227 Libguestfs provides access to a large part of the LVM2 API, such as
228 C<guestfs_lvcreate> and C<guestfs_vgremove>. It won't make much sense
229 unless you familiarize yourself with the concepts of physical volumes,
230 volume groups and logical volumes.
232 This author strongly recommends reading the LVM HOWTO, online at
233 L<http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/>.
237 Use C<guestfs_cat> to download small, text only files. This call
238 is limited to files which are less than 2 MB and which cannot contain
239 any ASCII NUL (C<\0>) characters. However it has a very simple
242 C<guestfs_read_file> can be used to read files which contain
243 arbitrary 8 bit data, since it returns a (pointer, size) pair.
244 However it is still limited to "small" files, less than 2 MB.
246 C<guestfs_download> can be used to download any file, with no
247 limits on content or size (even files larger than 4 GB).
249 To download multiple files, see C<guestfs_tar_out> and
254 It's often the case that you want to write a file or files to the disk
257 For small, single files, use C<guestfs_write_file>. This call
258 currently contains a bug which limits the call to plain text files
259 (not containing ASCII NUL characters).
261 To upload a single file, use C<guestfs_upload>. This call has no
262 limits on file content or size (even files larger than 4 GB).
264 To upload multiple files, see C<guestfs_tar_in> and C<guestfs_tgz_in>.
266 However the fastest way to upload I<large numbers of arbitrary files>
267 is to turn them into a squashfs or CD ISO (see L<mksquashfs(8)> and
268 L<mkisofs(8)>), then attach this using C<guestfs_add_drive_ro>. If
269 you add the drive in a predictable way (eg. adding it last after all
270 other drives) then you can get the device name from
271 C<guestfs_list_devices> and mount it directly using
272 C<guestfs_mount_ro>. Note that squashfs images are sometimes
273 non-portable between kernel versions, and they don't support labels or
274 UUIDs. If you want to pre-build an image or you need to mount it
275 using a label or UUID, use an ISO image instead.
279 C<guestfs_ll> is just designed for humans to read (mainly when using
280 the L<guestfish(1)>-equivalent command C<ll>).
282 C<guestfs_ls> is a quick way to get a list of files in a directory
283 from programs, as a flat list of strings.
285 C<guestfs_readdir> is a programmatic way to get a list of files in a
286 directory, plus additional information about each one. It is more
287 equivalent to using the L<readdir(3)> call on a local filesystem.
289 C<guestfs_find> can be used to recursively list files.
291 =head2 RUNNING COMMANDS
293 Although libguestfs is a primarily an API for manipulating files
294 inside guest images, we also provide some limited facilities for
295 running commands inside guests.
297 There are many limitations to this:
303 The kernel version that the command runs under will be different
304 from what it expects.
308 If the command needs to communicate with daemons, then most likely
309 they won't be running.
313 The command will be running in limited memory.
317 Only supports Linux guests (not Windows, BSD, etc).
321 Architecture limitations (eg. won't work for a PPC guest on
326 For SELinux guests, you may need to enable SELinux and load policy
327 first. See L</SELINUX> in this manpage.
331 The two main API calls to run commands are C<guestfs_command> and
332 C<guestfs_sh> (there are also variations).
334 The difference is that C<guestfs_sh> runs commands using the shell, so
335 any shell globs, redirections, etc will work.
337 =head2 CONFIGURATION FILES
339 To read and write configuration files in Linux guest filesystems, we
340 strongly recommend using Augeas. For example, Augeas understands how
341 to read and write, say, a Linux shadow password file or X.org
342 configuration file, and so avoids you having to write that code.
344 The main Augeas calls are bound through the C<guestfs_aug_*> APIs. We
345 don't document Augeas itself here because there is excellent
346 documentation on the L<http://augeas.net/> website.
348 If you don't want to use Augeas (you fool!) then try calling
349 C<guestfs_read_lines> to get the file as a list of lines which
350 you can iterate over.
354 We support SELinux guests. To ensure that labeling happens correctly
355 in SELinux guests, you need to enable SELinux and load the guest's
362 Before launching, do:
364 guestfs_set_selinux (g, 1);
368 After mounting the guest's filesystem(s), load the policy. This
369 is best done by running the L<load_policy(8)> command in the
372 guestfs_sh (g, "/usr/sbin/load_policy");
374 (Older versions of C<load_policy> require you to specify the
375 name of the policy file).
379 Optionally, set the security context for the API. The correct
380 security context to use can only be known by inspecting the
381 guest. As an example:
383 guestfs_setcon (g, "unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0");
387 This will work for running commands and editing existing files.
389 When new files are created, you may need to label them explicitly,
390 for example by running the external command
391 C<restorecon pathname>.
393 =head2 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WINDOWS GUESTS
395 Libguestfs can mount NTFS partitions. It does this using the
396 L<http://www.ntfs-3g.org/> driver.
398 DOS and Windows still use drive letters, and the filesystems are
399 always treated as case insensitive by Windows itself, and therefore
400 you might find a Windows configuration file referring to a path like
401 C<c:\windows\system32>. When the filesystem is mounted in libguestfs,
402 that directory might be referred to as C</WINDOWS/System32>.
404 Drive letter mappings are outside the scope of libguestfs. You have
405 to use libguestfs to read the appropriate Windows Registry and
406 configuration files, to determine yourself how drives are mapped (see
407 also L<virt-inspector(1)>).
409 Replacing backslash characters with forward slash characters is also
410 outside the scope of libguestfs, but something that you can easily do.
412 Where we can help is in resolving the case insensitivity of paths.
413 For this, call C<guestfs_case_sensitive_path>.
415 Libguestfs also provides some help for decoding Windows Registry
416 "hive" files, through the library C<libhivex> which is part of
417 libguestfs. You have to locate and download the hive file(s)
418 yourself, and then pass them to C<libhivex> functions. See also the
419 programs L<hivexml(1)>, L<hivexget(1)> and L<virt-win-reg(1)> for more
422 =head2 USING LIBGUESTFS WITH OTHER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
424 Although we don't want to discourage you from using the C API, we will
425 mention here that the same API is also available in other languages.
427 The API is broadly identical in all supported languages. This means
428 that the C call C<guestfs_mount(handle,path)> is
429 C<$handle-E<gt>mount($path)> in Perl, C<handle.mount(path)> in Python,
430 and C<Guestfs.mount handle path> in OCaml. In other words, a
431 straightforward, predictable isomorphism between each language.
433 Error messages are automatically transformed
434 into exceptions if the language supports it.
436 We don't try to "object orientify" parts of the API in OO languages,
437 although contributors are welcome to write higher level APIs above
438 what we provide in their favourite languages if they wish.
444 You can use the I<guestfs.h> header file from C++ programs. The C++
445 API is identical to the C API. C++ classes and exceptions are
450 This is the only language binding that is incomplete. Only calls
451 which return simple integers have been bound in Haskell, and we are
452 looking for help to complete this binding.
456 Full documentation is contained in the Javadoc which is distributed
461 For documentation see the file C<guestfs.mli>.
465 For documentation see L<Sys::Guestfs(3)>.
469 For documentation do:
477 Use the Guestfs module. There is no Ruby-specific documentation, but
478 you can find examples written in Ruby in the libguestfs source.
480 =item B<shell scripts>
482 For documentation see L<guestfish(1)>.
486 =head1 CONNECTION MANAGEMENT
490 C<guestfs_h> is the opaque type representing a connection handle.
491 Create a handle by calling C<guestfs_create>. Call C<guestfs_close>
492 to free the handle and release all resources used.
494 For information on using multiple handles and threads, see the section
495 L</MULTIPLE HANDLES AND MULTIPLE THREADS> below.
497 =head2 guestfs_create
499 guestfs_h *guestfs_create (void);
501 Create a connection handle.
503 You have to call C<guestfs_add_drive> on the handle at least once.
505 This function returns a non-NULL pointer to a handle on success or
508 After configuring the handle, you have to call C<guestfs_launch>.
510 You may also want to configure error handling for the handle. See
511 L</ERROR HANDLING> section below.
515 void guestfs_close (guestfs_h *handle);
517 This closes the connection handle and frees up all resources used.
519 =head1 ERROR HANDLING
521 The convention in all functions that return C<int> is that they return
522 C<-1> to indicate an error. You can get additional information on
523 errors by calling C<guestfs_last_error> and/or by setting up an error
524 handler with C<guestfs_set_error_handler>.
526 The default error handler prints the information string to C<stderr>.
528 Out of memory errors are handled differently. The default action is
529 to call L<abort(3)>. If this is undesirable, then you can set a
530 handler using C<guestfs_set_out_of_memory_handler>.
532 =head2 guestfs_last_error
534 const char *guestfs_last_error (guestfs_h *handle);
536 This returns the last error message that happened on C<handle>. If
537 there has not been an error since the handle was created, then this
540 The lifetime of the returned string is until the next error occurs, or
541 C<guestfs_close> is called.
543 The error string is not localized (ie. is always in English), because
544 this makes searching for error messages in search engines give the
545 largest number of results.
547 =head2 guestfs_set_error_handler
549 typedef void (*guestfs_error_handler_cb) (guestfs_h *handle,
552 void guestfs_set_error_handler (guestfs_h *handle,
553 guestfs_error_handler_cb cb,
556 The callback C<cb> will be called if there is an error. The
557 parameters passed to the callback are an opaque data pointer and the
558 error message string.
560 Note that the message string C<msg> is freed as soon as the callback
561 function returns, so if you want to stash it somewhere you must make
564 The default handler prints messages on C<stderr>.
566 If you set C<cb> to C<NULL> then I<no> handler is called.
568 =head2 guestfs_get_error_handler
570 guestfs_error_handler_cb guestfs_get_error_handler (guestfs_h *handle,
573 Returns the current error handler callback.
575 =head2 guestfs_set_out_of_memory_handler
577 typedef void (*guestfs_abort_cb) (void);
578 int guestfs_set_out_of_memory_handler (guestfs_h *handle,
581 The callback C<cb> will be called if there is an out of memory
582 situation. I<Note this callback must not return>.
584 The default is to call L<abort(3)>.
586 You cannot set C<cb> to C<NULL>. You can't ignore out of memory
589 =head2 guestfs_get_out_of_memory_handler
591 guestfs_abort_fn guestfs_get_out_of_memory_handler (guestfs_h *handle);
593 This returns the current out of memory handler.
597 Libguestfs needs a kernel and initrd.img, which it finds by looking
598 along an internal path.
600 By default it looks for these in the directory C<$libdir/guestfs>
601 (eg. C</usr/local/lib/guestfs> or C</usr/lib64/guestfs>).
603 Use C<guestfs_set_path> or set the environment variable
604 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> to change the directories that libguestfs will
605 search in. The value is a colon-separated list of paths. The current
606 directory is I<not> searched unless the path contains an empty element
607 or C<.>. For example C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH=:/usr/lib/guestfs> would
608 search the current directory and then C</usr/lib/guestfs>.
610 =head1 HIGH-LEVEL API ACTIONS
614 We guarantee the libguestfs ABI (binary interface), for public,
615 high-level actions as outlined in this section. Although we will
616 deprecate some actions, for example if they get replaced by newer
617 calls, we will keep the old actions forever. This allows you the
618 developer to program in confidence against libguestfs.
626 =head1 STATE MACHINE AND LOW-LEVEL EVENT API
628 Internally, libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
629 using L<qemu(1)>. QEmu runs as a child process of the main program,
630 and most of this discussion won't make sense unless you understand
631 that the complexity is dealing with the (asynchronous) actions of the
635 ___________________ _________________________
637 | main program | | qemu +-----------------+|
638 | | | | Linux kernel ||
639 +-------------------+ | +-----------------+|
640 | libguestfs <-------------->| guestfsd ||
641 | | | +-----------------+|
642 \___________________/ \_________________________/
644 The diagram above shows libguestfs communicating with the guestfsd
645 daemon running inside the qemu child process. There are several
646 points of failure here: qemu can fail to start, the virtual machine
647 inside qemu can fail to boot, guestfsd can fail to start or not
648 establish communication, any component can start successfully but fail
649 asynchronously later, and so on.
653 libguestfs uses a state machine to model the child process:
664 / | \ \ guestfs_launch
675 \______/ <------ \________/
677 The normal transitions are (1) CONFIG (when the handle is created, but
678 there is no child process), (2) LAUNCHING (when the child process is
679 booting up), (3) alternating between READY and BUSY as commands are
680 issued to, and carried out by, the child process.
682 The guest may be killed by C<guestfs_kill_subprocess>, or may die
683 asynchronously at any time (eg. due to some internal error), and that
684 causes the state to transition back to CONFIG.
686 Configuration commands for qemu such as C<guestfs_add_drive> can only
687 be issued when in the CONFIG state.
689 The high-level API offers two calls that go from CONFIG through
690 LAUNCHING to READY. C<guestfs_launch> blocks until the child process
691 is READY to accept commands (or until some failure or timeout).
692 C<guestfs_launch> internally moves the state from CONFIG to LAUNCHING
695 High-level API actions such as C<guestfs_mount> can only be issued
696 when in the READY state. These high-level API calls block waiting for
697 the command to be carried out (ie. the state to transition to BUSY and
698 then back to READY). But using the low-level event API, you get
699 non-blocking versions. (But you can still only carry out one
700 operation per handle at a time - that is a limitation of the
701 communications protocol we use).
703 Finally, the child process sends asynchronous messages back to the
704 main program, such as kernel log messages. Mostly these are ignored
705 by the high-level API, but using the low-level event API you can
706 register to receive these messages.
708 =head2 SETTING CALLBACKS TO HANDLE EVENTS
710 The child process generates events in some situations. Current events
711 include: receiving a log message, the child process exits.
713 Use the C<guestfs_set_*_callback> functions to set a callback for
714 different types of events.
716 Only I<one callback of each type> can be registered for each handle.
717 Calling C<guestfs_set_*_callback> again overwrites the previous
718 callback of that type. Cancel all callbacks of this type by calling
719 this function with C<cb> set to C<NULL>.
721 =head2 guestfs_set_log_message_callback
723 typedef void (*guestfs_log_message_cb) (guestfs_h *g, void *opaque,
725 void guestfs_set_log_message_callback (guestfs_h *handle,
726 guestfs_log_message_cb cb,
729 The callback function C<cb> will be called whenever qemu or the guest
730 writes anything to the console.
732 Use this function to capture kernel messages and similar.
734 Normally there is no log message handler, and log messages are just
737 =head2 guestfs_set_subprocess_quit_callback
739 typedef void (*guestfs_subprocess_quit_cb) (guestfs_h *g, void *opaque);
740 void guestfs_set_subprocess_quit_callback (guestfs_h *handle,
741 guestfs_subprocess_quit_cb cb,
744 The callback function C<cb> will be called when the child process
745 quits, either asynchronously or if killed by
746 C<guestfs_kill_subprocess>. (This corresponds to a transition from
747 any state to the CONFIG state).
749 =head2 guestfs_set_launch_done_callback
751 typedef void (*guestfs_launch_done_cb) (guestfs_h *g, void *opaque);
752 void guestfs_set_launch_done_callback (guestfs_h *handle,
756 The callback function C<cb> will be called when the child process
757 becomes ready first time after it has been launched. (This
758 corresponds to a transition from LAUNCHING to the READY state).
760 =head1 BLOCK DEVICE NAMING
762 In the kernel there is now quite a profusion of schemata for naming
763 block devices (in this context, by I<block device> I mean a physical
764 or virtual hard drive). The original Linux IDE driver used names
765 starting with C</dev/hd*>. SCSI devices have historically used a
766 different naming scheme, C</dev/sd*>. When the Linux kernel I<libata>
767 driver became a popular replacement for the old IDE driver
768 (particularly for SATA devices) those devices also used the
769 C</dev/sd*> scheme. Additionally we now have virtual machines with
770 paravirtualized drivers. This has created several different naming
771 systems, such as C</dev/vd*> for virtio disks and C</dev/xvd*> for Xen
774 As discussed above, libguestfs uses a qemu appliance running an
775 embedded Linux kernel to access block devices. We can run a variety
776 of appliances based on a variety of Linux kernels.
778 This causes a problem for libguestfs because many API calls use device
779 or partition names. Working scripts and the recipe (example) scripts
780 that we make available over the internet could fail if the naming
783 Therefore libguestfs defines C</dev/sd*> as the I<standard naming
784 scheme>. Internally C</dev/sd*> names are translated, if necessary,
785 to other names as required. For example, under RHEL 5 which uses the
786 C</dev/hd*> scheme, any device parameter C</dev/sda2> is translated to
787 C</dev/hda2> transparently.
789 Note that this I<only> applies to parameters. The
790 C<guestfs_list_devices>, C<guestfs_list_partitions> and similar calls
791 return the true names of the devices and partitions as known to the
794 =head2 ALGORITHM FOR BLOCK DEVICE NAME TRANSLATION
796 Usually this translation is transparent. However in some (very rare)
797 cases you may need to know the exact algorithm. Such cases include
798 where you use C<guestfs_config> to add a mixture of virtio and IDE
799 devices to the qemu-based appliance, so have a mixture of C</dev/sd*>
800 and C</dev/vd*> devices.
802 The algorithm is applied only to I<parameters> which are known to be
803 either device or partition names. Return values from functions such
804 as C<guestfs_list_devices> are never changed.
810 Is the string a parameter which is a device or partition name?
814 Does the string begin with C</dev/sd>?
818 Does the named device exist? If so, we use that device.
819 However if I<not> then we continue with this algorithm.
823 Replace initial C</dev/sd> string with C</dev/hd>.
825 For example, change C</dev/sda2> to C</dev/hda2>.
827 If that named device exists, use it. If not, continue.
831 Replace initial C</dev/sd> string with C</dev/vd>.
833 If that named device exists, use it. If not, return an error.
837 =head2 PORTABILITY CONCERNS
839 Although the standard naming scheme and automatic translation is
840 useful for simple programs and guestfish scripts, for larger programs
841 it is best not to rely on this mechanism.
843 Where possible for maximum future portability programs using
844 libguestfs should use these future-proof techniques:
850 Use C<guestfs_list_devices> or C<guestfs_list_partitions> to list
851 actual device names, and then use those names directly.
853 Since those device names exist by definition, they will never be
858 Use higher level ways to identify filesystems, such as LVM names,
859 UUIDs and filesystem labels.
865 =head2 COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL
867 Don't rely on using this protocol directly. This section documents
868 how it currently works, but it may change at any time.
870 The protocol used to talk between the library and the daemon running
871 inside the qemu virtual machine is a simple RPC mechanism built on top
872 of XDR (RFC 1014, RFC 1832, RFC 4506).
874 The detailed format of structures is in C<src/guestfs_protocol.x>
875 (note: this file is automatically generated).
877 There are two broad cases, ordinary functions that don't have any
878 C<FileIn> and C<FileOut> parameters, which are handled with very
879 simple request/reply messages. Then there are functions that have any
880 C<FileIn> or C<FileOut> parameters, which use the same request and
881 reply messages, but they may also be followed by files sent using a
884 =head3 ORDINARY FUNCTIONS (NO FILEIN/FILEOUT PARAMS)
886 For ordinary functions, the request message is:
888 total length (header + arguments,
889 but not including the length word itself)
890 struct guestfs_message_header (encoded as XDR)
891 struct guestfs_<foo>_args (encoded as XDR)
893 The total length field allows the daemon to allocate a fixed size
894 buffer into which it slurps the rest of the message. As a result, the
895 total length is limited to C<GUESTFS_MESSAGE_MAX> bytes (currently
896 4MB), which means the effective size of any request is limited to
897 somewhere under this size.
899 Note also that many functions don't take any arguments, in which case
900 the C<guestfs_I<foo>_args> is completely omitted.
902 The header contains the procedure number (C<guestfs_proc>) which is
903 how the receiver knows what type of args structure to expect, or none
906 The reply message for ordinary functions is:
908 total length (header + ret,
909 but not including the length word itself)
910 struct guestfs_message_header (encoded as XDR)
911 struct guestfs_<foo>_ret (encoded as XDR)
913 As above the C<guestfs_I<foo>_ret> structure may be completely omitted
914 for functions that return no formal return values.
916 As above the total length of the reply is limited to
917 C<GUESTFS_MESSAGE_MAX>.
919 In the case of an error, a flag is set in the header, and the reply
920 message is slightly changed:
922 total length (header + error,
923 but not including the length word itself)
924 struct guestfs_message_header (encoded as XDR)
925 struct guestfs_message_error (encoded as XDR)
927 The C<guestfs_message_error> structure contains the error message as a
930 =head3 FUNCTIONS THAT HAVE FILEIN PARAMETERS
932 A C<FileIn> parameter indicates that we transfer a file I<into> the
933 guest. The normal request message is sent (see above). However this
934 is followed by a sequence of file chunks.
936 total length (header + arguments,
937 but not including the length word itself,
938 and not including the chunks)
939 struct guestfs_message_header (encoded as XDR)
940 struct guestfs_<foo>_args (encoded as XDR)
941 sequence of chunks for FileIn param #0
942 sequence of chunks for FileIn param #1 etc.
944 The "sequence of chunks" is:
946 length of chunk (not including length word itself)
947 struct guestfs_chunk (encoded as XDR)
949 struct guestfs_chunk (encoded as XDR)
952 struct guestfs_chunk (with data.data_len == 0)
954 The final chunk has the C<data_len> field set to zero. Additionally a
955 flag is set in the final chunk to indicate either successful
956 completion or early cancellation.
958 At time of writing there are no functions that have more than one
959 FileIn parameter. However this is (theoretically) supported, by
960 sending the sequence of chunks for each FileIn parameter one after
961 another (from left to right).
963 Both the library (sender) I<and> the daemon (receiver) may cancel the
964 transfer. The library does this by sending a chunk with a special
965 flag set to indicate cancellation. When the daemon sees this, it
966 cancels the whole RPC, does I<not> send any reply, and goes back to
967 reading the next request.
969 The daemon may also cancel. It does this by writing a special word
970 C<GUESTFS_CANCEL_FLAG> to the socket. The library listens for this
971 during the transfer, and if it gets it, it will cancel the transfer
972 (it sends a cancel chunk). The special word is chosen so that even if
973 cancellation happens right at the end of the transfer (after the
974 library has finished writing and has started listening for the reply),
975 the "spurious" cancel flag will not be confused with the reply
978 This protocol allows the transfer of arbitrary sized files (no 32 bit
979 limit), and also files where the size is not known in advance
980 (eg. from pipes or sockets). However the chunks are rather small
981 (C<GUESTFS_MAX_CHUNK_SIZE>), so that neither the library nor the
982 daemon need to keep much in memory.
984 =head3 FUNCTIONS THAT HAVE FILEOUT PARAMETERS
986 The protocol for FileOut parameters is exactly the same as for FileIn
987 parameters, but with the roles of daemon and library reversed.
989 total length (header + ret,
990 but not including the length word itself,
991 and not including the chunks)
992 struct guestfs_message_header (encoded as XDR)
993 struct guestfs_<foo>_ret (encoded as XDR)
994 sequence of chunks for FileOut param #0
995 sequence of chunks for FileOut param #1 etc.
997 =head3 INITIAL MESSAGE
999 Because the underlying channel (QEmu -net channel) doesn't have any
1000 sort of connection control, when the daemon launches it sends an
1001 initial word (C<GUESTFS_LAUNCH_FLAG>) which indicates that the guest
1002 and daemon is alive. This is what C<guestfs_launch> waits for.
1004 =head1 MULTIPLE HANDLES AND MULTIPLE THREADS
1006 All high-level libguestfs actions are synchronous. If you want
1007 to use libguestfs asynchronously then you must create a thread.
1009 Only use the handle from a single thread. Either use the handle
1010 exclusively from one thread, or provide your own mutex so that two
1011 threads cannot issue calls on the same handle at the same time.
1013 =head1 QEMU WRAPPERS
1015 If you want to compile your own qemu, run qemu from a non-standard
1016 location, or pass extra arguments to qemu, then you can write a
1017 shell-script wrapper around qemu.
1019 There is one important rule to remember: you I<must C<exec qemu>> as
1020 the last command in the shell script (so that qemu replaces the shell
1021 and becomes the direct child of the libguestfs-using program). If you
1022 don't do this, then the qemu process won't be cleaned up correctly.
1024 Here is an example of a wrapper, where I have built my own copy of
1028 qemudir=/home/rjones/d/qemu
1029 exec $qemudir/x86_64-softmmu/qemu-system-x86_64 -L $qemudir/pc-bios "$@"
1031 Save this script as C</tmp/qemu.wrapper> (or wherever), C<chmod +x>,
1032 and then use it by setting the LIBGUESTFS_QEMU environment variable.
1035 LIBGUESTFS_QEMU=/tmp/qemu.wrapper guestfish
1037 Note that libguestfs also calls qemu with the -help and -version
1038 options in order to determine features.
1040 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1044 =item LIBGUESTFS_APPEND
1046 Pass additional options to the guest kernel.
1048 =item LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG
1050 Set C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> to enable verbose messages. This
1051 has the same effect as calling C<guestfs_set_verbose (handle, 1)>.
1053 =item LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE
1055 Set the memory allocated to the qemu process, in megabytes. For
1058 LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE=700
1060 =item LIBGUESTFS_PATH
1062 Set the path that libguestfs uses to search for kernel and initrd.img.
1063 See the discussion of paths in section PATH above.
1065 =item LIBGUESTFS_QEMU
1067 Set the default qemu binary that libguestfs uses. If not set, then
1068 the qemu which was found at compile time by the configure script is
1071 See also L</QEMU WRAPPERS> above.
1073 =item LIBGUESTFS_TRACE
1075 Set C<LIBGUESTFS_TRACE=1> to enable command traces. This
1076 has the same effect as calling C<guestfs_set_trace (handle, 1)>.
1080 Location of temporary directory, defaults to C</tmp>.
1082 If libguestfs was compiled to use the supermin appliance then each
1083 handle will require rather a large amount of space in this directory
1084 for short periods of time (~ 80 MB). You can use C<$TMPDIR> to
1085 configure another directory to use in case C</tmp> is not large
1095 L<http://libguestfs.org/>.
1097 Tools with a similar purpose:
1106 To get a list of bugs against libguestfs use this link:
1108 L<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools>
1110 To report a new bug against libguestfs use this link:
1112 L<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools>
1114 When reporting a bug, please check:
1120 That the bug hasn't been reported already.
1124 That you are testing a recent version.
1128 Describe the bug accurately, and give a way to reproduce it.
1132 Run libguestfs-test-tool and paste the B<complete, unedited>
1133 output into the bug report.
1139 Richard W.M. Jones (C<rjones at redhat dot com>)
1143 Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
1144 L<http://libguestfs.org/>
1146 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
1147 modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
1148 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
1149 version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
1151 This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1152 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1153 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
1154 Lesser General Public License for more details.
1156 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
1157 License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
1158 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA