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2 # WARNING: THIS FILE IS GENERATED BY 'src/generator.ml'.
3 # ANY CHANGES YOU MAKE TO THIS FILE WILL BE LOST.
5 # Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
7 # This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
8 # modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
9 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
10 # version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
12 # This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
13 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
14 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
15 # Lesser General Public License for more details.
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18 # License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
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25 Sys::Guestfs - Perl bindings for libguestfs
31 my $h = Sys::Guestfs->new ();
32 $h->add_drive ('guest.img');
35 $h->mount ('/dev/sda1', '/');
41 The C<Sys::Guestfs> module provides a Perl XS binding to the
42 libguestfs API for examining and modifying virtual machine
45 Amongst the things this is good for: making batch configuration
46 changes to guests, getting disk used/free statistics (see also:
47 virt-df), migrating between virtualization systems (see also:
48 virt-p2v), performing partial backups, performing partial guest
49 clones, cloning guests and changing registry/UUID/hostname info, and
52 Libguestfs uses Linux kernel and qemu code, and can access any type of
53 guest filesystem that Linux and qemu can, including but not limited
54 to: ext2/3/4, btrfs, FAT and NTFS, LVM, many different disk partition
55 schemes, qcow, qcow2, vmdk.
57 Libguestfs provides ways to enumerate guest storage (eg. partitions,
58 LVs, what filesystem is in each LV, etc.). It can also run commands
59 in the context of the guest. Also you can access filesystems over FTP.
63 All errors turn into calls to C<croak> (see L<Carp(3)>).
77 XSLoader::load ('Sys::Guestfs');
79 =item $h = Sys::Guestfs->new ();
81 Create a new guestfs handle.
87 my $class = ref ($proto) || $proto;
89 my $self = Sys::Guestfs::_create ();
94 =item $h->add_cdrom ($filename);
96 This function adds a virtual CD-ROM disk image to the guest.
98 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-cdrom filename>.
100 =item $h->add_drive ($filename);
102 This function adds a virtual machine disk image C<filename> to the
103 guest. The first time you call this function, the disk appears as IDE
104 disk 0 (C</dev/sda>) in the guest, the second time as C</dev/sdb>, and
107 You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However
108 you obviously do need sufficient permissions to access the filename
109 for whatever operations you want to perform (ie. read access if you
110 just want to read the image or write access if you want to modify the
113 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-drive file=filename>.
115 =item $h->aug_close ();
117 Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources
118 used by it. After calling this, you have to call
119 C<$h-E<gt>aug_init> again before you can use any other
122 =item ($nrnodes, $created) = $h->aug_defnode ($name, $expr, $val);
124 Defines a variable C<name> whose value is the result of
127 If C<expr> evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created,
128 equivalent to calling C<$h-E<gt>aug_set> C<expr>, C<value>.
129 C<name> will be the nodeset containing that single node.
131 On success this returns a pair containing the
132 number of nodes in the nodeset, and a boolean flag
133 if a node was created.
135 =item $nrnodes = $h->aug_defvar ($name, $expr);
137 Defines an Augeas variable C<name> whose value is the result
138 of evaluating C<expr>. If C<expr> is NULL, then C<name> is
141 On success this returns the number of nodes in C<expr>, or
142 C<0> if C<expr> evaluates to something which is not a nodeset.
144 =item $val = $h->aug_get ($path);
146 Look up the value associated with C<path>. If C<path>
147 matches exactly one node, the C<value> is returned.
149 =item $h->aug_init ($root, $flags);
151 Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files.
152 If there was any previous Augeas handle associated with this
153 guestfs session, then it is closed.
155 You must call this before using any other C<$h-E<gt>aug_*>
158 C<root> is the filesystem root. C<root> must not be NULL,
161 The flags are the same as the flags defined in
162 E<lt>augeas.hE<gt>, the logical I<or> of the following
167 =item C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP> = 1
169 Keep the original file with a C<.augsave> extension.
171 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE> = 2
173 Save changes into a file with extension C<.augnew>, and
174 do not overwrite original. Overrides C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP>.
176 =item C<AUG_TYPE_CHECK> = 4
178 Typecheck lenses (can be expensive).
180 =item C<AUG_NO_STDINC> = 8
182 Do not use standard load path for modules.
184 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NOOP> = 16
186 Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
188 =item C<AUG_NO_LOAD> = 32
190 Do not load the tree in C<$h-E<gt>aug_init>.
194 To close the handle, you can call C<$h-E<gt>aug_close>.
196 To find out more about Augeas, see L<http://augeas.net/>.
198 =item $h->aug_insert ($path, $label, $before);
200 Create a new sibling C<label> for C<path>, inserting it into
201 the tree before or after C<path> (depending on the boolean
204 C<path> must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and
205 C<label> must be a label, ie. not contain C</>, C<*> or end
206 with a bracketed index C<[N]>.
208 =item $h->aug_load ();
210 Load files into the tree.
212 See C<aug_load> in the Augeas documentation for the full gory
215 =item @matches = $h->aug_ls ($path);
217 This is just a shortcut for listing C<$h-E<gt>aug_match>
218 C<path/*> and sorting the resulting nodes into alphabetical order.
220 =item @matches = $h->aug_match ($path);
222 Returns a list of paths which match the path expression C<path>.
223 The returned paths are sufficiently qualified so that they match
224 exactly one node in the current tree.
226 =item $h->aug_mv ($src, $dest);
228 Move the node C<src> to C<dest>. C<src> must match exactly
229 one node. C<dest> is overwritten if it exists.
231 =item $nrnodes = $h->aug_rm ($path);
233 Remove C<path> and all of its children.
235 On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
237 =item $h->aug_save ();
239 This writes all pending changes to disk.
241 The flags which were passed to C<$h-E<gt>aug_init> affect exactly
244 =item $h->aug_set ($path, $val);
246 Set the value associated with C<path> to C<value>.
248 =item $h->blockdev_flushbufs ($device);
250 This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated
253 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
255 =item $blocksize = $h->blockdev_getbsz ($device);
257 This returns the block size of a device.
259 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
260 I<filesystem block size>).
262 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
264 =item $ro = $h->blockdev_getro ($device);
266 Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only
267 (true if read-only, false if not).
269 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
271 =item $sizeinbytes = $h->blockdev_getsize64 ($device);
273 This returns the size of the device in bytes.
275 See also C<$h-E<gt>blockdev_getsz>.
277 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
279 =item $sectorsize = $h->blockdev_getss ($device);
281 This returns the size of sectors on a block device.
282 Usually 512, but can be larger for modern devices.
284 (Note, this is not the size in sectors, use C<$h-E<gt>blockdev_getsz>
287 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
289 =item $sizeinsectors = $h->blockdev_getsz ($device);
291 This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors
292 (even if the sectorsize isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
294 See also C<$h-E<gt>blockdev_getss> for the real sector size of
295 the device, and C<$h-E<gt>blockdev_getsize64> for the more
296 useful I<size in bytes>.
298 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
300 =item $h->blockdev_rereadpt ($device);
302 Reread the partition table on C<device>.
304 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
306 =item $h->blockdev_setbsz ($device, $blocksize);
308 This sets the block size of a device.
310 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
311 I<filesystem block size>).
313 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
315 =item $h->blockdev_setro ($device);
317 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-only.
319 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
321 =item $h->blockdev_setrw ($device);
323 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-write.
325 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
327 =item $content = $h->cat ($path);
329 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
331 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
332 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
333 as end of string). For those you need to use the C<$h-E<gt>download>
334 function which has a more complex interface.
336 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
337 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
340 =item $checksum = $h->checksum ($csumtype, $path);
342 This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the
345 The type of checksum to compute is given by the C<csumtype>
346 parameter which must have one of the following values:
352 Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX
353 for the C<cksum> command.
357 Compute the MD5 hash (using the C<md5sum> program).
361 Compute the SHA1 hash (using the C<sha1sum> program).
365 Compute the SHA224 hash (using the C<sha224sum> program).
369 Compute the SHA256 hash (using the C<sha256sum> program).
373 Compute the SHA384 hash (using the C<sha384sum> program).
377 Compute the SHA512 hash (using the C<sha512sum> program).
381 The checksum is returned as a printable string.
383 =item $h->chmod ($mode, $path);
385 Change the mode (permissions) of C<path> to C<mode>. Only
386 numeric modes are supported.
388 =item $h->chown ($owner, $group, $path);
390 Change the file owner to C<owner> and group to C<group>.
392 Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use
393 names, you will need to locate and parse the password file
394 yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
396 =item $output = $h->command (\@arguments);
398 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The
399 filesystem must be mounted, and must contain a compatible
400 operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same
401 or compatible processor architecture).
403 The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments.
404 The first element is the name of the program to run.
405 Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be
406 non-empty (ie. must contain a program name).
408 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
409 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
410 another location, you should provide the full path in the
413 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
414 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
415 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
416 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
419 =item @lines = $h->command_lines (\@arguments);
421 This is the same as C<$h-E<gt>command>, but splits the
422 result into a list of lines.
424 =item $h->config ($qemuparam, $qemuvalue);
426 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
427 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
428 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
429 parameters that we use.
431 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
433 C<value> can be NULL.
435 =item $h->cp ($src, $dest);
437 This copies a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
438 either a destination filename or destination directory.
440 =item $h->cp_a ($src, $dest);
442 This copies a file or directory from C<src> to C<dest>
443 recursively using the C<cp -a> command.
445 =item $result = $h->debug ($subcmd, \@extraargs);
447 The C<$h-E<gt>debug> command exposes some internals of
448 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
451 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
452 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
453 to find out what you can do.
455 =item $kmsgs = $h->dmesg ();
457 This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
458 the guest kernel. This is sometimes useful for extended
459 debugging of problems.
461 Another way to get the same information is to enable
462 verbose messages with C<$h-E<gt>set_verbose> or by setting
463 the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
466 =item $h->download ($remotefilename, $filename);
468 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
469 on the local machine.
471 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
473 See also C<$h-E<gt>upload>, C<$h-E<gt>cat>.
475 =item $h->drop_caches ($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.
487 =item $h->end_busy ();
489 This sets the state to C<READY>, or if in C<CONFIG> then it leaves the
490 state as is. This is only used when implementing
491 actions using the low-level API.
493 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
495 =item $equality = $h->equal ($file1, $file2);
497 This compares the two files C<file1> and C<file2> and returns
498 true if their content is exactly equal, or false otherwise.
500 The external L<cmp(1)> program is used for the comparison.
502 =item $existsflag = $h->exists ($path);
504 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
505 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
507 See also C<$h-E<gt>is_file>, C<$h-E<gt>is_dir>, C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
509 =item $description = $h->file ($path);
511 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
512 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
513 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
515 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
516 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
519 =item $status = $h->fsck ($fstype, $device);
521 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
522 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
524 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
525 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
533 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
537 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
538 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
542 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
547 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
549 =item $autosync = $h->get_autosync ();
551 Get the autosync flag.
553 =item $label = $h->get_e2label ($device);
555 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
558 =item $uuid = $h->get_e2uuid ($device);
560 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
563 =item $path = $h->get_path ();
565 Return the current search path.
567 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
568 return the default path.
570 =item $qemu = $h->get_qemu ();
572 Return the current qemu binary.
574 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
575 return the default qemu binary name.
577 =item $state = $h->get_state ();
579 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
580 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
582 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
584 =item $verbose = $h->get_verbose ();
586 This returns the verbose messages flag.
588 =item $h->grub_install ($root, $device);
590 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
591 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
593 =item $dump = $h->hexdump ($path);
595 This runs C<hexdump -C> on the given C<path>. The result is
596 the human-readable, canonical hex dump of the file.
598 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
599 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
602 =item $busy = $h->is_busy ();
604 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
605 (in the C<BUSY> state).
607 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
609 =item $config = $h->is_config ();
611 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
612 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
614 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
616 =item $dirflag = $h->is_dir ($path);
618 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
619 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
620 other objects like files.
622 See also C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
624 =item $fileflag = $h->is_file ($path);
626 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
627 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
628 other objects like directories.
630 See also C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
632 =item $launching = $h->is_launching ();
634 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
635 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
637 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
639 =item $ready = $h->is_ready ();
641 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
642 (in the C<READY> state).
644 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
646 =item $h->kill_subprocess ();
648 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
652 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
655 You should call this after configuring the handle
656 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
658 =item @devices = $h->list_devices ();
660 List all the block devices.
662 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
664 =item @partitions = $h->list_partitions ();
666 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
668 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
670 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
673 =item $listing = $h->ll ($directory);
675 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
676 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
678 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
679 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
681 =item @listing = $h->ls ($directory);
683 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
684 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
685 hidden files are shown.
687 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
688 should probably use C<$h-E<gt>readdir> instead.
690 =item %statbuf = $h->lstat ($path);
692 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
694 This is the same as C<$h-E<gt>stat> except that if C<path>
695 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
698 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
700 =item $h->lvcreate ($logvol, $volgroup, $mbytes);
702 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
703 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
705 =item $h->lvm_remove_all ();
707 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
708 and physical volumes.
710 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
711 can easily destroy all your data>.
713 =item $h->lvremove ($device);
715 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
716 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
718 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
719 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
721 =item @logvols = $h->lvs ();
723 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
724 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
726 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
727 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
729 See also C<$h-E<gt>lvs_full>.
731 =item @logvols = $h->lvs_full ();
733 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
734 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
736 =item $h->mkdir ($path);
738 Create a directory named C<path>.
740 =item $h->mkdir_p ($path);
742 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
743 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
745 =item $h->mkfs ($fstype, $device);
747 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
748 or LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
751 =item $h->mount ($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.
770 =item $h->mount_options ($options, $device, $mountpoint);
772 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
773 allows you to set the mount options as for the
774 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
776 =item $h->mount_ro ($device, $mountpoint);
778 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
779 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
781 =item $h->mount_vfs ($options, $vfstype, $device, $mountpoint);
783 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
784 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
785 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
787 =item @devices = $h->mounts ();
789 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
790 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
792 Some internal mounts are not shown.
794 =item $h->mv ($src, $dest);
796 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
797 either a destination filename or destination directory.
799 =item $h->ping_daemon ();
801 This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside
802 the qemu subprocess. Calling this function checks that the
803 daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
804 or attached block device(s) in any other way.
806 =item $h->pvcreate ($device);
808 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
809 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
812 =item $h->pvremove ($device);
814 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
817 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
818 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
819 to remove those first.
821 =item @physvols = $h->pvs ();
823 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
824 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
826 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
827 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
829 See also C<$h-E<gt>pvs_full>.
831 =item @physvols = $h->pvs_full ();
833 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
834 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
836 =item @lines = $h->read_lines ($path);
838 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
840 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
841 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
843 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
844 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
845 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<$h-E<gt>read_file>
846 function which has a more complex interface.
848 =item $h->rm ($path);
850 Remove the single file C<path>.
852 =item $h->rm_rf ($path);
854 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
855 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
858 =item $h->rmdir ($path);
860 Remove the single directory C<path>.
862 =item $h->set_autosync ($autosync);
864 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
865 best effort attempt to run C<$h-E<gt>umount_all> followed by
866 C<$h-E<gt>sync> when the handle is closed
867 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
869 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
872 =item $h->set_busy ();
874 This sets the state to C<BUSY>. This is only used when implementing
875 actions using the low-level API.
877 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
879 =item $h->set_e2label ($device, $label);
881 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
882 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
885 You can use either C<$h-E<gt>tune2fs_l> or C<$h-E<gt>get_e2label>
886 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
888 =item $h->set_e2uuid ($device, $uuid);
890 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
891 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
892 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
893 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
895 You can use either C<$h-E<gt>tune2fs_l> or C<$h-E<gt>get_e2uuid>
896 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
898 =item $h->set_path ($path);
900 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
902 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
903 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
905 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
906 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
908 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
910 =item $h->set_qemu ($qemu);
912 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
914 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
917 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
918 environment variable.
920 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
921 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
923 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
925 =item $h->set_ready ();
927 This sets the state to C<READY>. This is only used when implementing
928 actions using the low-level API.
930 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
932 =item $h->set_verbose ($verbose);
934 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
936 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
937 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
939 =item $h->sfdisk ($device, $cyls, $heads, $sectors, \@lines);
941 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
942 partitions on block devices.
944 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
946 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
947 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
948 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
949 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
950 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
951 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
952 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
954 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
955 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
957 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
958 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
959 the string C<,> (comma).
961 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
962 can easily destroy all your data>.
964 =item %statbuf = $h->stat ($path);
966 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
968 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
970 =item %statbuf = $h->statvfs ($path);
972 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
973 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
974 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
976 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
978 =item @stringsout = $h->strings ($path);
980 This runs the L<strings(1)> command on a file and returns
981 the list of printable strings found.
983 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
984 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
987 =item @stringsout = $h->strings_e ($encoding, $path);
989 This is like the C<$h-E<gt>strings> command, but allows you to
990 specify the encoding.
992 See the L<strings(1)> manpage for the full list of encodings.
994 Commonly useful encodings are C<l> (lower case L) which will
995 show strings inside Windows/x86 files.
997 The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
999 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1000 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
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
1011 =item $h->tar_in ($tarfile, $directory);
1013 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1014 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1016 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tgz_in>.
1018 =item $h->tar_out ($directory, $tarfile);
1020 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1021 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1023 To download a compressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tgz_out>.
1025 =item $h->tgz_in ($tarball, $directory);
1027 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1028 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1030 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tar_in>.
1032 =item $h->tgz_out ($directory, $tarball);
1034 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1035 it to local file C<tarball>.
1037 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tar_out>.
1039 =item $h->touch ($path);
1041 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1042 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1043 to create a new zero-length file.
1045 =item %superblock = $h->tune2fs_l ($device);
1047 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1048 superblock on C<device>.
1050 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1051 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1052 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1053 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1055 =item $h->umount ($pathordevice);
1057 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1058 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1059 contains the filesystem.
1061 =item $h->umount_all ();
1063 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1065 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1067 =item $h->upload ($filename, $remotefilename);
1069 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1072 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1074 See also C<$h-E<gt>download>.
1076 =item $h->vgcreate ($volgroup, \@physvols);
1078 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1079 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1081 =item $h->vgremove ($vgname);
1083 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1085 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1088 =item @volgroups = $h->vgs ();
1090 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1091 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1093 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1094 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1096 See also C<$h-E<gt>vgs_full>.
1098 =item @volgroups = $h->vgs_full ();
1100 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1101 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1103 =item $h->wait_ready ();
1105 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
1108 You should call this after C<$h-E<gt>launch> to wait for the launch
1111 =item $h->write_file ($path, $content, $size);
1113 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1114 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1115 with length C<size>.
1117 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1118 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1119 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1121 I<NB.> Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL
1122 characters does I<not> work, even if the length is specified.
1123 We hope to resolve this bug in a future version. In the meantime
1124 use C<$h-E<gt>upload>.
1126 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1127 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1130 =item $h->zero ($device);
1132 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1134 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1135 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1136 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1146 Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
1150 Please see the file COPYING.LIB for the full license.
1154 L<guestfs(3)>, L<guestfish(1)>.