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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
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12 # This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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14 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
15 # Lesser General Public License for more details.
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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 $existsflag = $h->exists ($path);
489 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
490 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
492 See also C<$h-E<gt>is_file>, C<$h-E<gt>is_dir>, C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
494 =item $description = $h->file ($path);
496 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
497 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
498 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
500 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
501 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
504 =item $status = $h->fsck ($fstype, $device);
506 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
507 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
509 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
510 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
518 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
522 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
523 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
527 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
532 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
534 =item $autosync = $h->get_autosync ();
536 Get the autosync flag.
538 =item $label = $h->get_e2label ($device);
540 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
543 =item $uuid = $h->get_e2uuid ($device);
545 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
548 =item $path = $h->get_path ();
550 Return the current search path.
552 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
553 return the default path.
555 =item $qemu = $h->get_qemu ();
557 Return the current qemu binary.
559 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
560 return the default qemu binary name.
562 =item $state = $h->get_state ();
564 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
565 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
567 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
569 =item $verbose = $h->get_verbose ();
571 This returns the verbose messages flag.
573 =item $h->grub_install ($root, $device);
575 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
576 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
578 =item $busy = $h->is_busy ();
580 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
581 (in the C<BUSY> state).
583 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
585 =item $config = $h->is_config ();
587 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
588 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
590 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
592 =item $dirflag = $h->is_dir ($path);
594 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
595 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
596 other objects like files.
598 See also C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
600 =item $fileflag = $h->is_file ($path);
602 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
603 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
604 other objects like directories.
606 See also C<$h-E<gt>stat>.
608 =item $launching = $h->is_launching ();
610 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
611 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
613 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
615 =item $ready = $h->is_ready ();
617 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
618 (in the C<READY> state).
620 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
622 =item $h->kill_subprocess ();
624 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
628 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
631 You should call this after configuring the handle
632 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
634 =item @devices = $h->list_devices ();
636 List all the block devices.
638 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
640 =item @partitions = $h->list_partitions ();
642 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
644 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
646 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
649 =item $listing = $h->ll ($directory);
651 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
652 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
654 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
655 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
657 =item @listing = $h->ls ($directory);
659 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
660 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
661 hidden files are shown.
663 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
664 should probably use C<$h-E<gt>readdir> instead.
666 =item %statbuf = $h->lstat ($path);
668 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
670 This is the same as C<$h-E<gt>stat> except that if C<path>
671 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
674 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
676 =item $h->lvcreate ($logvol, $volgroup, $mbytes);
678 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
679 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
681 =item $h->lvm_remove_all ();
683 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
684 and physical volumes.
686 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
687 can easily destroy all your data>.
689 =item $h->lvremove ($device);
691 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
692 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
694 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
695 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
697 =item @logvols = $h->lvs ();
699 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
700 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
702 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
703 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
705 See also C<$h-E<gt>lvs_full>.
707 =item @logvols = $h->lvs_full ();
709 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
710 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
712 =item $h->mkdir ($path);
714 Create a directory named C<path>.
716 =item $h->mkdir_p ($path);
718 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
719 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
721 =item $h->mkfs ($fstype, $device);
723 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
724 of LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
727 =item $h->mount ($device, $mountpoint);
729 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
730 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
731 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
732 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
735 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
736 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
737 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
740 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
741 on the underlying device.
743 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
744 call, in order to improve reliability.
746 =item $h->mount_options ($options, $device, $mountpoint);
748 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
749 allows you to set the mount options as for the
750 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
752 =item $h->mount_ro ($device, $mountpoint);
754 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
755 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
757 =item $h->mount_vfs ($options, $vfstype, $device, $mountpoint);
759 This is the same as the C<$h-E<gt>mount> command, but it
760 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
761 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
763 =item @devices = $h->mounts ();
765 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
766 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
768 Some internal mounts are not shown.
770 =item $h->mv ($src, $dest);
772 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
773 either a destination filename or destination directory.
775 =item $h->pvcreate ($device);
777 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
778 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
781 =item $h->pvremove ($device);
783 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
786 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
787 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
788 to remove those first.
790 =item @physvols = $h->pvs ();
792 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
793 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
795 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
796 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
798 See also C<$h-E<gt>pvs_full>.
800 =item @physvols = $h->pvs_full ();
802 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
803 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
805 =item @lines = $h->read_lines ($path);
807 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
809 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
810 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
812 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
813 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
814 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<$h-E<gt>read_file>
815 function which has a more complex interface.
817 =item $h->rm ($path);
819 Remove the single file C<path>.
821 =item $h->rm_rf ($path);
823 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
824 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
827 =item $h->rmdir ($path);
829 Remove the single directory C<path>.
831 =item $h->set_autosync ($autosync);
833 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
834 best effort attempt to run C<$h-E<gt>umount_all> followed by
835 C<$h-E<gt>sync> when the handle is closed
836 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
838 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
841 =item $h->set_busy ();
843 This sets the state to C<BUSY>. This is only used when implementing
844 actions using the low-level API.
846 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
848 =item $h->set_e2label ($device, $label);
850 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
851 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
854 You can use either C<$h-E<gt>tune2fs_l> or C<$h-E<gt>get_e2label>
855 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
857 =item $h->set_e2uuid ($device, $uuid);
859 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
860 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
861 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
862 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
864 You can use either C<$h-E<gt>tune2fs_l> or C<$h-E<gt>get_e2uuid>
865 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
867 =item $h->set_path ($path);
869 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
871 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
872 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
874 The string C<path> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
875 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
877 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
879 =item $h->set_qemu ($qemu);
881 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
883 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
886 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
887 environment variable.
889 The string C<qemu> is stashed in the libguestfs handle, so the caller
890 must make sure it remains valid for the lifetime of the handle.
892 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
894 =item $h->set_ready ();
896 This sets the state to C<READY>. This is only used when implementing
897 actions using the low-level API.
899 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
901 =item $h->set_verbose ($verbose);
903 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
905 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
906 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
908 =item $h->sfdisk ($device, $cyls, $heads, $sectors, \@lines);
910 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
911 partitions on block devices.
913 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
915 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
916 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
917 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
918 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
919 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
920 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
921 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
923 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
924 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
926 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
927 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
928 the string C<,> (comma).
930 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
931 can easily destroy all your data>.
933 =item %statbuf = $h->stat ($path);
935 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
937 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
939 =item %statbuf = $h->statvfs ($path);
941 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
942 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
943 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
945 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
949 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
950 underlying disk image.
952 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
955 =item $h->tar_in ($tarfile, $directory);
957 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
958 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
960 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tgz_in>.
962 =item $h->tar_out ($directory, $tarfile);
964 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
965 it to local file C<tarfile>.
967 To download a compressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tgz_out>.
969 =item $h->tgz_in ($tarball, $directory);
971 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
972 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
974 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tar_in>.
976 =item $h->tgz_out ($directory, $tarball);
978 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
979 it to local file C<tarball>.
981 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<$h-E<gt>tar_out>.
983 =item $h->touch ($path);
985 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
986 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
987 to create a new zero-length file.
989 =item %superblock = $h->tune2fs_l ($device);
991 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
992 superblock on C<device>.
994 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
995 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
996 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
997 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
999 =item $h->umount ($pathordevice);
1001 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1002 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1003 contains the filesystem.
1005 =item $h->umount_all ();
1007 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1009 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1011 =item $h->upload ($filename, $remotefilename);
1013 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1016 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1018 See also C<$h-E<gt>download>.
1020 =item $h->vgcreate ($volgroup, \@physvols);
1022 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1023 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1025 =item $h->vgremove ($vgname);
1027 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1029 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1032 =item @volgroups = $h->vgs ();
1034 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1035 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1037 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1038 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1040 See also C<$h-E<gt>vgs_full>.
1042 =item @volgroups = $h->vgs_full ();
1044 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1045 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1047 =item $h->wait_ready ();
1049 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
1052 You should call this after C<$h-E<gt>launch> to wait for the launch
1055 =item $h->write_file ($path, $content, $size);
1057 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1058 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1059 with length C<size>.
1061 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1062 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1063 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1065 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1066 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1069 =item $h->zero ($device);
1071 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1073 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1074 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1075 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1085 Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
1089 Please see the file COPYING.LIB for the full license.
1093 L<guestfs(3)>, L<guestfish(1)>.