+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2371
+msgid ""
+"As time passes we cherry pick fixes from the development branch and backport "
+"those into the stable branch, the effect being that the stable branch should "
+"get more stable and less buggy over time. So the stable releases are ideal "
+"for people who don't need new features but would just like the software to "
+"work."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2377
+msgid "Our criteria for backporting changes are:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2383
+msgid ""
+"Documentation changes which don't affect any code are backported unless the "
+"documentation refers to a future feature which is not in stable."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2389
+msgid ""
+"Bug fixes which are not controversial, fix obvious problems, and have been "
+"well tested are backported."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2394
+msgid ""
+"Simple rearrangements of code which shouldn't affect how it works get "
+"backported. This is so that the code in the two branches doesn't get too "
+"far out of step, allowing us to backport future fixes more easily."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2400
+msgid ""
+"We I<don't> backport new features, new APIs, new tools etc, except in one "
+"exceptional case: the new feature is required in order to implement an "
+"important bug fix."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2406
+msgid ""
+"A new stable branch starts when we think the new features in development are "
+"substantial and compelling enough over the current stable branch to warrant "
+"it. When that happens we create new stable and development versions 1.N.0 "
+"and 1.(N+1).0 [N is even]. The new dot-oh release won't necessarily be so "
+"stable at this point, but by backporting fixes from development, that branch "
+"will stabilize over time."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head1
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2414
+msgid "EXTENDING LIBGUESTFS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2416
+msgid "ADDING A NEW API ACTION"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2418
+msgid ""
+"Large amounts of boilerplate code in libguestfs (RPC, bindings, "
+"documentation) are generated, and this makes it easy to extend the "
+"libguestfs API."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2422
+msgid "To add a new API action there are two changes:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2428
+msgid ""
+"You need to add a description of the call (name, parameters, return type, "
+"tests, documentation) to C<generator/generator_actions.ml>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2431
+msgid ""
+"There are two sorts of API action, depending on whether the call goes "
+"through to the daemon in the appliance, or is serviced entirely by the "
+"library (see L</ARCHITECTURE> above). L</guestfs_sync> is an example of the "
+"former, since the sync is done in the appliance. L</guestfs_set_trace> is "
+"an example of the latter, since a trace flag is maintained in the handle and "
+"all tracing is done on the library side."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2439
+msgid ""
+"Most new actions are of the first type, and get added to the "
+"C<daemon_functions> list. Each function has a unique procedure number used "
+"in the RPC protocol which is assigned to that action when we publish "
+"libguestfs and cannot be reused. Take the latest procedure number and "
+"increment it."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2445
+msgid ""
+"For library-only actions of the second type, add to the "
+"C<non_daemon_functions> list. Since these functions are serviced by the "
+"library and do not travel over the RPC mechanism to the daemon, these "
+"functions do not need a procedure number, and so the procedure number is set "
+"to C<-1>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2453
+msgid "Implement the action (in C):"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2455
+msgid ""
+"For daemon actions, implement the function C<do_E<lt>nameE<gt>> in the "
+"C<daemon/> directory."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2458
+msgid ""
+"For library actions, implement the function C<guestfs__E<lt>nameE<gt>> "
+"(note: double underscore) in the C<src/> directory."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2461
+msgid "In either case, use another function as an example of what to do."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2465
+msgid "After making these changes, use C<make> to compile."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2467
+msgid ""
+"Note that you don't need to implement the RPC, language bindings, manual "
+"pages or anything else. It's all automatically generated from the OCaml "
+"description."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2471
+msgid "ADDING TESTS FOR AN API ACTION"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2473
+msgid ""
+"You can supply zero or as many tests as you want per API call. The tests "
+"can either be added as part of the API description "
+"(C<generator/generator_actions.ml>), or in some rarer cases you may want to "
+"drop a script into C<regressions/>. Note that adding a script to "
+"C<regressions/> is slower, so if possible use the first method."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2479
+msgid ""
+"The following describes the test environment used when you add an API test "
+"in C<generator_actions.ml>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2482
+msgid "The test environment has 4 block devices:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2486
+msgid "C</dev/sda> 500MB"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2488
+msgid "General block device for testing."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2490
+msgid "C</dev/sdb> 50MB"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2492
+msgid ""
+"C</dev/sdb1> is an ext2 filesystem used for testing filesystem write "
+"operations."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2495
+msgid "C</dev/sdc> 10MB"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2497
+msgid "Used in a few tests where two block devices are needed."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2499
+msgid "C</dev/sdd>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2501
+msgid "ISO with fixed content (see C<images/test.iso>)."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2505
+msgid ""
+"To be able to run the tests in a reasonable amount of time, the libguestfs "
+"appliance and block devices are reused between tests. So don't try testing "
+"L</guestfs_kill_subprocess> :-x"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2509
+msgid ""
+"Each test starts with an initial scenario, selected using one of the "
+"C<Init*> expressions, described in C<generator/generator_types.ml>. These "
+"initialize the disks mentioned above in a particular way as documented in "
+"C<generator_types.ml>. You should not assume anything about the previous "
+"contents of other disks that are not initialized."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2515
+msgid ""
+"You can add a prerequisite clause to any individual test. This is a "
+"run-time check, which, if it fails, causes the test to be skipped. Useful "
+"if testing a command which might not work on all variations of libguestfs "
+"builds. A test that has prerequisite of C<Always> means to run "
+"unconditionally."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2521
+msgid ""
+"In addition, packagers can skip individual tests by setting environment "
+"variables before running C<make check>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2524
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" SKIP_TEST_<CMD>_<NUM>=1\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2526
+msgid "eg: C<SKIP_TEST_COMMAND_3=1> skips test #3 of L</guestfs_command>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2528
+msgid "or:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2530
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" SKIP_TEST_<CMD>=1\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2532
+msgid "eg: C<SKIP_TEST_ZEROFREE=1> skips all L</guestfs_zerofree> tests."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2534
+msgid "Packagers can run only certain tests by setting for example:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2536
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" TEST_ONLY=\"vfs_type zerofree\"\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2538
+msgid ""
+"See C<capitests/tests.c> for more details of how these environment variables "
+"work."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2541
+msgid "DEBUGGING NEW API ACTIONS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2543
+msgid "Test new actions work before submitting them."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2545
+msgid "You can use guestfish to try out new commands."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2547
+msgid ""
+"Debugging the daemon is a problem because it runs inside a minimal "
+"environment. However you can fprintf messages in the daemon to stderr, and "
+"they will show up if you use C<guestfish -v>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2551
+msgid "FORMATTING CODE AND OTHER CONVENTIONS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2553
+msgid ""
+"Our C source code generally adheres to some basic code-formatting "
+"conventions. The existing code base is not totally consistent on this "
+"front, but we do prefer that contributed code be formatted similarly. In "
+"short, use spaces-not-TABs for indentation, use 2 spaces for each "
+"indentation level, and other than that, follow the K&R style."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2559
+msgid ""
+"If you use Emacs, add the following to one of one of your start-up files "
+"(e.g., ~/.emacs), to help ensure that you get indentation right:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2562
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" ;;; In libguestfs, indent with spaces everywhere (not TABs).\n"
+" ;;; Exceptions: Makefile and ChangeLog modes.\n"
+" (add-hook 'find-file-hook\n"
+" '(lambda () (if (and buffer-file-name\n"
+" (string-match \"/libguestfs\\\\>\"\n"
+" (buffer-file-name))\n"
+" (not (string-equal mode-name \"Change Log\"))\n"
+" (not (string-equal mode-name \"Makefile\")))\n"
+" (setq indent-tabs-mode nil))))\n"
+" \n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2572
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" ;;; When editing C sources in libguestfs, use this style.\n"
+" (defun libguestfs-c-mode ()\n"
+" \"C mode with adjusted defaults for use with libguestfs.\"\n"
+" (interactive)\n"
+" (c-set-style \"K&R\")\n"
+" (setq c-indent-level 2)\n"
+" (setq c-basic-offset 2))\n"
+" (add-hook 'c-mode-hook\n"
+" '(lambda () (if (string-match \"/libguestfs\\\\>\"\n"
+" (buffer-file-name))\n"
+" (libguestfs-c-mode))))\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2584
+msgid "Enable warnings when compiling (and fix any problems this finds):"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2587
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" ./configure --enable-gcc-warnings\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2589
+msgid "Useful targets are:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2591
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" make syntax-check # checks the syntax of the C code\n"
+" make check # runs the test suite\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2594
+msgid "DAEMON CUSTOM PRINTF FORMATTERS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2596
+msgid ""
+"In the daemon code we have created custom printf formatters C<%Q> and C<%R>, "
+"which are used to do shell quoting."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2601
+msgid "%Q"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2603
+msgid ""
+"Simple shell quoted string. Any spaces or other shell characters are "
+"escaped for you."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2606
+msgid "%R"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2608
+msgid ""
+"Same as C<%Q> except the string is treated as a path which is prefixed by "
+"the sysroot."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2613 ../fish/guestfish.pod:242 ../fish/guestfish.pod:615
+msgid "For example:"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: verbatim
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2615
+#, no-wrap
+msgid ""
+" asprintf (&cmd, \"cat %R\", path);\n"
+"\n"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2617
+msgid "would produce C<cat /sysroot/some\\ path\\ with\\ spaces>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2619
+msgid ""
+"I<Note:> Do I<not> use these when you are passing parameters to the "
+"C<command{,r,v,rv}()> functions. These parameters do NOT need to be quoted "
+"because they are not passed via the shell (instead, straight to exec). You "
+"probably want to use the C<sysroot_path()> function however."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2625
+msgid "SUBMITTING YOUR NEW API ACTIONS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2627
+msgid ""
+"Submit patches to the mailing list: "
+"L<http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libguestfs> and CC to "
+"L<rjones@redhat.com>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2631
+msgid "INTERNATIONALIZATION (I18N) SUPPORT"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2633
+msgid "We support i18n (gettext anyhow) in the library."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2635
+msgid ""
+"However many messages come from the daemon, and we don't translate those at "
+"the moment. One reason is that the appliance generally has all locale files "
+"removed from it, because they take up a lot of space. So we'd have to readd "
+"some of those, as well as copying our PO files into the appliance."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2641
+msgid ""
+"Debugging messages are never translated, since they are intended for the "
+"programmers."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2644
+msgid "SOURCE CODE SUBDIRECTORIES"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2648 ../src/guestfs-actions.pod:6163 ../fish/guestfish-actions.pod:4066
+msgid "C<appliance>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2650
+msgid "The libguestfs appliance, build scripts and so on."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2652
+msgid "C<capitests>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2654
+msgid "Automated tests of the C API."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2656
+msgid "C<cat>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2658
+msgid ""
+"The L<virt-cat(1)>, L<virt-filesystems(1)> and L<virt-ls(1)> commands and "
+"documentation."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2661
+msgid "C<caution>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2663
+msgid ""
+"Safety and liveness tests of components that libguestfs depends upon (not of "
+"libguestfs itself). Mainly this is for qemu and the kernel."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2666
+msgid "C<contrib>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2668
+msgid "Outside contributions, experimental parts."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2670
+msgid "C<daemon>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2672
+msgid ""
+"The daemon that runs inside the libguestfs appliance and carries out "
+"actions."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2675
+msgid "C<df>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2677
+msgid "L<virt-df(1)> command and documentation."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2679
+msgid "C<edit>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2681
+msgid "L<virt-edit(1)> command and documentation."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2683
+msgid "C<examples>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2685
+msgid "C API example code."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2687
+msgid "C<fish>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2689
+msgid ""
+"L<guestfish(1)>, the command-line shell, and various shell scripts built on "
+"top such as L<virt-copy-in(1)>, L<virt-copy-out(1)>, L<virt-tar-in(1)>, "
+"L<virt-tar-out(1)>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2693
+msgid "C<fuse>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2695
+msgid "L<guestmount(1)>, FUSE (userspace filesystem) built on top of libguestfs."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2697
+msgid "C<generator>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2699
+msgid ""
+"The crucially important generator, used to automatically generate large "
+"amounts of boilerplate C code for things like RPC and bindings."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2702
+msgid "C<images>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2704
+msgid "Files used by the test suite."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2706
+msgid "Some \"phony\" guest images which we test against."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2708
+msgid "C<inspector>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2710
+msgid "L<virt-inspector(1)>, the virtual machine image inspector."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2712
+msgid "C<logo>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2714
+msgid "Logo used on the website. The fish is called Arthur by the way."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2716
+msgid "C<m4>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2718
+msgid "M4 macros used by autoconf."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2720
+msgid "C<po>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2722
+msgid "Translations of simple gettext strings."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2724
+msgid "C<po-docs>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2726
+msgid ""
+"The build infrastructure and PO files for translations of manpages and POD "
+"files. Eventually this will be combined with the C<po> directory, but that "
+"is rather complicated."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2730
+msgid "C<regressions>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2732
+msgid "Regression tests."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2734
+msgid "C<rescue>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2736
+msgid "L<virt-rescue(1)> command and documentation."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2738
+msgid "C<src>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2740
+msgid "Source code to the C library."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2742
+msgid "C<tools>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2744
+msgid "Command line tools written in Perl (L<virt-resize(1)> and many others)."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2746
+msgid "C<test-tool>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2748
+msgid ""
+"Test tool for end users to test if their qemu/kernel combination will work "
+"with libguestfs."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2751
+msgid "C<csharp>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2753
+msgid "C<haskell>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2755
+msgid "C<java>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2757
+msgid "C<ocaml>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2759
+msgid "C<php>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2761
+msgid "C<perl>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2763
+msgid "C<python>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =item
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2765
+msgid "C<ruby>"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2767
+msgid "Language bindings."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head1
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2771
+msgid "LIMITS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2773
+msgid "PROTOCOL LIMITS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2775
+msgid ""
+"Internally libguestfs uses a message-based protocol to pass API calls and "
+"their responses to and from a small \"appliance\" (see L</INTERNALS> for "
+"plenty more detail about this). The maximum message size used by the "
+"protocol is slightly less than 4 MB. For some API calls you may need to be "
+"aware of this limit. The API calls which may be affected are individually "
+"documented, with a link back to this section of the documentation."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2783
+msgid ""
+"A simple call such as L</guestfs_cat> returns its result (the file data) in "
+"a simple string. Because this string is at some point internally encoded as "
+"a message, the maximum size that it can return is slightly under 4 MB. If "
+"the requested file is larger than this then you will get an error."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2789
+msgid ""
+"In order to transfer large files into and out of the guest filesystem, you "
+"need to use particular calls that support this. The sections L</UPLOADING> "
+"and L</DOWNLOADING> document how to do this."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2793
+msgid ""
+"You might also consider mounting the disk image using our FUSE filesystem "
+"support (L<guestmount(1)>)."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2796
+msgid "MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DISKS"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2798
+msgid "When using virtio disks (the default) the current limit is B<25> disks."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2801
+msgid ""
+"Virtio itself consumes 1 virtual PCI slot per disk, and PCI is limited to 31 "
+"slots. However febootstrap only understands disks with names C</dev/vda> "
+"through C</dev/vdz> (26 letters) and it reserves one disk for its own "
+"purposes."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2806
+msgid ""
+"We are working to substantially raise this limit in future versions but it "
+"requires complex changes to qemu."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2809
+msgid ""
+"In future versions of libguestfs it should also be possible to \"hot plug\" "
+"disks (add and remove disks after calling L</guestfs_launch>). This also "
+"requires changes to qemu."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2813
+msgid "MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PARTITIONS PER DISK"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2815
+msgid "Virtio limits the maximum number of partitions per disk to B<15>."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2817
+msgid ""
+"This is because it reserves 4 bits for the minor device number (thus "
+"C</dev/vda>, and C</dev/vda1> through C</dev/vda15>)."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2820
+msgid ""
+"If you attach a disk with more than 15 partitions, the extra partitions are "
+"ignored by libguestfs."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: =head2
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2823
+msgid "MAXIMUM SIZE OF A DISK"
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2825
+msgid "Probably the limit is between 2**63-1 and 2**64-1 bytes."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2827
+msgid ""
+"We have tested block devices up to 1 exabyte (2**60 or "
+"1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes) using sparse files backed by an XFS host "
+"filesystem."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2831
+msgid ""
+"Although libguestfs probably does not impose any limit, the underlying host "
+"storage will. If you store disk images on a host ext4 filesystem, then the "
+"maximum size will be limited by the maximum ext4 file size (currently 16 "
+"TB). If you store disk images as host logical volumes then you are limited "
+"by the maximum size of an LV."
+msgstr ""
+
+#. type: textblock
+#: ../src/guestfs.pod:2837