1 =head2 add-cdrom | cdrom
5 This function adds a virtual CD-ROM disk image to the guest.
7 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-cdrom filename>.
9 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
10 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
11 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
12 the general C<config> call instead.
14 =head2 add-drive | add
18 This function adds a virtual machine disk image C<filename> to the
19 guest. The first time you call this function, the disk appears as IDE
20 disk 0 (C</dev/sda>) in the guest, the second time as C</dev/sdb>, and
23 You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However
24 you obviously do need sufficient permissions to access the filename
25 for whatever operations you want to perform (ie. read access if you
26 just want to read the image or write access if you want to modify the
29 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter C<-drive file=filename,cache=off>.
31 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
32 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
33 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
34 the general C<config> call instead.
36 =head2 add-drive-ro | add-ro
40 This adds a drive in snapshot mode, making it effectively
43 Note that writes to the device are allowed, and will be seen for
44 the duration of the guestfs handle, but they are written
45 to a temporary file which is discarded as soon as the guestfs
46 handle is closed. We don't currently have any method to enable
47 changes to be committed, although qemu can support this.
49 This is equivalent to the qemu parameter
50 C<-drive file=filename,snapshot=on>.
52 Note that this call checks for the existence of C<filename>. This
53 stops you from specifying other types of drive which are supported
54 by qemu such as C<nbd:> and C<http:> URLs. To specify those, use
55 the general C<config> call instead.
61 Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources
62 used by it. After calling this, you have to call
63 C<aug-init> again before you can use any other
68 aug-defnode name expr val
70 Defines a variable C<name> whose value is the result of
73 If C<expr> evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created,
74 equivalent to calling C<aug-set> C<expr>, C<value>.
75 C<name> will be the nodeset containing that single node.
77 On success this returns a pair containing the
78 number of nodes in the nodeset, and a boolean flag
79 if a node was created.
85 Defines an Augeas variable C<name> whose value is the result
86 of evaluating C<expr>. If C<expr> is NULL, then C<name> is
89 On success this returns the number of nodes in C<expr>, or
90 C<0> if C<expr> evaluates to something which is not a nodeset.
96 Look up the value associated with C<path>. If C<path>
97 matches exactly one node, the C<value> is returned.
103 Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files.
104 If there was any previous Augeas handle associated with this
105 guestfs session, then it is closed.
107 You must call this before using any other C<aug-*>
110 C<root> is the filesystem root. C<root> must not be NULL,
113 The flags are the same as the flags defined in
114 E<lt>augeas.hE<gt>, the logical I<or> of the following
119 =item C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP> = 1
121 Keep the original file with a C<.augsave> extension.
123 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE> = 2
125 Save changes into a file with extension C<.augnew>, and
126 do not overwrite original. Overrides C<AUG_SAVE_BACKUP>.
128 =item C<AUG_TYPE_CHECK> = 4
130 Typecheck lenses (can be expensive).
132 =item C<AUG_NO_STDINC> = 8
134 Do not use standard load path for modules.
136 =item C<AUG_SAVE_NOOP> = 16
138 Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
140 =item C<AUG_NO_LOAD> = 32
142 Do not load the tree in C<aug-init>.
146 To close the handle, you can call C<aug-close>.
148 To find out more about Augeas, see L<http://augeas.net/>.
152 aug-insert path label true|false
154 Create a new sibling C<label> for C<path>, inserting it into
155 the tree before or after C<path> (depending on the boolean
158 C<path> must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and
159 C<label> must be a label, ie. not contain C</>, C<*> or end
160 with a bracketed index C<[N]>.
166 Load files into the tree.
168 See C<aug_load> in the Augeas documentation for the full gory
175 This is just a shortcut for listing C<aug-match>
176 C<path/*> and sorting the resulting nodes into alphabetical order.
182 Returns a list of paths which match the path expression C<path>.
183 The returned paths are sufficiently qualified so that they match
184 exactly one node in the current tree.
190 Move the node C<src> to C<dest>. C<src> must match exactly
191 one node. C<dest> is overwritten if it exists.
197 Remove C<path> and all of its children.
199 On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
205 This writes all pending changes to disk.
207 The flags which were passed to C<aug-init> affect exactly
214 Set the value associated with C<path> to C<value>.
216 =head2 blockdev-flushbufs
218 blockdev-flushbufs device
220 This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated
223 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
225 =head2 blockdev-getbsz
227 blockdev-getbsz device
229 This returns the block size of a device.
231 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
232 I<filesystem block size>).
234 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
236 =head2 blockdev-getro
238 blockdev-getro device
240 Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only
241 (true if read-only, false if not).
243 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
245 =head2 blockdev-getsize64
247 blockdev-getsize64 device
249 This returns the size of the device in bytes.
251 See also C<blockdev-getsz>.
253 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
255 =head2 blockdev-getss
257 blockdev-getss device
259 This returns the size of sectors on a block device.
260 Usually 512, but can be larger for modern devices.
262 (Note, this is not the size in sectors, use C<blockdev-getsz>
265 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
267 =head2 blockdev-getsz
269 blockdev-getsz device
271 This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors
272 (even if the sectorsize isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
274 See also C<blockdev-getss> for the real sector size of
275 the device, and C<blockdev-getsize64> for the more
276 useful I<size in bytes>.
278 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
280 =head2 blockdev-rereadpt
282 blockdev-rereadpt device
284 Reread the partition table on C<device>.
286 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
288 =head2 blockdev-setbsz
290 blockdev-setbsz device blocksize
292 This sets the block size of a device.
294 (Note this is different from both I<size in blocks> and
295 I<filesystem block size>).
297 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
299 =head2 blockdev-setro
301 blockdev-setro device
303 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-only.
305 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
307 =head2 blockdev-setrw
309 blockdev-setrw device
311 Sets the block device named C<device> to read-write.
313 This uses the L<blockdev(8)> command.
319 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
321 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
322 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
323 as end of string). For those you need to use the C<download>
324 function which has a more complex interface.
326 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
327 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
332 checksum csumtype path
334 This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the
337 The type of checksum to compute is given by the C<csumtype>
338 parameter which must have one of the following values:
344 Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX
345 for the C<cksum> command.
349 Compute the MD5 hash (using the C<md5sum> program).
353 Compute the SHA1 hash (using the C<sha1sum> program).
357 Compute the SHA224 hash (using the C<sha224sum> program).
361 Compute the SHA256 hash (using the C<sha256sum> program).
365 Compute the SHA384 hash (using the C<sha384sum> program).
369 Compute the SHA512 hash (using the C<sha512sum> program).
373 The checksum is returned as a printable string.
379 Change the mode (permissions) of C<path> to C<mode>. Only
380 numeric modes are supported.
384 chown owner group path
386 Change the file owner to C<owner> and group to C<group>.
388 Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use
389 names, you will need to locate and parse the password file
390 yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
394 command 'arguments ...'
396 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The
397 filesystem must be mounted, and must contain a compatible
398 operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same
399 or compatible processor architecture).
401 The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments.
402 The first element is the name of the program to run.
403 Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be
404 non-empty (ie. must contain a program name). Note that
405 the command runs directly, and is I<not> invoked via
406 the shell (see C<sh>).
408 The return value is anything printed to I<stdout> by
411 If the command returns a non-zero exit status, then
412 this function returns an error message. The error message
413 string is the content of I<stderr> from the command.
415 The C<$PATH> environment variable will contain at least
416 C</usr/bin> and C</bin>. If you require a program from
417 another location, you should provide the full path in the
420 Shared libraries and data files required by the program
421 must be available on filesystems which are mounted in the
422 correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
423 all filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right
426 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
427 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
432 command-lines 'arguments ...'
434 This is the same as C<command>, but splits the
435 result into a list of lines.
437 See also: C<sh-lines>
439 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
440 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
445 config qemuparam qemuvalue
447 This can be used to add arbitrary qemu command line parameters
448 of the form C<-param value>. Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we
449 prevent you from setting some parameters which would interfere with
450 parameters that we use.
452 The first character of C<param> string must be a C<-> (dash).
454 C<value> can be NULL.
460 This copies a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
461 either a destination filename or destination directory.
467 This copies a file or directory from C<src> to C<dest>
468 recursively using the C<cp -a> command.
472 debug subcmd 'extraargs ...'
474 The C<debug> command exposes some internals of
475 C<guestfsd> (the guestfs daemon) that runs inside the
478 There is no comprehensive help for this command. You have
479 to look at the file C<daemon/debug.c> in the libguestfs source
480 to find out what you can do.
486 This command runs the C<df> command to report disk space used.
488 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
489 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
490 Use C<statvfs> from programs.
496 This command runs the C<df -h> command to report disk space used
497 in human-readable format.
499 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
500 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
501 Use C<statvfs> from programs.
507 This returns the kernel messages (C<dmesg> output) from
508 the guest kernel. This is sometimes useful for extended
509 debugging of problems.
511 Another way to get the same information is to enable
512 verbose messages with C<set-verbose> or by setting
513 the environment variable C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1> before
518 download remotefilename (filename|-)
520 Download file C<remotefilename> and save it as C<filename>
521 on the local machine.
523 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
525 See also C<upload>, C<cat>.
527 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
531 drop-caches whattodrop
533 This instructs the guest kernel to drop its page cache,
534 and/or dentries and inode caches. The parameter C<whattodrop>
535 tells the kernel what precisely to drop, see
536 L<http://linux-mm.org/Drop_Caches>
538 Setting C<whattodrop> to 3 should drop everything.
540 This automatically calls L<sync(2)> before the operation,
541 so that the maximum guest memory is freed.
547 This runs C<e2fsck -p -f device>, ie. runs the ext2/ext3
548 filesystem checker on C<device>, noninteractively (C<-p>),
549 even if the filesystem appears to be clean (C<-f>).
551 This command is only needed because of C<resize2fs>
552 (q.v.). Normally you should use C<fsck>.
558 This compares the two files C<file1> and C<file2> and returns
559 true if their content is exactly equal, or false otherwise.
561 The external L<cmp(1)> program is used for the comparison.
567 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file, directory
568 (or anything) with the given C<path> name.
570 See also C<is-file>, C<is-dir>, C<stat>.
576 This call uses the standard L<file(1)> command to determine
577 the type or contents of the file. This also works on devices,
578 for example to find out whether a partition contains a filesystem.
580 The exact command which runs is C<file -bsL path>. Note in
581 particular that the filename is not prepended to the output
588 This command lists out all files and directories, recursively,
589 starting at C<directory>. It is essentially equivalent to
590 running the shell command C<find directory -print> but some
591 post-processing happens on the output, described below.
593 This returns a list of strings I<without any prefix>. Thus
594 if the directory structure was:
600 then the returned list from C<find> C</tmp> would be
608 If C<directory> is not a directory, then this command returns
611 The returned list is sorted.
617 This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on C<device> which
618 should have filesystem type C<fstype>.
620 The returned integer is the status. See L<fsck(8)> for the
621 list of status codes from C<fsck>.
629 Multiple status codes can be summed together.
633 A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if
634 errors have been corrected on the filesystem.
638 Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported
643 This command is entirely equivalent to running C<fsck -a -t fstype device>.
649 Return the additional kernel options which are added to the
650 guest kernel command line.
652 If C<NULL> then no options are added.
658 Get the autosync flag.
664 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
671 This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
678 Return the current search path.
680 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
681 return the default path.
687 Return the current qemu binary.
689 This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will
690 return the default qemu binary name.
696 This returns the current state as an opaque integer. This is
697 only useful for printing debug and internal error messages.
699 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
705 This returns the verbose messages flag.
711 This command searches for all the pathnames matching
712 C<pattern> according to the wildcard expansion rules
715 If no paths match, then this returns an empty list
716 (note: not an error).
718 It is just a wrapper around the C L<glob(3)> function
719 with flags C<GLOB_MARK|GLOB_BRACE>.
720 See that manual page for more details.
724 grub-install root device
726 This command installs GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on
727 C<device>, with the root directory being C<root>.
733 This command returns up to the first 10 lines of a file as
736 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
737 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
744 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a positive number, this returns the first
745 C<nrlines> lines of the file C<path>.
747 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a negative number, this returns lines
748 from the file C<path>, excluding the last C<nrlines> lines.
750 If the parameter C<nrlines> is zero, this returns an empty list.
752 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
753 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
760 This runs C<hexdump -C> on the given C<path>. The result is
761 the human-readable, canonical hex dump of the file.
763 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
764 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
771 This returns true iff this handle is busy processing a command
772 (in the C<BUSY> state).
774 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
780 This returns true iff this handle is being configured
781 (in the C<CONFIG> state).
783 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
789 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a directory
790 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
791 other objects like files.
799 This returns C<true> if and only if there is a file
800 with the given C<path> name. Note that it returns false for
801 other objects like directories.
809 This returns true iff this handle is launching the subprocess
810 (in the C<LAUNCHING> state).
812 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
818 This returns true iff this handle is ready to accept commands
819 (in the C<READY> state).
821 For more information on states, see L<guestfs(3)>.
823 =head2 kill-subprocess
827 This kills the qemu subprocess. You should never need to call this.
833 Internally libguestfs is implemented by running a virtual machine
836 You should call this after configuring the handle
837 (eg. adding drives) but before performing any actions.
843 List all the block devices.
845 The full block device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda>
847 =head2 list-partitions
851 List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
853 The full partition device names are returned, eg. C</dev/sda1>
855 This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to
862 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
863 there is no cwd) in the format of 'ls -la'.
865 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It
866 is I<not> intended that you try to parse the output string.
872 List the files in C<directory> (relative to the root directory,
873 there is no cwd). The '.' and '..' entries are not returned, but
874 hidden files are shown.
876 This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. Programs
877 should probably use C<readdir> instead.
883 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
885 This is the same as C<stat> except that if C<path>
886 is a symbolic link, then the link is stat-ed, not the file it
889 This is the same as the C<lstat(2)> system call.
893 lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
895 This creates an LVM volume group called C<logvol>
896 on the volume group C<volgroup>, with C<size> megabytes.
898 =head2 lvm-remove-all
902 This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups
903 and physical volumes.
905 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
906 can easily destroy all your data>.
912 Remove an LVM logical volume C<device>, where C<device> is
913 the path to the LV, such as C</dev/VG/LV>.
915 You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying
916 the VG name, C</dev/VG>.
920 lvresize device mbytes
922 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM logical
923 volume to C<mbytes>. When reducing, data in the reduced part
930 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
931 of the L<lvs(8)> command.
933 This returns a list of the logical volume device names
934 (eg. C</dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00>).
936 See also C<lvs-full>.
942 List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
943 of the L<lvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
949 Create a directory named C<path>.
955 Create a directory named C<path>, creating any parent directories
956 as necessary. This is like the C<mkdir -p> shell command.
962 This command creates a temporary directory. The
963 C<template> parameter should be a full pathname for the
964 temporary directory name with the final six characters being
967 For example: "/tmp/myprogXXXXXX" or "/Temp/myprogXXXXXX",
968 the second one being suitable for Windows filesystems.
970 The name of the temporary directory that was created
973 The temporary directory is created with mode 0700
974 and is owned by root.
976 The caller is responsible for deleting the temporary
977 directory and its contents after use.
979 See also: L<mkdtemp(3)>
985 This creates a filesystem on C<device> (usually a partition
986 or LVM logical volume). The filesystem type is C<fstype>, for
991 mount device mountpoint
993 Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices
994 are named C</dev/sda>, C</dev/sdb> and so on, as they were added to
995 the guest. If those block devices contain partitions, they will have
996 the usual names (eg. C</dev/sda1>). Also LVM C</dev/VG/LV>-style
999 The rules are the same as for L<mount(2)>: A filesystem must
1000 first be mounted on C</> before others can be mounted. Other
1001 filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
1004 The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions
1005 on the underlying device.
1007 The filesystem options C<sync> and C<noatime> are set with this
1008 call, in order to improve reliability.
1010 =head2 mount-options
1012 mount-options options device mountpoint
1014 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1015 allows you to set the mount options as for the
1016 L<mount(8)> I<-o> flag.
1020 mount-ro device mountpoint
1022 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1023 mounts the filesystem with the read-only (I<-o ro>) flag.
1027 mount-vfs options vfstype device mountpoint
1029 This is the same as the C<mount> command, but it
1030 allows you to set both the mount options and the vfstype
1031 as for the L<mount(8)> I<-o> and I<-t> flags.
1037 This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns
1038 the list of devices (eg. C</dev/sda1>, C</dev/VG/LV>).
1040 Some internal mounts are not shown.
1046 This moves a file from C<src> to C<dest> where C<dest> is
1047 either a destination filename or destination directory.
1049 =head2 ntfs-3g-probe
1051 ntfs-3g-probe true|false device
1053 This command runs the L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> command which probes
1054 an NTFS C<device> for mountability. (Not all NTFS volumes can
1055 be mounted read-write, and some cannot be mounted at all).
1057 C<rw> is a boolean flag. Set it to true if you want to test
1058 if the volume can be mounted read-write. Set it to false if
1059 you want to test if the volume can be mounted read-only.
1061 The return value is an integer which C<0> if the operation
1062 would succeed, or some non-zero value documented in the
1063 L<ntfs-3g.probe(8)> manual page.
1069 This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside
1070 the qemu subprocess. Calling this function checks that the
1071 daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
1072 or attached block device(s) in any other way.
1078 This creates an LVM physical volume on the named C<device>,
1079 where C<device> should usually be a partition name such
1086 This wipes a physical volume C<device> so that LVM will no longer
1089 The implementation uses the C<pvremove> command which refuses to
1090 wipe physical volumes that contain any volume groups, so you have
1091 to remove those first.
1097 This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM physical
1098 volume to match the new size of the underlying device.
1104 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1105 of the L<pvs(8)> command.
1107 This returns a list of just the device names that contain
1108 PVs (eg. C</dev/sda2>).
1110 See also C<pvs-full>.
1116 List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent
1117 of the L<pvs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1123 Return the contents of the file named C<path>.
1125 The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing
1126 C<LF> and C<CRLF> character sequences are I<not> returned.
1128 Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files
1129 (specifically, files containing C<\0> character which is treated
1130 as end of line). For those you need to use the C<read-file>
1131 function which has a more complex interface.
1137 This resizes an ext2 or ext3 filesystem to match the size of
1138 the underlying device.
1140 I<Note:> It is sometimes required that you run C<e2fsck-f>
1141 on the C<device> before calling this command. For unknown reasons
1142 C<resize2fs> sometimes gives an error about this and sometimes not.
1143 In any case, it is always safe to call C<e2fsck-f> before
1144 calling this function.
1150 Remove the single file C<path>.
1156 Remove the file or directory C<path>, recursively removing the
1157 contents if its a directory. This is like the C<rm -rf> shell
1164 Remove the single directory C<path>.
1170 This command writes patterns over C<device> to make data retrieval
1173 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1174 manual page for more details.
1176 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1177 can easily destroy all your data>.
1183 This command writes patterns over a file to make data retrieval
1186 The file is I<removed> after scrubbing.
1188 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1189 manual page for more details.
1191 =head2 scrub-freespace
1195 This command creates the directory C<dir> and then fills it
1196 with files until the filesystem is full, and scrubs the files
1197 as for C<scrub-file>, and deletes them.
1198 The intention is to scrub any free space on the partition
1201 It is an interface to the L<scrub(1)> program. See that
1202 manual page for more details.
1204 =head2 set-append | append
1208 This function is used to add additional options to the
1209 guest kernel command line.
1211 The default is C<NULL> unless overridden by setting
1212 C<LIBGUESTFS_APPEND> environment variable.
1214 Setting C<append> to C<NULL> means I<no> additional options
1215 are passed (libguestfs always adds a few of its own).
1217 =head2 set-autosync | autosync
1219 set-autosync true|false
1221 If C<autosync> is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a
1222 best effort attempt to run C<umount-all> followed by
1223 C<sync> when the handle is closed
1224 (also if the program exits without closing handles).
1226 This is disabled by default (except in guestfish where it is
1227 enabled by default).
1231 set-e2label device label
1233 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on
1234 C<device> to C<label>. Filesystem labels are limited to
1237 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2label>
1238 to return the existing label on a filesystem.
1242 set-e2uuid device uuid
1244 This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on
1245 C<device> to C<uuid>. The format of the UUID and alternatives
1246 such as C<clear>, C<random> and C<time> are described in the
1247 L<tune2fs(8)> manpage.
1249 You can use either C<tune2fs-l> or C<get-e2uuid>
1250 to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
1252 =head2 set-path | path
1256 Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
1258 The default is C<$libdir/guestfs> unless overridden by setting
1259 C<LIBGUESTFS_PATH> environment variable.
1261 Setting C<path> to C<NULL> restores the default path.
1263 =head2 set-qemu | qemu
1267 Set the qemu binary that we will use.
1269 The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the
1272 You can also override this by setting the C<LIBGUESTFS_QEMU>
1273 environment variable.
1275 Setting C<qemu> to C<NULL> restores the default qemu binary.
1277 =head2 set-verbose | verbose
1279 set-verbose true|false
1281 If C<verbose> is true, this turns on verbose messages (to C<stderr>).
1283 Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable
1284 C<LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG> is defined and set to C<1>.
1288 sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
1290 This is a direct interface to the L<sfdisk(8)> program for creating
1291 partitions on block devices.
1293 C<device> should be a block device, for example C</dev/sda>.
1295 C<cyls>, C<heads> and C<sectors> are the number of cylinders, heads
1296 and sectors on the device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as
1297 the I<-C>, I<-H> and I<-S> parameters. If you pass C<0> for any
1298 of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for
1299 'large' disks, you can just pass C<0> for these, but for small
1300 (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or rather, the kernel) cannot work
1301 out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
1303 C<lines> is a list of lines that we feed to C<sfdisk>. For more
1304 information refer to the L<sfdisk(8)> manpage.
1306 To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would
1307 pass C<lines> as a single element list, when the single element being
1308 the string C<,> (comma).
1310 See also: C<sfdisk-l>, C<sfdisk-N>
1312 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1313 can easily destroy all your data>.
1317 sfdisk-N device partnum cyls heads sectors line
1319 This runs L<sfdisk(8)> option to modify just the single
1320 partition C<n> (note: C<n> counts from 1).
1322 For other parameters, see C<sfdisk>. You should usually
1323 pass C<0> for the cyls/heads/sectors parameters.
1325 B<This command is dangerous. Without careful use you
1326 can easily destroy all your data>.
1328 =head2 sfdisk-disk-geometry
1330 sfdisk-disk-geometry device
1332 This displays the disk geometry of C<device> read from the
1333 partition table. Especially in the case where the underlying
1334 block device has been resized, this can be different from the
1335 kernel's idea of the geometry (see C<sfdisk-kernel-geometry>).
1337 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1340 =head2 sfdisk-kernel-geometry
1342 sfdisk-kernel-geometry device
1344 This displays the kernel's idea of the geometry of C<device>.
1346 The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to
1353 This displays the partition table on C<device>, in the
1354 human-readable output of the L<sfdisk(8)> command. It is
1355 not intended to be parsed.
1361 This call runs a command from the guest filesystem via the
1364 This is like C<command>, but passes the command to:
1366 /bin/sh -c "command"
1368 Depending on the guest's shell, this usually results in
1369 wildcards being expanded, shell expressions being interpolated
1372 All the provisos about C<command> apply to this call.
1378 This is the same as C<sh>, but splits the result
1379 into a list of lines.
1381 See also: C<command-lines>
1387 Sleep for C<secs> seconds.
1393 Returns file information for the given C<path>.
1395 This is the same as the C<stat(2)> system call.
1401 Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system.
1402 C<path> should be a file or directory in the mounted file system
1403 (typically it is the mount point itself, but it doesn't need to be).
1405 This is the same as the C<statvfs(2)> system call.
1411 This runs the L<strings(1)> command on a file and returns
1412 the list of printable strings found.
1414 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1415 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1420 strings-e encoding path
1422 This is like the C<strings> command, but allows you to
1423 specify the encoding.
1425 See the L<strings(1)> manpage for the full list of encodings.
1427 Commonly useful encodings are C<l> (lower case L) which will
1428 show strings inside Windows/x86 files.
1430 The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
1432 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1433 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1440 This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the
1441 underlying disk image.
1443 You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before
1450 This command returns up to the last 10 lines of a file as
1453 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1454 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1461 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a positive number, this returns the last
1462 C<nrlines> lines of the file C<path>.
1464 If the parameter C<nrlines> is a negative number, this returns lines
1465 from the file C<path>, starting with the C<-nrlines>th line.
1467 If the parameter C<nrlines> is zero, this returns an empty list.
1469 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1470 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1475 tar-in (tarfile|-) directory
1477 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarfile> (an
1478 I<uncompressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1480 To upload a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-in>.
1482 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1486 tar-out directory (tarfile|-)
1488 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1489 it to local file C<tarfile>.
1491 To download a compressed tarball, use C<tgz-out>.
1493 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1497 tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
1499 This command uploads and unpacks local file C<tarball> (a
1500 I<gzip compressed> tar file) into C<directory>.
1502 To upload an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-in>.
1504 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1508 tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
1510 This command packs the contents of C<directory> and downloads
1511 it to local file C<tarball>.
1513 To download an uncompressed tarball, use C<tar-out>.
1515 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1521 Touch acts like the L<touch(1)> command. It can be used to
1522 update the timestamps on a file, or, if the file does not exist,
1523 to create a new zero-length file.
1529 This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem
1530 superblock on C<device>.
1532 It is the same as running C<tune2fs -l device>. See L<tune2fs(8)>
1533 manpage for more details. The list of fields returned isn't
1534 clearly defined, and depends on both the version of C<tune2fs>
1535 that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
1537 =head2 umount | unmount
1541 This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be
1542 specified either by its mountpoint (path) or the device which
1543 contains the filesystem.
1545 =head2 umount-all | unmount-all
1549 This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
1551 Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
1555 upload (filename|-) remotefilename
1557 Upload local file C<filename> to C<remotefilename> on the
1560 C<filename> can also be a named pipe.
1562 See also C<download>.
1564 Use C<-> instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
1568 vg-activate true|false 'volgroups ...'
1570 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1571 all logical volumes in the listed volume groups C<volgroups>.
1572 If activated, then they are made known to the
1573 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1574 then those devices disappear.
1576 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n volgroups...>
1578 Note that if C<volgroups> is an empty list then B<all> volume groups
1579 are activated or deactivated.
1581 =head2 vg-activate-all
1583 vg-activate-all true|false
1585 This command activates or (if C<activate> is false) deactivates
1586 all logical volumes in all volume groups.
1587 If activated, then they are made known to the
1588 kernel, ie. they appear as C</dev/mapper> devices. If deactivated,
1589 then those devices disappear.
1591 This command is the same as running C<vgchange -a y|n>
1595 vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
1597 This creates an LVM volume group called C<volgroup>
1598 from the non-empty list of physical volumes C<physvols>.
1604 Remove an LVM volume group C<vgname>, (for example C<VG>).
1606 This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume
1613 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1614 of the L<vgs(8)> command.
1616 This returns a list of just the volume group names that were
1617 detected (eg. C<VolGroup00>).
1619 See also C<vgs-full>.
1625 List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent
1626 of the L<vgs(8)> command. The "full" version includes all fields.
1632 This command counts the characters in a file, using the
1633 C<wc -c> external command.
1639 This command counts the lines in a file, using the
1640 C<wc -l> external command.
1646 This command counts the words in a file, using the
1647 C<wc -w> external command.
1651 write-file path content size
1653 This call creates a file called C<path>. The contents of the
1654 file is the string C<content> (which can contain any 8 bit data),
1655 with length C<size>.
1657 As a special case, if C<size> is C<0>
1658 then the length is calculated using C<strlen> (so in this case
1659 the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
1661 I<NB.> Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL
1662 characters does I<not> work, even if the length is specified.
1663 We hope to resolve this bug in a future version. In the meantime
1666 Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit
1667 of somewhere between 2MB and 4MB. To transfer large files you should use
1674 This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of C<device>.
1676 How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's I<not> enough
1677 to securely wipe the device). It should be sufficient to remove
1678 any partition tables, filesystem superblocks and so on.
1680 See also: C<scrub-device>.
1686 This runs the I<zerofree> program on C<device>. This program
1687 claims to zero unused inodes and disk blocks on an ext2/3
1688 filesystem, thus making it possible to compress the filesystem
1691 You should B<not> run this program if the filesystem is
1694 It is possible that using this program can damage the filesystem
1695 or data on the filesystem.