Displays general help on options.
-=item B<-h> | B<--cmd-help>
+=item B<-h>
+
+=item B<--cmd-help>
Lists all available guestfish commands.
-=item B<-h cmd> | B<--cmd-help cmd>
+=item B<-h cmd>
+
+=item B<--cmd-help cmd>
Displays detailed help on a single command C<cmd>.
-=item B<-a image> | B<--add image>
+=item B<-a image>
+
+=item B<--add image>
Add a block device or virtual machine image to the shell.
The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and
force a particular format use the I<--format=..> option.
-=item B<-c URI> | B<--connect URI>
+Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the C<add> command,
+with C<readonly:true> if the I<--ro> flag was given, and
+with C<format:...> if the I<--format=...> flag was given.
+
+=item B<-c URI>
+
+=item B<--connect URI>
When used in conjunction with the I<-d> option, this specifies
the libvirt URI to use. The default is to use the default libvirt
If using the I<--listen> option and a csh-like shell, use this option.
See section L</REMOTE CONTROL AND CSH> below.
-=item B<-d libvirt-domain> | B<--domain libvirt-domain>
+=item B<-d libvirt-domain>
+
+=item B<--domain libvirt-domain>
Add disks from the named libvirt domain. If the I<--ro> option is
also used, then any libvirt domain can be used. However in write
mode, only libvirt domains which are shut down can be named here.
-=item B<-D> | B<--no-dest-paths>
+Domain UUIDs can be used instead of names.
+
+Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the C<add-domain> command,
+with C<readonly:true> if the I<--ro> flag was given, and
+with C<format:...> if the I<--format:...> flag was given.
+
+=item B<-D>
+
+=item B<--no-dest-paths>
Don't tab-complete paths on the guest filesystem. It is useful to be
able to hit the tab key to complete paths on the guest filesystem, but
worried about Tempest attacks and there is no one else in the room
you can specify this flag to see what you are typing.
-=item B<-f file> | B<--file file>
+=item B<-f file>
+
+=item B<--file file>
Read commands from C<file>. To write pure guestfish
scripts, use:
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
-=item B<--format=raw|qcow2|..> | B<--format>
+=item B<--format=raw|qcow2|..>
+
+=item B<--format>
The default for the I<-a> option is to auto-detect the format of the
disk image. Using this forces the disk format for I<-a> options which
security problem with malicious guests (CVE-2010-3851). See also
L</add-drive-opts>.
-=item B<-i> | B<--inspector>
+=item B<-i>
+
+=item B<--inspector>
Using L<virt-inspector(1)> code, inspect the disks looking for
an operating system and mount filesystems as they would be
guestfish [--ro] -i libvirt-domain
+Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the C<inspect-os>
+command and then using other commands to mount the filesystems that
+were found.
+
=item B<--keys-from-stdin>
Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is
Fork into the background and listen for remote commands. See section
L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
-=item B<-m dev[:mountpoint]> | B<--mount dev[:mountpoint]>
+=item B<--live>
+
+Connect to a live virtual machine.
+(Experimental, see L<guestfs(3)/ATTACHING TO RUNNING DAEMONS>).
+
+=item B<-m dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
+
+=item B<--mount dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
Mount the named partition or logical volume on the given mountpoint.
L</list-filesystems> and L</lvs> commands), or you can use the
L<virt-filesystems(1)> program.
-=item B<-n> | B<--no-sync>
+The third (and rarely used) part of the mount parameter is the list of
+mount options used to mount the underlying filesystem. If this is not
+given, then the mount options are either the empty string or C<ro>
+(the latter if the I<--ro> flag is used). By specifying the mount
+options, you override this default choice. Probably the only time you
+would use this is to enable ACLs and/or extended attributes if the
+filesystem can support them:
+
+ -m /dev/sda1:/:acl,user_xattr
+
+Using this flag is equivalent to using the C<mount-options> command.
+
+=item B<-n>
+
+=item B<--no-sync>
Disable autosync. This is enabled by default. See the discussion
of autosync in the L<guestfs(3)> manpage.
-=item B<-N type> | B<--new type> | B<-N help>
+=item B<-N type>
+
+=item B<--new type>
+
+=item B<-N help>
Prepare a fresh disk image formatted as "type". This is an
alternative to the I<-a> option: whereas I<-a> adds an existing disk,
Send remote commands to C<$GUESTFISH_PID> or C<pid>. See section
L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
-=item B<-r> | B<--ro>
+=item B<-r>
+
+=item B<--ro>
-This changes the I<-a> and I<-m> options so that disks are added and
-mounts are done read-only (see L<guestfs(3)/guestfs_mount_ro>).
+This changes the I<-a>, I<-d> and I<-m> options so that disks are
+added and mounts are done read-only.
The option must always be used if the disk image or virtual machine
might be running, and is generally recommended in cases where you
don't need write access to the disk.
Note that prepared disk images created with I<-N> are not affected by
-the I<--ro> option.
+this option. Also commands like C<add> are not affected - you have to
+specify the C<readonly:true> option explicitly if you need it.
See also L</OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE> below.
Enable SELinux support for the guest. See L<guestfs(3)/SELINUX>.
-=item B<-v> | B<--verbose>
+=item B<-v>
+
+=item B<--verbose>
Enable very verbose messages. This is particularly useful if you find
a bug.
-=item B<-V> | B<--version>
+=item B<-V>
+
+=item B<--version>
Display the guestfish / libguestfs version number and exit.
-=item B<-w> | B<--rw>
+=item B<-w>
+
+=item B<--rw>
+
+This changes the I<-a>, I<-d> and I<-m> options so that disks are
+added and mounts are done read-write.
-This option does nothing at the moment.
See L</OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE> below.
=item B<-x>
=head1 OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE
-The guestfish (and L<guestmount(1)>) options I<--ro> and I<--rw>
-affect whether the other command line options I<-a>, I<-c>, I<-d>,
-I<-i> and I<-m> open disk images read-only or for writing.
+The guestfish, L<guestmount(1)> and L<virt-rescue(1)> options I<--ro>
+and I<--rw> affect whether the other command line options I<-a>,
+I<-c>, I<-d>, I<-i> and I<-m> open disk images read-only or for
+writing.
-In libguestfs E<lt> 1.6.2, guestfish and guestmount defaulted to
-opening disk images supplied on the command line for write. To open a
-disk image read-only you have to do I<-a image --ro>.
+In libguestfs E<le> 1.10, guestfish, guestmount and virt-rescue
+defaulted to opening disk images supplied on the command line for
+write. To open a disk image read-only you have to do I<-a image --ro>.
This matters: If you accidentally open a live VM disk image writable
then you will cause irreversible disk corruption.
-By libguestfs 1.8 we intend to change the default the other way. Disk
-images will be opened read-only. You will have to either specify
-I<guestfish --rw> or change a configuration file in order to get write
-access for disk images specified by those other command line options.
+In a future libguestfs we intend to change the default the other way.
+Disk images will be opened read-only. You will have to either specify
+I<guestfish --rw>, I<guestmount --rw>, I<virt-rescue --rw>, or change
+the configuration file C</etc/libguestfs-tools.conf> in order to get
+write access for disk images specified by those other command line
+options.
-This version of guestfish has a I<--rw> option which does nothing (it
-is already the default). However it is highly recommended that you
-use this option to indicate that guestfish needs write access, and to
-prepare your scripts for the day when this option will be required for
-write access.
+This version of guestfish, guestmount and virt-rescue has a I<--rw>
+option which does nothing (it is already the default). However it is
+highly recommended that you use this option to indicate that you need
+write access, and prepare your scripts for the day when this option
+will be required for write access.
B<Note:> This does I<not> affect commands like L</add> and L</mount>,
or any other libguestfs program apart from guestfish and guestmount.
command "/bin/echo 'foo bar'"
command "/bin/echo \'foo\'"
+=head2 ESCAPE SEQUENCES IN DOUBLE QUOTED ARGUMENTS
+
+In double-quoted arguments (only) use backslash to insert special
+characters:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item C<\a>
+
+Alert (bell) character.
+
+=item C<\b>
+
+Backspace character.
+
+=item C<\f>
+
+Form feed character.
+
+=item C<\n>
+
+Newline character.
+
+=item C<\r>
+
+Carriage return character.
+
+=item C<\t>
+
+Horizontal tab character.
+
+=item C<\v>
+
+Vertical tab character.
+
+=item C<\">
+
+A literal double quote character.
+
+=item C<\ooo>
+
+A character with octal value I<ooo>. There must be precisely 3 octal
+digits (unlike C).
+
+=item C<\xhh>
+
+A character with hex value I<hh>. There must be precisely 2 hex
+digits.
+
+In the current implementation C<\000> and C<\x00> cannot be used
+in strings.
+
+=item C<\\>
+
+A literal backslash character.
+
+=back
+
=head1 OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS
Some commands take optional arguments. These arguments appear in this
To change the local directory, use the C<lcd> command. C<!cd> will
have no effect, due to the way that subprocesses work in Unix.
+=head2 LOCAL COMMANDS WITH INLINE EXECUTION
+
+If a line starts with I<E<lt>!> then the shell command is executed (as
+for I<!>), but subsequently any output (stdout) of the shell command
+is parsed and executed as guestfish commands.
+
+Thus you can use shell script to construct arbitrary guestfish
+commands which are then parsed by guestfish.
+
+For example it is tedious to create a sequence of files
+(eg. C</foo.1> through C</foo.100>) using guestfish commands
+alone. However this is simple if we use a shell script to
+create the guestfish commands for us:
+
+ <! for n in `seq 1 100`; do echo write /foo.$n $n; done
+
+or with names like C</foo.001>:
+
+ <! for n in `seq 1 100`; do printf "write /foo.%03d %d\n" $n $n; done
+
+When using guestfish interactively it can be helpful to just run the
+shell script first (ie. remove the initial C<E<lt>> character so it is
+just an ordinary I<!> local command), see what guestfish commands it
+would run, and when you are happy with those prepend the C<E<lt>>
+character to run the guestfish commands for real.
+
=head1 PIPES
Use C<command E<lt>spaceE<gt> | command> to pipe the output of the
=head1 WINDOWS PATHS
If a path is prefixed with C<win:> then you can use Windows-style
-paths (with some limitations). The following commands are equivalent:
+drive letters and paths (with some limitations). The following
+commands are equivalent:
file /WINDOWS/system32/config/system.LOG
- file win:/windows/system32/config/system.log
-
file win:\windows\system32\config\system.log
- file WIN:C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\conFIG\SYSTEM.LOG
+ file WIN:C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.LOG
+
+The parameter is rewritten "behind the scenes" by looking up the
+position where the drive is mounted, prepending that to the path,
+changing all backslash characters to forward slash, then resolving the
+result using L</case-sensitive-path>. For example if the E: drive
+was mounted on C</e> then the parameter might be rewritten like this:
+
+ win:e:\foo\bar => /e/FOO/bar
-This syntax implicitly calls C<case-sensitive-path> (q.v.) so it also
-handles case insensitivity like Windows would. This only works in
-argument positions that expect a path.
+This only works in argument positions that expect a path.
=head1 UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING FILES
Guestfish client and server versions must match exactly.
+=head2 USING REMOTE CONTROL ROBUSTLY FROM SHELL SCRIPTS
+
+From Bash, you can use the following code which creates a guestfish
+instance, correctly quotes the command line, handles failure to start,
+and cleans up guestfish when the script exits:
+
+ #!/bin/bash -
+
+ set -e
+
+ guestfish[0]="guestfish"
+ guestfish[1]="--listen"
+ guestfish[2]="--ro"
+ guestfish[3]="-a"
+ guestfish[4]="disk.img"
+
+ GUESTFISH_PID=
+ eval $("${guestfish[@]}")
+ if [ -z "$GUESTFISH_PID" ]; then
+ echo "error: guestfish didn't start up, see error messages above"
+ exit 1
+ fi
+
+ kill_guestfish ()
+ {
+ kill $GUESTFISH_PID >/dev/null 2>&1 ||:
+ }
+ trap kill_guestfish EXIT
+
+ guestfish --remote run
+ # etc.
+
+=head2 REMOTE CONTROL RUN COMMAND HANGING
+
+Using the C<run> (or C<launch>) command remotely in a command
+substitution context hangs, ie. don't do (note the backquotes):
+
+ a=`guestfish --remote run`
+
+Since the C<run> command produces no output on stdout, this is not
+useful anyway. For further information see
+L<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=592910>.
+
=head1 PREPARED DISK IMAGES
Use the I<-N type> or I<--new type> parameter to select one of a set
@ACTIONS@
-=head1 EXIT CODE
+=head1 EXIT STATUS
guestfish returns 0 if the commands completed without error, or
1 if there was an error.
The C<edit> command uses C<$EDITOR> as the editor. If not
set, it uses C<vi>.
+=item FEBOOTSTRAP_KERNEL
+
+=item FEBOOTSTRAP_MODULES
+
+These two environment variables allow the kernel that libguestfs uses
+in the appliance to be selected. If C<$FEBOOTSTRAP_KERNEL> is not
+set, then the most recent host kernel is chosen. For more information
+about kernel selection, see L<febootstrap-supermin-helper(8)>. This
+feature is only available in febootstrap E<ge> 3.8.
+
+=item GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE
+
+The C<display> command uses C<$GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE> to
+display images. If not set, it uses L<display(1)>.
+
=item GUESTFISH_PID
Used with the I<--remote> option to specify the remote guestfish
=item TMPDIR
-Location of temporary directory, defaults to C</tmp>.
+Location of temporary directory, defaults to C</tmp> except for the
+cached supermin appliance which defaults to C</var/tmp>.
If libguestfs was compiled to use the supermin appliance then the
real appliance is cached in this directory, shared between all
handles belonging to the same EUID. You can use C<$TMPDIR> to
-configure another directory to use in case C</tmp> is not large
+configure another directory to use in case C</var/tmp> is not large
enough.
=back
=over 4
+=item $HOME/.libguestfs-tools.rc
+
+=item /etc/libguestfs-tools.conf
+
+This configuration file controls the default read-only or read-write
+mode (I<--ro> or I<--rw>).
+
+See L</OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE>.
+
=item $HOME/.guestfish
If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history
=item test2.img (etc)
-When using the C<-N> or C<--new> option, the prepared disk or
+When using the I<-N> or I<--new> option, the prepared disk or
filesystem will be created in the file C<test1.img> in the current
-directory. The second use of C<-N> will use C<test2.img> and so on.
+directory. The second use of I<-N> will use C<test2.img> and so on.
Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
=back
L<guestfs(3)>,
L<http://libguestfs.org/>,
+L<virt-alignment-scan(1)>,
L<virt-cat(1)>,
+L<virt-copy-in(1)>,
+L<virt-copy-out(1)>,
L<virt-df(1)>,
L<virt-edit(1)>,
L<virt-filesystems(1)>,
+L<virt-inspector(1)>,
L<virt-list-filesystems(1)>,
L<virt-list-partitions(1)>,
L<virt-ls(1)>,
L<virt-make-fs(1)>,
L<virt-rescue(1)>,
L<virt-resize(1)>,
+L<virt-sparsify(1)>,
+L<virt-sysprep(1)>,
L<virt-tar(1)>,
+L<virt-tar-in(1)>,
+L<virt-tar-out(1)>,
L<virt-win-reg(1)>,
-L<hexedit(1)>.
+L<display(1)>,
+L<hexedit(1)>,
+L<febootstrap-supermin-helper(8)>.
=head1 AUTHORS
=head1 COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Red Hat Inc.
+Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Red Hat Inc.
L<http://libguestfs.org/>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
git.annexia.org / libguestfs.git / blobdiff