guestfish
- guestfish -a disk.img
+ guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img
- guestfish -a disk.img -m dev[:mountpoint]
+ guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img -m dev[:mountpoint]
- guestfish -i libvirt-domain
+ guestfish -d libvirt-domain
- guestfish -i disk.img [disk.img ...]
+ guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img -i
+
+ guestfish -d libvirt-domain -i
+
+=head1 WARNING
+
+Using guestfish in read/write mode on live virtual machines can be
+dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption. Use the I<--ro>
+(read-only) option to use guestfish safely if the disk image or
+virtual machine might be live.
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+Guestfish is a shell and command-line tool for examining and modifying
+virtual machine filesystems. It uses libguestfs and exposes all of
+the functionality of the guestfs API, see L<guestfs(3)>.
+
+Guestfish gives you structured access to the libguestfs API, from
+shell scripts or the command line or interactively. If you want to
+rescue a broken virtual machine image, you should look at the
+L<virt-rescue(1)> command.
=head1 EXAMPLES
Welcome to guestfish, the libguestfs filesystem interactive shell for
editing virtual machine filesystems.
- Type: 'help' for help with commands
+ Type: 'help' for a list of commands
+ 'man' to read the manual
'quit' to quit the shell
- ><fs> help
+ ><fs> add-ro disk.img
+ ><fs> run
+ ><fs> list-filesystems
+ /dev/sda1: ext4
+ /dev/vg_guest/lv_root: ext4
+ /dev/vg_guest/lv_swap: swap
+ ><fs> mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root /
+ ><fs> cat /etc/fstab
+ # /etc/fstab
+ # Created by anaconda
+ [...]
+ ><fs> exit
=head2 From shell scripts
-Create a new C</etc/motd> file in a guest:
+Create a new C</etc/motd> file in a guest or disk image:
guestfish <<_EOF_
add disk.img
run
mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root /
- write_file /etc/motd "Welcome, new users" 0
+ write /etc/motd "Welcome, new users"
_EOF_
-List the LVM logical volumes in a guest:
+List the LVM logical volumes in a disk image:
guestfish -a disk.img --ro <<_EOF_
run
lvs
_EOF_
+List all the filesystems in a disk image:
+
+ guestfish -a disk.img --ro <<_EOF_
+ run
+ list-filesystems
+ _EOF_
+
=head2 On one command line
Update C</etc/resolv.conf> in a guest:
guestfish \
add disk.img : run : mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root / : \
- write-file /etc/resolv.conf "nameserver 1.2.3.4" 0
+ write /etc/resolv.conf "nameserver 1.2.3.4"
Edit C</boot/grub/grub.conf> interactively:
- guestfish --add disk.img \
+ guestfish --rw --add disk.img \
--mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root \
--mount /dev/sda1:/boot \
edit /boot/grub/grub.conf
-=head2 Using virt-inspector
+=head2 Mount disks automatically
+
+Use the I<-i> option to automatically mount the
+disks from a virtual machine:
+
+ guestfish --ro -a disk.img -i cat /etc/group
-Use the I<-i> option to get virt-inspector to mount
-the filesystems automatically as they would be mounted
-in the virtual machine:
+ guestfish --ro -d libvirt-domain -i cat /etc/group
- guestfish --ro -i disk.img cat /etc/group
+Another way to edit C</boot/grub/grub.conf> interactively is:
+
+ guestfish --rw -a disk.img -i edit /boot/grub/grub.conf
=head2 As a script interpreter
-Create a 50MB disk containing an ext2-formatted partition:
+Create a 100MB disk containing an ext2-formatted partition:
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
- alloc /tmp/output.img 50M
+ sparse test1.img 100M
run
part-disk /dev/sda mbr
mkfs ext2 /dev/sda1
-=head2 Remote control
+=head2 Start with a prepared disk
- eval `guestfish --listen --ro`
- guestfish --remote add disk.img
- guestfish --remote run
- guestfish --remote lvs
+An alternate way to create a 100MB disk called C<test1.img> containing
+a single ext2-formatted partition:
-=head1 DESCRIPTION
+ guestfish -N fs
-Guestfish is a shell and command-line tool for examining and modifying
-virtual machine filesystems. It uses libguestfs and exposes all of
-the functionality of the guestfs API, see L<guestfs(3)>.
+To list what is available do:
-Guestfish gives you structured access to the libguestfs API, from
-shell scripts or the command line or interactively. If you want to
-rescue a broken virtual machine image, you might want to look at the
-L<virt-rescue(1)> command.
+ guestfish -N help | less
-Using guestfish in read/write mode on live virtual machines can be
-dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption. Use the I<--ro>
-(read-only) option to use guestfish safely if the disk image or
-virtual machine might be live.
+=head2 Remote control
+
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
+ guestfish --remote add-ro disk.img
+ guestfish --remote run
+ guestfish --remote lvs
=head1 OPTIONS
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.
-=item B<-D> | B<--no-dest-paths>
+The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and
+force a particular format use the I<--format=..> option.
+
+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
+connection.
+
+=item B<--csh>
+
+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>
+
+=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.
+
+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
this causes extra "hidden" guestfs calls to be made, so this option is
here to allow this feature to be disabled.
-=item B<-f file> | B<--file file>
+=item B<--echo-keys>
+
+When prompting for keys and passphrases, guestfish normally turns
+echoing off so you cannot see what you are typing. If you are not
+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>
+
+=item B<--file file>
Read commands from C<file>. To write pure guestfish
scripts, use:
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
-=item B<-i> | B<--inspector>
+=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
+follow on the command line. Using I<--format> with no argument
+switches back to auto-detection for subsequent I<-a> options.
+
+For example:
+
+ guestfish --format=raw -a disk.img
+
+forces raw format (no auto-detection) for C<disk.img>.
+
+ guestfish --format=raw -a disk.img --format -a another.img
+
+forces raw format (no auto-detection) for C<disk.img> and reverts to
+auto-detection for C<another.img>.
+
+If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use
+this option to specify the disk format. This avoids a possible
+security problem with malicious guests (CVE-2010-3851). See also
+L</add-drive-opts>.
-Run virt-inspector on the named libvirt domain or list of disk
-images. If virt-inspector is available and if it can identify
-the domain or disk images, then partitions will be mounted
-correctly at start-up.
+=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
+mounted on the real virtual machine.
Typical usage is either:
- guestfish -i myguest
+ guestfish -d myguest -i
(for an inactive libvirt domain called I<myguest>), or:
- guestfish --ro -i myguest
+ guestfish --ro -d myguest -i
(for active domains, readonly), or specify the block device directly:
- guestfish -i /dev/Guests/MyGuest
+ guestfish --rw -a /dev/Guests/MyGuest -i
+
+Note that the command line syntax changed slightly over older
+versions of guestfish. You can still use the old syntax:
+
+ guestfish [--ro] -i disk.img
+
+ guestfish [--ro] -i libvirt-domain
-You cannot use I<-a>, I<-m>, I<--listen>, I<--remote> or I<--selinux>
-in conjunction with this option, and options other than I<--ro> might
-not behave correctly.
+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.
-See also: L<virt-inspector(1)>.
+=item B<--keys-from-stdin>
+
+Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is
+to try to read passphrases from the user by opening C</dev/tty>.
=item B<--listen>
Fork into the background and listen for remote commands. See section
-I<REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
+L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
+
+=item B<--live>
+
+Connect to a live virtual machine.
+(Experimental, see L<guestfs(3)/ATTACHING TO RUNNING DAEMONS>).
-=item B<-m dev[:mountpoint]> | B<--mount dev[:mountpoint]>
+=item B<-m dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
+
+=item B<--mount dev[:mountpoint[:options]]>
Mount the named partition or logical volume on the given mountpoint.
You have to mount something on C</> before most commands will work.
-If any C<-m> or C<--mount> options are given, the guest is
+If any I<-m> or I<--mount> options are given, the guest is
automatically launched.
-If you don't know what filesystems a disk image contains, you
-can either run guestfish without this option, then list the partitions
-and LVs available (see L</list-partitions> and L</lvs> commands),
-or you can use the L<virt-list-filesystems(1)> program.
+If you don't know what filesystems a disk image contains, you can
+either run guestfish without this option, then list the partitions,
+filesystems and LVs available (see L</list-partitions>,
+L</list-filesystems> and L</lvs> commands), or you can use the
+L<virt-filesystems(1)> program.
+
+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:
-=item B<-n> | B<--no-sync>
+ -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>
+
+=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,
+I<-N> creates a preformatted disk with a filesystem and adds it.
+See L</PREPARED DISK IMAGES> below.
+
+=item B<--progress-bars>
+
+Enable progress bars, even when guestfish is used non-interactively.
+
+Progress bars are enabled by default when guestfish is used as an
+interactive shell.
+
+=item B<--no-progress-bars>
+
+Disable progress bars.
+
=item B<--remote[=pid]>
Send remote commands to C<$GUESTFISH_PID> or C<pid>. See section
-I<REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
+L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET> below.
+
+=item B<-r>
-=item B<-r> | B<--ro>
+=item B<--ro>
-This changes the C<-a> and C<-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
+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.
+
=item B<--selinux>
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>
+
+=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.
+
+See L</OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE> below.
+
=item B<-x>
Echo each command before executing it.
C<run> is a synonym for C<launch>. You must C<launch> (or C<run>)
your guest before mounting or performing any other commands.
-The only exception is that if the C<-m> or C<--mount> option was
-given, the guest is automatically run for you (simply because
-guestfish can't mount the disks you asked for without doing this).
+The only exception is that if any of the I<-i>, I<-m>, I<--mount>,
+I<-N> or I<--new> options were given then C<run> is done
+automatically, simply because guestfish can't perform the action you
+asked for without doing this.
+
+=head1 OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE
+
+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<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.
+
+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, 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.
=head1 QUOTING
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
+documentation as C<[argname:..]>. You can use them as in these
+examples:
+
+ add-drive-opts filename
+
+ add-drive-opts filename readonly:true
+
+ add-drive-opts filename format:qcow2 readonly:false
+
+Each optional argument can appear at most once. All optional
+arguments must appear after the required ones.
+
+=head1 NUMBERS
+
+This section applies to all commands which can take integers
+as parameters.
+
+=head2 SIZE SUFFIX
+
+When the command takes a parameter measured in bytes, you can use one
+of the following suffixes to specify kilobytes, megabytes and larger
+sizes:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<k> or B<K> or B<KiB>
+
+The size in kilobytes (multiplied by 1024).
+
+=item B<KB>
+
+The size in SI 1000 byte units.
+
+=item B<M> or B<MiB>
+
+The size in megabytes (multiplied by 1048576).
+
+=item B<MB>
+
+The size in SI 1000000 byte units.
+
+=item B<G> or B<GiB>
+
+The size in gigabytes (multiplied by 2**30).
+
+=item B<GB>
+
+The size in SI 10**9 byte units.
+
+=item B<T> or B<TiB>
+
+The size in terabytes (multiplied by 2**40).
+
+=item B<TB>
+
+The size in SI 10**12 byte units.
+
+=item B<P> or B<PiB>
+
+The size in petabytes (multiplied by 2**50).
+
+=item B<PB>
+
+The size in SI 10**15 byte units.
+
+=item B<E> or B<EiB>
+
+The size in exabytes (multiplied by 2**60).
+
+=item B<EB>
+
+The size in SI 10**18 byte units.
+
+=item B<Z> or B<ZiB>
+
+The size in zettabytes (multiplied by 2**70).
+
+=item B<ZB>
+
+The size in SI 10**21 byte units.
+
+=item B<Y> or B<YiB>
+
+The size in yottabytes (multiplied by 2**80).
+
+=item B<YB>
+
+The size in SI 10**24 byte units.
+
+=back
+
+For example:
+
+ truncate-size /file 1G
+
+would truncate the file to 1 gigabyte.
+
+Be careful because a few commands take sizes in kilobytes or megabytes
+(eg. the parameter to L</memsize> is specified in megabytes already).
+Adding a suffix will probably not do what you expect.
+
+=head2 OCTAL AND HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS
+
+For specifying the radix (base) use the C convention: C<0> to prefix
+an octal number or C<0x> to prefix a hexadecimal number. For example:
+
+ 1234 decimal number 1234
+ 02322 octal number, equivalent to decimal 1234
+ 0x4d2 hexadecimal number, equivalent to decimal 1234
+
+When using the C<chmod> command, you almost always want to specify an
+octal number for the mode, and you must prefix it with C<0> (unlike
+the Unix L<chmod(1)> program):
+
+ chmod 0777 /public # OK
+ chmod 777 /public # WRONG! This is mode 777 decimal = 01411 octal.
+
+Commands that return numbers usually print them in decimal, but
+some commands print numbers in other radices (eg. C<umask> prints
+the mode in octal, preceeded by C<0>).
+
=head1 WILDCARDS AND GLOBBING
Neither guestfish nor the underlying guestfs API performs
rm-rf /home/*
-Assuming you don't have a directory literally called C</home/*>
+Assuming you don't have a directory called literally C</home/*>
then the above command will return an error.
To perform wildcard expansion, use the C<glob> command.
C<glob> only works on simple guest paths and not on device names.
If you have several parameters, each containing a wildcard, then glob
-will perform a cartesian product.
+will perform a Cartesian product.
=head1 COMMENTS
the contents of C</remote> on the mounted filesystem to
C<local/remote-data.tar.gz>. (See C<tgz-out>).
+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
hexdump /bin/ls | head
list-devices | tail -1
+ tgz-out / - | tar ztf -
The space before the pipe symbol is required, any space after the pipe
symbol is optional. Everything after the pipe symbol is just passed
echo "~"
+=head1 ENCRYPTED DISKS
+
+Libguestfs has some support for Linux guests encrypted according to
+the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) standard, which includes nearly all
+whole disk encryption systems used by modern Linux guests. Currently
+only LVM-on-LUKS is supported.
+
+Identify encrypted block devices and partitions using L</vfs-type>:
+
+ ><fs> vfs-type /dev/sda2
+ crypto_LUKS
+
+Then open those devices using L</luks-open>. This creates a
+device-mapper device called C</dev/mapper/luksdev>.
+
+ ><fs> luks-open /dev/sda2 luksdev
+ Enter key or passphrase ("key"): <enter the passphrase>
+
+Finally you have to tell LVM to scan for volume groups on
+the newly created mapper device:
+
+ vgscan
+ vg-activate-all true
+
+The logical volume(s) can now be mounted in the usual way.
+
+Before closing a LUKS device you must unmount any logical volumes on
+it and deactivate the volume groups by calling C<vg-activate false VG>
+on each one. Then you can close the mapper device:
+
+ vg-activate false /dev/VG
+ luks-close /dev/mapper/luksdev
+
=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 only works in argument positions that expect a path.
+
+=head1 UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING FILES
+
+For commands such as C<upload>, C<download>, C<tar-in>, C<tar-out> and
+others which upload from or download to a local file, you can use the
+special filename C<-> to mean "from stdin" or "to stdout". For example:
+
+ upload - /foo
+
+reads stdin and creates from that a file C</foo> in the disk image,
+and:
-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.
+ tar-out /etc - | tar tf -
+
+writes the tarball to stdout and then pipes that into the external
+"tar" command (see L</PIPES>).
+
+When using C<-> to read from stdin, the input is read up to the end of
+stdin. You can also use a special "heredoc"-like syntax to read up to
+some arbitrary end marker:
+
+ upload -<<END /foo
+ input line 1
+ input line 2
+ input line 3
+ END
+
+Any string of characters can be used instead of C<END>. The end
+marker must appear on a line of its own, without any preceeding or
+following characters (not even spaces).
+
+Note that the C<-E<lt>E<lt>> syntax only applies to parameters used to
+upload local files (so-called "FileIn" parameters in the generator).
=head1 EXIT ON ERROR BEHAVIOUR
Start a guestfish server process using:
- eval `guestfish --listen`
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
and then send it commands by doing:
guestfish --remote exit
Note that the server will normally exit if there is an error in a
-command. You can change this in the usual way. See section I<EXIT ON
-ERROR BEHAVIOUR>.
+command. You can change this in the usual way. See section
+L</EXIT ON ERROR BEHAVIOUR>.
=head2 CONTROLLING MULTIPLE GUESTFISH PROCESSES
The C<eval> statement sets the environment variable C<$GUESTFISH_PID>,
-which is how the C<--remote> option knows where to send the commands.
+which is how the I<--remote> option knows where to send the commands.
You can have several guestfish listener processes running using:
- eval `guestfish --listen`
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
pid1=$GUESTFISH_PID
- eval `guestfish --listen`
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
pid2=$GUESTFISH_PID
...
guestfish --remote=$pid1 cmd
guestfish --remote=$pid2 cmd
+=head2 REMOTE CONTROL AND CSH
+
+When using csh-like shells (csh, tcsh etc) you have to add the
+I<--csh> option:
+
+ eval "`guestfish --listen --csh`"
+
=head2 REMOTE CONTROL DETAILS
Remote control happens over a Unix domain socket called
Guestfish client and server versions must match exactly.
-=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS
-
-The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in
-other words, they are not part of the L<guestfs(3)> API.
-
-=head2 alloc | allocate
-
- alloc filename size
-
-This creates an empty (zeroed) file of the given size, and then adds
-so it can be further examined.
+=head2 REMOTE CONTROL RUN COMMAND HANGING
-For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
+Using the C<run> (or C<launch>) command remotely in a command
+substitution context hangs, ie. don't do (note the backquotes):
-Size can be specified (where C<nn> means a number):
+ a=`guestfish --remote run`
-=over 4
-
-=item C<nn> or C<nn>K or C<nn>KB
-
-number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy
+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>.
-=item C<nn>M or C<nn>MB
+=head1 PREPARED DISK IMAGES
-number of megabytes
+Use the I<-N type> or I<--new type> parameter to select one of a set
+of preformatted disk images that guestfish can make for you to save
+typing. This is particularly useful for testing purposes. This
+option is used instead of the I<-a> option, and like I<-a> can appear
+multiple times (and can be mixed with I<-a>).
-=item C<nn>G or C<nn>GB
+The new disk is called C<test1.img> for the first I<-N>, C<test2.img>
+for the second and so on. Existing files in the current directory are
+I<overwritten>.
-number of gigabytes
+The type briefly describes how the disk should be sized, partitioned,
+how filesystem(s) should be created, and how content should be added.
+Optionally the type can be followed by extra parameters, separated by
+C<:> (colon) characters. For example, I<-N fs> creates a default
+100MB, sparsely-allocated disk, containing a single partition, with
+the partition formatted as ext2. I<-N fs:ext4:1G> is the same, but
+for an ext4 filesystem on a 1GB disk instead.
-=item C<nn>T or C<nn>TB
+To list the available types and any extra parameters they take, run:
-number of terabytes
+ guestfish -N help | less
-=item C<nn>P or C<nn>PB
+Note that the prepared filesystem is not mounted. You would usually
+have to use the C<mount /dev/sda1 /> command or add the
+I<-m /dev/sda1> option.
-number of petabytes
+If any I<-N> or I<--new> options are given, the guest is automatically
+launched.
-=item C<nn>E or C<nn>EB
+=head2 EXAMPLES
-number of exabytes
+Create a 100MB disk with an ext4-formatted partition:
-=item C<nn>sects
+ guestfish -N fs:ext4
-number of 512 byte sectors
-
-=back
+Create a 32MB disk with a VFAT-formatted partition, and mount it:
-=head2 echo
+ guestfish -N fs:vfat:32M -m /dev/sda1
- echo [params ...]
+Create a blank 200MB disk:
-This echos the parameters to the terminal.
+ guestfish -N disk:200M
-=head2 edit | vi | emacs
+=head1 PROGRESS BARS
- edit filename
+Some (not all) long-running commands send progress notification
+messages as they are running. Guestfish turns these messages into
+progress bars.
-This is used to edit a file. It downloads the file, edits it
-locally using your editor, then uploads the result.
+When a command that supports progress bars takes longer than two
+seconds to run, and if progress bars are enabled, then you will see
+one appearing below the command:
-The editor is C<$EDITOR>. However if you use the alternate
-commands C<vi> or C<emacs> you will get those corresponding
-editors.
+ ><fs> copy-size /large-file /another-file 2048M
+ / 10% [#####-----------------------------------------] 00:30
-NOTE: This will not work reliably for large files
-(> 2 MB) or binary files containing \0 bytes.
+The spinner on the left hand side moves round once for every progress
+notification received from the backend. This is a (reasonably) golden
+assurance that the command is "doing something" even if the progress
+bar is not moving, because the command is able to send the progress
+notifications. When the bar reaches 100% and the command finishes,
+the spinner disappears.
-=head2 glob
+Progress bars are enabled by default when guestfish is used
+interactively. You can enable them even for non-interactive modes
+using I<--progress-bars>, and you can disable them completely using
+I<--no-progress-bars>.
- glob command args...
-
-Expand wildcards in any paths in the args list, and run C<command>
-repeatedly on each matching path.
+=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS
-See section WILDCARDS AND GLOBBING.
+The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in
+other words, they are not part of the L<guestfs(3)> API.
=head2 help
help
help cmd
-Without any parameter, this lists all commands. With a C<cmd>
-parameter, this displays detailed help for a command.
-
-=head2 lcd
-
- lcd directory
-
-Change the local directory, ie. the current directory of guestfish
-itself.
-
-Note that C<!cd> won't do what you might expect.
-
-=head2 more | less
-
- more filename
+Without any parameter, this provides general help.
- less filename
-
-This is used to view a file.
-
-The default viewer is C<$PAGER>. However if you use the alternate
-command C<less> you will get the C<less> command specifically.
-
-NOTE: This will not work reliably for large files
-(> 2 MB) or binary files containing \0 bytes.
+With a C<cmd> parameter, this displays detailed help for that command.
=head2 quit | exit
This exits guestfish. You can also use C<^D> key.
-=head2 reopen
-
- reopen
-
-Close and reopen the libguestfs handle. It is not necessary to use
-this normally, because the handle is closed properly when guestfish
-exits. However this is occasionally useful for testing.
+@FISH_COMMANDS@
-=head2 sparse
-
- sparse filename size
+=head1 COMMANDS
-This creates an empty sparse file of the given size, and then adds
-so it can be further examined.
+@ACTIONS@
-In all respects it works the same as the C<alloc> command, except that
-the image file is allocated sparsely, which means that disk blocks are
-not assigned to the file until they are needed. Sparse disk files
-only use space when written to, but they are slower and there is a
-danger you could run out of real disk space during a write operation.
+=head1 EXIT CODE
-For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
+guestfish returns 0 if the commands completed without error, or
+1 if there was an error.
-Size can be specified (where C<nn> means a number):
+=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
=over 4
-=item C<nn> or C<nn>K or C<nn>KB
-
-number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy
-
-=item C<nn>M or C<nn>MB
-
-number of megabytes
-
-=item C<nn>G or C<nn>GB
-
-number of gigabytes
-
-=item C<nn>T or C<nn>TB
-
-number of terabytes
-
-=item C<nn>P or C<nn>PB
-
-number of petabytes
-
-=item C<nn>E or C<nn>EB
-
-number of exabytes
-
-=item C<nn>sects
-
-number of 512 byte sectors
-
-=back
-
-=head2 time
-
- time command args...
-
-Run the command as usual, but print the elapsed time afterwards. This
-can be useful for benchmarking operations.
+=item EDITOR
-=head1 COMMANDS
+The C<edit> command uses C<$EDITOR> as the editor. If not
+set, it uses C<vi>.
-@ACTIONS@
+=item FEBOOTSTRAP_KERNEL
-=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
+=item FEBOOTSTRAP_MODULES
-=over 4
+These two environment variables allow the kernel that libguestfs uses
+in the appliance to be selected. If C<$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 EDITOR
+=item GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE
-The C<edit> command uses C<$EDITOR> as the editor. If not
-set, it uses C<vi>.
+The C<display> command uses C<$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
-process to control. See section I<REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A
-SOCKET>.
+process to control. See section
+L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET>.
+
+=item HEXEDITOR
+
+The L</hexedit> command uses C<$HEXEDITOR> as the external hex
+editor. If not specified, the external L<hexedit(1)> program
+is used.
=item HOME
-If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history
-is saved in C<$HOME/.guestfish>
+If compiled with GNU readline support, various files in the
+home directory can be used. See L</FILES>.
=item LIBGUESTFS_APPEND
=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 each
-handle will require rather a large amount of space in this directory
-for short periods of time (~ 80 MB). You can use C<$TMPDIR> to
-configure another directory to use in case C</tmp> is not large
+If libguestfs was compiled to use the supermin appliance then the
+real appliance is cached in this directory, shared between all
+handles belonging to the same EUID. You can use C<$TMPDIR> to
+configure another directory to use in case C</var/tmp> is not large
enough.
=back
-=head1 EXIT CODE
+=head1 FILES
+
+=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
+is saved in this file.
+
+=item $HOME/.inputrc
+
+=item /etc/inputrc
+
+If compiled with GNU readline support, then these files can be used to
+configure readline. For further information, please see
+L<readline(3)/INITIALIZATION FILE>.
+
+To write rules which only apply to guestfish, use:
+
+ $if guestfish
+ ...
+ $endif
+
+Variables that you can set in inputrc that change the behaviour
+of guestfish in useful ways include:
+
+=over 4
-guestfish returns I<0> if the commands completed without error, or
-I<1> if there was an error.
+=item completion-ignore-case (default: on)
+
+By default, guestfish will ignore case when tab-completing
+paths on the disk. Use:
+
+ set completion-ignore-case off
+
+to make guestfish case sensitive.
+
+=back
+
+=item test1.img
+
+=item test2.img (etc)
+
+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 I<-N> will use C<test2.img> and so on.
+Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
+
+=back
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<guestfs(3)>,
L<http://libguestfs.org/>,
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-tar(1)>.
+L<virt-resize(1)>,
+L<virt-tar(1)>,
+L<virt-tar-in(1)>,
+L<virt-tar-out(1)>,
+L<virt-win-reg(1)>,
+L<display(1)>,
+L<hexedit(1)>,
+L<febootstrap-supermin-helper(8)>.
=head1 AUTHORS
=head1 COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (C) 2009 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