guestfish -a disk.img -m dev[:mountpoint]
- guestfish -i libvirt-domain
+ guestfish -d libvirt-domain
- guestfish -i disk.img [disk.img ...]
+ guestfish -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 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> man
=head2 From shell scripts
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:
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:
--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:
-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 -a disk.img -i cat /etc/group
- guestfish --ro -i disk.img cat /etc/group
+ guestfish --ro -d libvirt-domain -i cat /etc/group
=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 Start with a prepared disk
+
+An alternate way to create a 100MB disk called C<test1.img> containing
+a single ext2-formatted partition:
+
+ guestfish -N fs
+
+To list what is available do:
+
+ guestfish -N help | less
+
=head2 Remote control
eval `guestfish --listen --ro`
rescue a broken virtual machine image, you should look at the
L<virt-rescue(1)> command.
-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 OPTIONS
=over 4
Add a block device or virtual machine image to the shell.
+=item B<-c URI> | 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<-d libvirt-domain> | 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>
Don't tab-complete paths on the guest filesystem. It is useful to be
=item B<-i> | B<--inspector>
-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.
+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 -a /dev/Guests/MyGuest -i
-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.
+Note that the command line syntax changed slightly over older
+versions of guestfish. You can still use the old syntax:
-See also: L<virt-inspector(1)>.
+ guestfish [--ro] -i disk.img
+
+ guestfish [--ro] -i libvirt-domain
+
+=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<-m dev[:mountpoint]> | B<--mount dev[: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
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>
+
+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> | B<--ro>
-This changes the C<-a> and C<-m> options so that disks are added and
+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>).
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.
+
=item B<--selinux>
Enable SELinux support for the guest. See L<guestfs(3)/SELINUX>.
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
+The only exception is that if the I<-m> or I<--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).
=head1 NUMBERS
-Commands which take integers as parameters use the C convention which
-is to use C<0> to prefix an octal number or C<0x> to prefix a
-hexadecimal number. For example:
+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
chmod 0777 /public # OK
chmod 777 /public # WRONG! This is mode 777 decimal = 01411 octal.
-Commands that return numbers currently always print them in decimal.
+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
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:
+
+ ><fs> vgscan
+ ><fs> 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:
+
+ ><fs> vg-activate false /dev/VG
+ ><fs> luks-close /dev/mapper/luksdev
+
=head1 WINDOWS PATHS
If a path is prefixed with C<win:> then you can use Windows-style
handles case insensitivity like Windows would. 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:
+
+ 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
By default, guestfish will ignore any errors when in interactive mode
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`
Guestfish client and server versions must match exactly.
+=head1 PREPARED DISK IMAGES
+
+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>).
+
+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>.
+
+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.
+
+To list the available types and any extra parameters they take, run:
+
+ guestfish -N help | less
+
+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.
+
+If any I<-N> or I<--new> options are given, the guest is automatically
+launched.
+
+=head2 EXAMPLES
+
+Create a 100MB disk with an ext4-formatted partition:
+
+ guestfish -N fs:ext4
+
+Create a 32MB disk with a VFAT-formatted partition, and mount it:
+
+ guestfish -N fs:vfat:32M -m /dev/sda1
+
+Create a blank 200MB disk:
+
+ guestfish -N disk:200M
+
+=head1 PROGRESS BARS
+
+Some (not all) long-running commands send progress notification
+messages as they are running. Guestfish turns these messages into
+progress bars.
+
+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:
+
+ ><fs> copy-size /large-file /another-file 2048M
+ / 10% [#####-----------------------------------------] 00:30
+
+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.
+
+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>.
+
=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS
The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in
For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
-Size can be specified (where C<nn> means a number):
-
-=over 4
-
-=item C<nn> or C<nn>K or C<nn>KB
-
-number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy
+Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>.
-=item C<nn>M or C<nn>MB
+=head2 copy-in
-number of megabytes
+ copy-in local [local ...] /remotedir
-=item C<nn>G or C<nn>GB
+C<copy-in> copies local files or directories recursively into the disk
+image, placing them in the directory called C</remotedir> (which must
+exist). This guestfish meta-command turns into a sequence of
+L</tar-in> and other commands as necessary.
-number of gigabytes
-
-=item C<nn>T or C<nn>TB
+Multiple local files and directories can be specified, but the last
+parameter must always be a remote directory. Wildcards cannot be
+used.
-number of terabytes
+=head2 copy-out
-=item C<nn>P or C<nn>PB
+ copy-out remote [remote ...] localdir
-number of petabytes
+C<copy-out> copies remote files or directories recursively out of the
+disk image, placing them on the host disk in a local directory called
+C<localdir> (which must exist). This guestfish meta-command turns
+into a sequence of L</download>, L</tar-out> and other commands as
+necessary.
-=item C<nn>E or C<nn>EB
+Multiple remote files and directories can be specified, but the last
+parameter must always be a local directory. To download to the
+current directory, use C<.> as in:
-number of exabytes
+ copy-out /home .
-=item C<nn>sects
+Wildcards cannot be used in the ordinary command, but you can use
+this with the help of L</glob> like this:
-number of 512 byte sectors
-
-=back
+ glob copy-out /home/* .
=head2 echo
commands C<vi> or C<emacs> you will get those corresponding
editors.
-NOTE: This will not work reliably for large files
-(> 2 MB) or binary files containing \0 bytes.
-
=head2 glob
glob command args...
Note that C<!cd> won't do what you might expect.
+=head2 man | manual
+
+ man
+
+Opens the manual page for guestfish.
+
=head2 more | less
more filename
The default viewer is C<$PAGER>. However if you use the alternate
command C<less> you will get the C<less> command specifically.
-NOTE: This will not work reliably for large files
-(> 2 MB) or binary files containing \0 bytes.
-
=head2 quit | exit
This exits guestfish. You can also use C<^D> key.
For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
-Size can be specified (where C<nn> means a number):
-
-=over 4
-
-=item C<nn> or C<nn>K or C<nn>KB
-
-number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy
-
-=item C<nn>M or C<nn>MB
-
-number of megabytes
-
-=item C<nn>G or C<nn>GB
-
-number of gigabytes
-
-=item C<nn>T or C<nn>TB
-
-number of terabytes
+Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>.
-=item C<nn>P or C<nn>PB
+=head2 supported
-number of petabytes
+ supported
-=item C<nn>E or C<nn>EB
+This command returns a list of the optional groups
+known to the daemon, and indicates which ones are
+supported by this build of the libguestfs appliance.
-number of exabytes
-
-=item C<nn>sects
-
-number of 512 byte sectors
-
-=back
+See also L<guestfs(3)/AVAILABILITY>.
=head2 time
@ACTIONS@
+=head1 EXIT CODE
+
+guestfish returns 0 if the commands completed without error, or
+1 if there was an error.
+
=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
=over 4
=item GUESTFISH_PID
Used with the I<--remote> option to specify the remote guestfish
-process to control. See section I<REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A
-SOCKET>.
+process to control. See section
+L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET>.
=item HOME
-If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history
-is saved in C<$HOME/.guestfish>
+If compiled with GNU readline support, various files in the
+home directory can be used. See L</FILES>.
=item LIBGUESTFS_APPEND
=back
-=head1 EXIT CODE
+=head1 FILES
+
+=over 4
-guestfish returns I<0> if the commands completed without error, or
-I<1> if there was an error.
+=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
+
+=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 C<-N> or C<--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.
+Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten.
+
+=back
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<virt-ls(1)>,
L<virt-make-fs(1)>,
L<virt-rescue(1)>,
+L<virt-resize(1)>,
L<virt-tar(1)>,
L<virt-win-reg(1)>.
=head1 COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
+Copyright (C) 2009-2010 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