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
(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
=head2 As an interactive shell
'man' to read the manual
'quit' to quit the shell
- ><fs> man
+ ><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
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:
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
To list what is available do:
- guestfish -N list | less
+ guestfish -N help | less
=head2 Remote control
- eval `guestfish --listen --ro`
- guestfish --remote add disk.img
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
+ guestfish --remote add-ro disk.img
guestfish --remote run
guestfish --remote lvs
-=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 OPTIONS
=over 4
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>
+
+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> | 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
this causes extra "hidden" guestfs calls to be made, so this option is
here to allow this feature to be disabled.
+=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> | B<--file file>
Read commands from C<file>. To write pure guestfish
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
+=item B<--format=raw|qcow2|..> | 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>.
+
=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 --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
-You cannot use I<-a>, I<-m>, I<-N>, I<--listen>, I<--remote> or
-I<--selinux> in conjunction with this option, and options other than
-I<--ro> might not behave correctly.
+ guestfish [--ro] -i libvirt-domain
-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>
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 list>
+=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
Note that prepared disk images created with I<-N> are not affected by
the I<--ro> option.
+See also L</OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE> below.
+
=item B<--selinux>
Enable SELinux support for the guest. See L<guestfs(3)/SELINUX>.
Display the guestfish / libguestfs version number and exit.
+=item B<-w> | B<--rw>
+
+This option does nothing at the moment.
+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 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).
+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 (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.
+
+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>.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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\'"
+=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
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
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
Start a guestfish server process using:
- eval `guestfish --listen`
+ eval "`guestfish --listen`"
and then send it commands by doing:
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=$pid2 cmd
+=head2 REMOTE CONTROL AND CSH
+
+When using csh-like shells (csh, tcsh etc) you have to add the
+I<--csh> option:
+
+ eval "`guestfish --listen --csh`"
+
=head2 REMOTE CONTROL DETAILS
Remote control happens over a Unix domain socket called
To list the available types and any extra parameters they take, run:
- guestfish -N list | less
+ guestfish -N help | less
Note that the prepared filesystem is not mounted. You would usually
have to use the C<mount /dev/sda1 /> command or add the
guestfish -N disk:200M
-=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS
-
-The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in
-other words, they are not part of the L<guestfs(3)> API.
-
-=head2 alloc | allocate
-
- alloc filename size
-
-This creates an empty (zeroed) file of the given size, and then adds
-so it can be further examined.
-
-For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
-
-Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>.
-
-=head2 echo
-
- echo [params ...]
-
-This echos the parameters to the terminal.
-
-=head2 edit | vi | emacs
+=head1 PROGRESS BARS
- edit filename
+Some (not all) long-running commands send progress notification
+messages as they are running. Guestfish turns these messages into
+progress bars.
-This is used to edit a file. It downloads the file, edits it
-locally using your editor, then uploads the result.
+When a command that supports progress bars takes longer than two
+seconds to run, and if progress bars are enabled, then you will see
+one appearing below the command:
-The editor is C<$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 man | manual
+Without any parameter, this provides general help.
- man
-
-Opens the manual page for guestfish.
-
-=head2 more | less
-
- more filename
-
- less filename
-
-This is used to view a file.
-
-The default viewer is C<$PAGER>. However if you use the alternate
-command C<less> you will get the C<less> command specifically.
-
-NOTE: This will not work reliably for large files
-(> 2 MB) or binary files containing \0 bytes.
+With a C<cmd> parameter, this displays detailed help for that command.
=head2 quit | exit
This exits guestfish. You can also use C<^D> key.
-=head2 reopen
-
- reopen
-
-Close and reopen the libguestfs handle. It is not necessary to use
-this normally, because the handle is closed properly when guestfish
-exits. However this is occasionally useful for testing.
-
-=head2 sparse
-
- sparse filename size
-
-This creates an empty sparse file of the given size, and then adds
-so it can be further examined.
-
-In all respects it works the same as the C<alloc> command, except that
-the image file is allocated sparsely, which means that disk blocks are
-not assigned to the file until they are needed. Sparse disk files
-only use space when written to, but they are slower and there is a
-danger you could run out of real disk space during a write operation.
-
-For more advanced image creation, see L<qemu-img(1)> utility.
-
-Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>.
-
-=head2 supported
-
- supported
-
-This command returns a list of the optional groups
-known to the daemon, and indicates which ones are
-supported by this build of the libguestfs appliance.
-
-See also L<guestfs(3)/AVAILABILITY>.
-
-=head2 time
-
- time command args...
-
-Run the command as usual, but print the elapsed time afterwards. This
-can be useful for benchmarking operations.
+@FISH_COMMANDS@
=head1 COMMANDS
process to control. See section
L</REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET>.
+=item HEXEDITOR
+
+The L</hexedit> command uses C<$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, various files in the
Location of temporary directory, defaults to C</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<$TMPDIR> to
+If libguestfs was compiled to use the supermin appliance then the
+real appliance is cached in this directory, shared between all
+handles belonging to the same EUID. You can use C<$TMPDIR> to
configure another directory to use in case C</tmp> is not large
enough.
...
$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-rescue(1)>,
L<virt-resize(1)>,
L<virt-tar(1)>,
-L<virt-win-reg(1)>.
+L<virt-win-reg(1)>,
+L<hexedit(1)>.
=head1 AUTHORS
git.annexia.org / libguestfs.git / blobdiff