+=item *
+
+If the command needs to communicate with daemons, then most likely
+they won't be running.
+
+=item *
+
+The command will be running in limited memory.
+
+=item *
+
+Only supports Linux guests (not Windows, BSD, etc).
+
+=item *
+
+Architecture limitations (eg. won't work for a PPC guest on
+an X86 host).
+
+=item *
+
+For SELinux guests, you may need to enable SELinux and load policy
+first. See L</SELINUX> in this manpage.
+
+=back
+
+The two main API calls to run commands are C<guestfs_command> and
+C<guestfs_sh> (there are also variations).
+
+The difference is that C<guestfs_sh> runs commands using the shell, so
+any shell globs, redirections, etc will work.
+
+=head2 CONFIGURATION FILES
+
+To read and write configuration files in Linux guest filesystems, we
+strongly recommend using Augeas. For example, Augeas understands how
+to read and write, say, a Linux shadow password file or X.org
+configuration file, and so avoids you having to write that code.
+
+The main Augeas calls are bound through the C<guestfs_aug_*> APIs. We
+don't document Augeas itself here because there is excellent
+documentation on the L<http://augeas.net/> website.
+
+If you don't want to use Augeas (you fool!) then try calling
+C<guestfs_read_lines> to get the file as a list of lines which
+you can iterate over.
+
+=head2 SELINUX
+
+We support SELinux guests. To ensure that labeling happens correctly
+in SELinux guests, you need to enable SELinux and load the guest's
+policy:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item 1.
+
+Before launching, do:
+
+ guestfs_set_selinux (g, 1);
+
+=item 2.
+
+After mounting the guest's filesystem(s), load the policy. This
+is best done by running the L<load_policy(8)> command in the
+guest itself:
+
+ guestfs_sh (g, "/usr/sbin/load_policy");
+
+(Older versions of C<load_policy> require you to specify the
+name of the policy file).
+
+=item 3.
+
+Optionally, set the security context for the API. The correct
+security context to use can only be known by inspecting the
+guest. As an example:
+
+ guestfs_setcon (g, "unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0");
+
+=back
+
+This will work for running commands and editing existing files.
+
+When new files are created, you may need to label them explicitly,
+for example by running the external command
+C<restorecon pathname>.
+
+=head2 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WINDOWS GUESTS
+
+Libguestfs can mount NTFS partitions. It does this using the
+L<http://www.ntfs-3g.org/> driver.
+
+DOS and Windows still use drive letters, and the filesystems are
+always treated as case insensitive by Windows itself, and therefore
+you might find a Windows configuration file referring to a path like
+C<c:\windows\system32>. When the filesystem is mounted in libguestfs,
+that directory might be referred to as C</WINDOWS/System32>.
+
+Drive letter mappings are outside the scope of libguestfs. You have
+to use libguestfs to read the appropriate Windows Registry and
+configuration files, to determine yourself how drives are mapped (see
+also L<virt-inspector(1)>).
+
+Replacing backslash characters with forward slash characters is also
+outside the scope of libguestfs, but something that you can easily do.
+
+Where we can help is in resolving the case insensitivity of paths.
+For this, call C<guestfs_case_sensitive_path>.
+
+Libguestfs also provides some help for decoding Windows Registry
+"hive" files, through the library C<libhivex> which is part of
+libguestfs. You have to locate and download the hive file(s)
+yourself, and then pass them to C<libhivex> functions. See also the
+programs L<hivexml(1)>, L<hivexget(1)> and L<virt-win-reg(1)> for more
+help on this issue.
+
+=head2 USING LIBGUESTFS WITH OTHER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
+
+Although we don't want to discourage you from using the C API, we will
+mention here that the same API is also available in other languages.
+
+The API is broadly identical in all supported languages. This means
+that the C call C<guestfs_mount(handle,path)> is
+C<$handle-E<gt>mount($path)> in Perl, C<handle.mount(path)> in Python,
+and C<Guestfs.mount handle path> in OCaml. In other words, a
+straightforward, predictable isomorphism between each language.
+
+Error messages are automatically transformed
+into exceptions if the language supports it.
+
+We don't try to "object orientify" parts of the API in OO languages,
+although contributors are welcome to write higher level APIs above
+what we provide in their favourite languages if they wish.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item B<C++>
+
+You can use the I<guestfs.h> header file from C++ programs. The C++
+API is identical to the C API. C++ classes and exceptions are
+not implemented.
+
+=item B<Haskell>
+
+This is the only language binding that is incomplete. Only calls
+which return simple integers have been bound in Haskell, and we are
+looking for help to complete this binding.
+
+=item B<Java>
+
+Full documentation is contained in the Javadoc which is distributed
+with libguestfs.
+
+=item B<OCaml>
+
+For documentation see the file C<guestfs.mli>.
+
+=item B<Perl>
+
+For documentation see L<Sys::Guestfs(3)>.
+
+=item B<Python>
+
+For documentation do:
+
+ $ python
+ >>> import guestfs
+ >>> help (guestfs)
+
+=item B<Ruby>
+
+Use the Guestfs module. There is no Ruby-specific documentation, but
+you can find examples written in Ruby in the libguestfs source.
+
+=item B<shell scripts>
+
+For documentation see L<guestfish(1)>.
+
+=back
+
+=head1 CONNECTION MANAGEMENT
+
+=head2 guestfs_h *
+
+C<guestfs_h> is the opaque type representing a connection handle.
+Create a handle by calling C<guestfs_create>. Call C<guestfs_close>
+to free the handle and release all resources used.
+
+For information on using multiple handles and threads, see the section
+L</MULTIPLE HANDLES AND MULTIPLE THREADS> below.
+
+=head2 guestfs_create
+
+ guestfs_h *guestfs_create (void);
+
+Create a connection handle.
+
+You have to call C<guestfs_add_drive> on the handle at least once.
+
+This function returns a non-NULL pointer to a handle on success or
+NULL on error.
+
+After configuring the handle, you have to call C<guestfs_launch>.
+
+You may also want to configure error handling for the handle. See
+L</ERROR HANDLING> section below.
+
+=head2 guestfs_close
+
+ void guestfs_close (guestfs_h *handle);
+
+This closes the connection handle and frees up all resources used.