X-Git-Url: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=05bb35016c92062c7b7550feeb6b9701d62b318f;hp=c8b42424152620ec189a74a8184d2d6af28c6474;hb=163e399a001a300a53a4c99887742608d23e09ad;hpb=91df7a164befc0c9a24f85733837874da5a057ac diff --git a/README b/README index c8b4242..05bb350 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -libguestfs is a library for accessing and modifying guest disk images. +Libguestfs is a library for accessing and modifying guest disk images. Amongst the things this is good for: making batch configuration changes to guests, getting disk used/free statistics (see also: virt-df), migrating between virtualization systems (see also: @@ -6,22 +6,22 @@ virt-p2v), performing partial backups, performing partial guest clones, cloning guests and changing registry/UUID/hostname info, and much else besides. -libguestfs uses Linux kernel and qemu code, and can access any type of +Libguestfs uses Linux kernel and qemu code, and can access any type of guest filesystem that Linux and qemu can, including but not limited to: ext2/3/4, btrfs, FAT and NTFS, LVM, many different disk partition schemes, qcow, qcow2, vmdk. -libguestfs provides ways to enumerate guest storage (eg. partitions, +Libguestfs provides ways to enumerate guest storage (eg. partitions, LVs, what filesystem is in each LV, etc.). It can also run commands in the context of the guest. Also you can mount guest filesystems on the host (requires root privs and NFS). -libguestfs is a library that can be linked with C and C++ management +Libguestfs is a library that can be linked with C and C++ management programs (or management programs written in other languages, if people contribute the language bindings). You can also use it from shell scripts or the command line. -libguestfs was written by Richard W.M. Jones (rjones@redhat.com). +Libguestfs was written by Richard W.M. Jones (rjones@redhat.com). For discussion please use the fedora-virt mailing list: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-virt @@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ For discussion please use the fedora-virt mailing list: Requirements ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Recent QEMU with vmchannel support +- recent QEMU with vmchannel support - febootstrap >= 1.2 - XDR, rpcgen -- (Optional) Local Fedora mirror +- (Optional) local Fedora mirror Running ./configure will check you have all the requirements installed on your machine. @@ -47,10 +47,10 @@ Building Then make the daemon, library and root filesystem: - ./configure [--mirror=URI] + ./configure [--with-mirror=URI] make -Use the optional --mirror parameter to specify the URI of a local +Use the optional --with-mirror parameter to specify the URI of a local Fedora mirror. See the discussion of the MIRROR parameter in the febootstrap(8) manpage. @@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ these commands as root: make install + Notes on cross-architecture support ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @@ -72,12 +73,27 @@ operations and NFS export will work fine, but running commands in guests may not be possible. To enable this requires work for cross-architecture and 32-on-64 -support in febootstrap. +support in febootstrap, fakeroot and fakechroot. The daemon/ directory contains its own configure script. This is so that in future we will be able to cross-compile the daemon. +Mirroring tip +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Having a local Fedora mirror makes a massive difference to the time it +takes to build and rebuild initramfs images. + +Failing that, use squid to cache yum downloads, but read this first: +https://lists.dulug.duke.edu/pipermail/yum/2006-August/009041.html +(In brief, because yum chooses random mirrors each time, squid doesn't +work very well with default yum configuration. To get around this, +choose a Fedora mirror which is close to you, set this with +'./configure --with-mirror=[...]', and then proxy the whole lot +through squid by setting http_proxy environment variable). + + Copyright and license information ----------------------------------------------------------------------