X-Git-Url: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=787ec324f1414cfc57fe2db6c98dfa9e404a4e22;hp=abf058e7588e2cb99d635d8b574ccb2cf61bedd7;hb=4accf3197235300029d04d0ab637b66eaaf9f8df;hpb=d43dac69483e8ec62e8356d93f761684ce2f5cc8 diff --git a/README b/README index abf058e..787ec32 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,65 +1,135 @@ -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: -virt-p2v), performing partial backups, performing partial guest -clones, cloning guests and changing registry/UUID/hostname info, and -much else besides. +Libguestfs is tools and a library for accessing and modifying guest +disk images. For more information see the home page: -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. + http://libguestfs.org/ -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 access filesystems over FTP. +For discussion, development, patches, etc. please use the mailing +list: -Libguestfs is a library that can be linked with C and C++ management -programs (or management programs written in OCaml, Perl, Python, Ruby, Java -or Haskell). You can also use it from shell scripts or the command line. - -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 + http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libguestfs Requirements ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- recent QEMU >= 0.10 with vmchannel support - http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2009-02/msg01042.html +Running ./configure will check you have all the requirements installed +on your machine. -- febootstrap >= 1.5 +Fedora/RHEL users: -- XDR, rpcgen + A useful tip is to run: -- (Optional) Augeas (http://augeas.net/) + yum-builddep libguestfs -- perldoc (pod2man, pod2text) to generate the manual pages and -other documentation. + which will install all build dependencies automatically. If that is + successful, you don't need to bother with the rest of this section. -- (Optional) Readline to have nicer command-line editing in guestfish. +Debian/Ubuntu users: -- (Optional) OCaml if you want to rebuild the generated files, and -also to build the OCaml bindings + Take a look at the debian/control file and install everything listed + in "Build-Depends". If that is successful, you don't need to bother + with the rest of this section. -- (Optional) local Fedora mirror +The full requirements are described below. -- (Optional) Perl if you want to build the perl bindings +For basic functionality and the C tools: -- (Optional) Python if you want to build the python bindings +- look at appliance/packagelist.in and install as many of the packages + that apply to your distro as possible -- (Optional) Ruby, rake if you want to build the ruby bindings +- recent QEMU >= 0.13 (0.14 or later is better) with virtio-serial support -- (Optional) Java, JNI, jpackage-utils if you want to build the java -bindings +- kernel >= 2.6.34 with virtio-serial support enabled. -- (Optional) GHC if you want to build the Haskell bindings +- virtio-block and virtio-net drivers should be compiled into your + host kernel (strictly speaking this is optional, but you will have + to make complex changes to the ./configure command line to get it + to work if you don't have virtio) -Running ./configure will check you have all the requirements installed -on your machine. +- febootstrap >= 3.3 (it is best to use the latest version) + + Notes: (1) febootstrap 2.x WILL NOT WORK + (2) febootstrap 3.x is distro-independent, and is required on + Debian and other distros as well as Fedora + +- XDR, rpcgen (on Linux these are provided by glibc) + +- cpio + +- gperf + +- genisoimage (NOT mkisofs any more) + +- hivex >= 1.2.7 (http://libguestfs.org/download) (optional) + +- pcre (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions C library) (optional) + +- libmagic (the library that corresponds to the 'file' command) (optional) + +- libvirt (optional) + +- libxml2 (optional) + +- libconfig (optional) + +- augeas >= 0.5.0 (http://augeas.net/) (optional) + +- Berkeley DB 'db_dump' and 'db_load' utilities + (db4-utils or db4.X-util or similar) (optional) + +- perldoc (pod2man, pod2text, pod2html) to generate the manual pages + and other documentation. + +- Readline to have nicer command-line editing in guestfish (optional) + +- xmllint (part of libxml2) to validate virt-inspector + RELAX NG schema (optional) + +- OCaml if you want to rebuild the generated files, and + also to build the OCaml bindings (optional) + +- po4a for translating manpages and POD files. + This is optional when compiling from the tarball, but mandatory + if you compile from git. + +- getfacl, getfattr libraries and programs (optional) + +To build FUSE support (guestmount): + +- FUSE libraries and kernel module (optional) + +To build virt-resize: + +- OCaml PCRE bindings (ocaml-pcre) (optional) + +To build language bindings: + +- Perl if you want to build the perl bindings (optional) + +- Python if you want to build the python bindings (optional) + +- Ruby, rake if you want to build the ruby bindings (optional) + +- Java, JNI, jpackage-utils if you want to build the java + bindings (optional) + +- GHC if you want to build the Haskell bindings (optional) + +- PHP, phpize if you want to build the PHP bindings (optional) + +To build the Perl tools: + +- Perl Sys::Virt module (optional) + +- Perl Win::Hivex module (optional) + +- Perl Pod::Usage module (optional) + +- Perl Test::More module (from perl Test::Simple) (optional) + +- Perl String::ShellQuote module (optional) + +- perl-libintl for translating perl code (optional) Building @@ -67,29 +137,70 @@ Building Then make the daemon, library and root filesystem: - ./configure [--with-mirror=URI] + ./configure make -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. - Finally run the tests: make check If everything works, you can install the library and tools by running -these commands as root: +this command as root: make install +You can run guestfish, guestmount and the virt tools without needing +to install, using the "run" script in the top directory. This script +sets up some environment variables. For example: + + ./run ./fish/guestfish [usual guestfish args ...] + + ./run ./inspector/virt-inspector [usual virt-inspector args ...] + +If you are already in the fish/ subdirectory, then the following +command will also work: + + ../run ./guestfish [...] + +You can also make a symlink (note: NOT a hard link) from your $PATH to +the run script, eg: + + cd ~/bin + ln -s ~/libguestfs/run libguestfs-run + cd ~/libguestfs + libguestfs-run ./inspector/virt-inspector [...] + +You can also run the C programs under valgrind like this: + + ./run valgrind [valgrind opts...] ./cat/virt-cat [virt-cat opts...] + +This also works with sudo (eg. if you need root access for libvirt or +to access a block device): + + sudo ./run ./cat/virt-cat -d LinuxGuest /etc/passwd + + +qemu +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +By far the most common problem is with broken or incompatible +qemu releases. + +Different versions of qemu have problems booting the appliance for +different reasons. This varies between versions of qemu, and Linux +distributions which add their own patches. + +If you find a problem, you could try using your own qemu built from +source (qemu is very easy to build from source), with a 'qemu +wrapper'. Qemu wrappers are described in the guestfs(3) manpage. + Note on using KVM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -If you are using x86-64, then by default the configure script will -look for qemu-kvm (KVM support). You will need a reasonably recent -processor for this to work. KVM is much faster than using plain QEMU. +By default the configure script will look for qemu-kvm (KVM support). +You will need a reasonably recent processor for this to work. KVM is +much faster than using plain Qemu. You may also need to enable KVM support for non-root users, by following these instructions: @@ -104,28 +215,14 @@ On some systems, the chmod will not survive a reboot, and you will need to make edits to the udev configuration. -Notes on cross-architecture support ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - -At the moment we basically don't support cross-architecture or -32-on-64. This limits what is possible for some guests. Filesystem -operations and FTP 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, 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. +On my machines I can usually rebuild the appliance in around 3 +minutes. If it takes much longer for you, use a local distro mirror +or squid. -Failing that, use squid to cache yum downloads, but read this first: +To use squid to cache yum downloads, 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, @@ -137,14 +234,23 @@ You will also need to substantially increase the squid configuration limits: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Using_Mock_to_test_package_builds#Using_Squid_to_Speed_Up_Mock_package_downloads -IntelligentMirror is another possibility, although I couldn't get it -to work for me. + +Porting to other Linux distros / non-Linux +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +libguestfs itself should be fairly portable to other Linux +distributions. Non-Linux ports are trickier, but we will accept +patches if they aren't too invasive. + +The main porting issues are with the dependencies needed to build the +appliance. You will need to port the febootstrap first +(http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/febootstrap/). Copyright and license information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc. +Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Red Hat Inc. The library is distributed under the LGPLv2+. The programs are distributed under the GPLv2+. Please see the files COPYING and