X-Git-Url: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=TODO;h=8b303181251228c2c5062da163f4776009a08a06;hp=0aeceb7a4a82ab73edaa00f0a29eb6e65115a3ab;hb=fc1dc099a1ceeea45d3c21c699daf39618ca714a;hpb=fe491524cefd1ede281debbc128dab4ce26d7ab6 diff --git a/TODO b/TODO index 0aeceb7..8b30318 100644 --- a/TODO +++ b/TODO @@ -1,111 +1,52 @@ -Ideas for the Python bindings: -https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-April/msg00114.html +TODO list for libguestfs +====================================================================== ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +This list contains random ideas and musings on features we could add +to libguestfs in future. -We badly need to actually implement the FTP server mentioned in the -documentation. + - RWMJ -Or: Implement a FUSE-based filesystem. See the FUSE mountlo -project which does something similar, albeit only to single -filesystems: +FUSE API +-------- -http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=121684&package_id=150116 +The API needs more test coverage, particularly lesser-used system +calls. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +The big unresolved issue is UID/GID mapping between guest filesystem +IDs and the host. It's not easy to automate this because you need +extra details about the guest itself in order to get to its +UID->username map (eg. /etc/passwd from the guest). -BufferIn and BufferOut should turn into and simple -strings in other languages that can handle 8 bit clean strings. -Limit on transfers would still be 2MB for these types. - - then implement write-file properly - - and implement read-file +febootstrap / debootstrap inside appliance +------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +This was originally proposed as a way to install new operating systems +in the appliance. However no one has come up with a workable +solution. -Implement febootstrap command. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +Haskell bindings +---------------- Complete the Haskell bindings (see discussion on haskell-cafe). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Complete the bindings tests - must test the return values and -error cases. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - -For virt-inspector: - - - Make a libvirt XML config - - - Test over available OSes - - - Add 'reged' / NT registry support. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Use virtio_blk by default. It's faster and more natural. -Unfortunately it seems like this will rename all devices - see next -item. - -Note: virtio_blk *IS* supported by all our minimum platforms, -ie. CentOS 5.3, Fedora 11, Debian. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - -"Device independent" naming for devices. - -With a Fedora-based appliance, using libata driver, devices have -"SCSI" names like /dev/sda. - -With an EPEL-based appliance, using old ide driver, devices have names -like /dev/hda. - -If we use virtio_blk, devices will have names like /dev/vda. - -What a mess. - -So the idea would be to add a device independent naming scheme, such -as the one used by grub: - - "(hdX)" X = 0 means 'a', X = 1 means 'b' and so on. - "(hdX,Y)" Device X, partition Y (in grub, this counts from 0 which is - deeply confusing). - -There would have to be a very simple rule. If guestfsd was expecting -a /dev block device or partition name, then the alternate form can be -used, and we would just look it up using the normal output of -guestfs_list_devices. - -Maybe best is to use /dev/sda as the "standard" naming. That -shouldn't cause conflicts in the appliance because we tightly control -what drivers are available. - -Note there's a lot of hackery that currently exists in tests.c which -could be *removed* if we made this change. - -Open: Should the substitution be done in the library layer or in the -daemon? +Complete bind tests +------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +Complete the bind tests - must test the return values and error cases. -Qemu options -- After discussion with the KVM developers, they have -recommended some flags which will improve the safety and reliability -of KVM. Need to test that these also work under qemu (or at least, do -no harm): +virt-inspector - make libvirt XML +--------------------------------- --no-hpet HPET support is broken and should be disabled. +It should be possible to generate libvirt XML from virt-inspector +data, at least partially. This would be just another output type so: --rtc-td-hack Keeps the rtc clock source track time correctly. + virt-inspector --libvirt guest.img --drive file=...,if=[ide|virtio],cache=off - cache=off is necessary to improve reliability in the - event of a system crash when writing. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- +Note that recent versions of libvirt/virt-install allow guests to be +imported, so this is not so useful any more. "Standalone/local mode" +----------------------- Instead of running guestfsd (the daemon) inside qemu, there should be an option to just run guestfsd directly. @@ -143,3 +84,200 @@ This is mainly useful from live CDs, ie. virt-p2v. Should we bother having the daemon at all and just link the guestfsd code directly into libguestfs? + +Supermin appliance to febootstrap +--------------------------------- + +Supermin appliance functionality should be moved into febootstrap. + +Ideas for extra commands +------------------------ + + General glibc / core programs: + chgrp + more mk*temp calls + + ext2 properties: + chattr + lsattr + badblocks + blkid + debugfs + dumpe2fs + e2image + e2undo + filefrag + findfs + logsave + mklost+found + ext2undelete + + SELinux: + chcat + restorecon + ch??? + + Oddball: + pivot_root + fts(3) / ftw(3) + +Other initrd-* commands +----------------------- + +Such as: + +initrd-extract +initrd-replace + +Simple editing of configuration files +------------------------------------- + +Some easy non-Augeas methods to edit configuration files. +I'm thinking: + + replace /etc/file key value + +which would look in /etc/file for any instances of + + key=... + key ... + key:... + +and replace them with + + key=value + key value + key:value + +That would solve about 50% of reconfiguration needs, and for the +rest you'd use Augeas, 'download'+'upload' or 'edit'. + +RWMJ: I had a go at implementing this, but it's quite error-prone to +do this sort of editing inside the C-based daemon code. It's far +better to do it with Augeas, or else to use an external language like +Perl. + +Quick Perl scripts +------------------ + +Currently we can't do Perl "one-liners". ie. The current syntax for +any short Perl one-liner would be: + + perl -MSys::Guestfs -e '$g = Sys::Guestfs->new(); $g->add_drive ("foo"); $g->launch; $g->mount ("/dev/sda1", "/"); ....' + +You can see we're well beyond a single line just getting to the point +of adding drives and mounting. + +First suggestion: + + $h = create ($filename, \"/dev/sda1\" => \"/\"); + + $h = create ([$file1, $file2], \"/dev/sda1\" => \"/\"); + +To mount read-only, add C 1> like this: + + $h = create ($filename, \"/dev/sda1\" => \"/\", ro => 1); + +which is equivalent to the following sequence of calls: + + $h = Sys::Guestfs->new (); + $h->set_autosync (1); + $h->add_drive_ro ($filename); + $h->launch (); + $h->mount_ro (\"/dev/sda1\", \"/\"); + +Command-line form would be: + + perl -MSys::Guestfs=:all -e '$_=create("guest.img", "/dev/sda1" => "/"); $_->cat ("/etc/fstab");' + +That's not brief enough for one-liners, so we could have an extra +autogenerated module which creates a Sys::Guestfs handle singleton +(the handle is an implicit global variable as in guestfish), eg: + + perl -MSys::Guestfs::One -e 'inspect("guest.img"); cat ("/etc/fstab");' + +How would editing files work? + +ntfsclone +--------- + +Useful imaging tool: +http://man.linux-ntfs.org/ntfsclone.8.html + +virt-rescue pty +--------------- + +See: +http://search.cpan.org/~rgiersig/IO-Tty-1.08/Pty.pm +http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=582185 + +Note that pty requires cooperation inside the C code too (there are +two sides to a pty, and one has to be handled after the fork). + +Windows-based daemon/appliance +------------------------------ + +See discussion on list: +https://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2009-November/msg00165.html + +qemu locking +------------ + +Add -drive file=...,lock=exclusive and -drive file=...,lock=shared + +Change libguestfs and libvirt to do the right thing, so that multiple +instances of qemu cannot stomp on each other. + +virt-disk-explore +----------------- + +For multi-level disk images such as live CDs: +http://rwmj.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/unpack-the-russian-doll-of-a-f11-live-cd/ + +It's possible with libguestfs to recursively look for anything that +might be a filesystem, mount-{,loop} it and look in those, revealing +anything in a disk image. + +However this won't work easily for VM disk images in the disk image. +One would have to download those to the host and launch another +libguestfs instance. + +List, mount filesystems by UUID and label +----------------------------------------- + +[See related: +http://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2009-August/msg00031.html] + +List filesystems by UUID or label. + +Mount filesystems by UUID or label. (I'm not really sure if we can do +this at the moment but we ought to be able to do it, and perhaps make +it easier by having a direct command). + +Map filesystems to disk blocks +------------------------------ + +Map files/filesystems/(any other object) to the actual disk +blocks they occupy. + +And vice versa. + +Is it even possible? + +Integration with host intrusion systems +--------------------------------------- + +Perfect way to monitor VMs from outside the VM. Look for file +hashes, log events, login/logout etc. + +http://www.ossec.net/ +http://la-samhna.de/samhain/ +http://sourceforge.net/projects/aide/ +http://osiris.shmoo.com/ +http://sourceforge.net/projects/tripwire/ + +-N option should be generated +----------------------------- + +'-N' option should be generated code, and should generate +documentation in guestfish(1) manpage.