X-Git-Url: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=fish%2Fguestfish.pod;h=5737c464759ca1577245d41c7d036bc408c8def5;hp=13645456291a4be470ee08d9c165b9a31df5e759;hb=21bd2db7cf259a17cc3922409937b849e4b83c0f;hpb=58abe782bf7137526b4a5c7e6d5d2b145e3b09d2 diff --git a/fish/guestfish.pod b/fish/guestfish.pod index 1364545..5737c46 100644 --- a/fish/guestfish.pod +++ b/fish/guestfish.pod @@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ guestfish - the libguestfs Filesystem Interactive SHell guestfish -i disk.img [disk.img ...] +=head1 WARNING + +Using guestfish in read/write mode on live virtual machines can be +dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption. Use the I<--ro> +(read-only) option to use guestfish safely if the disk image or +virtual machine might be live. + =head1 EXAMPLES =head2 As an interactive shell @@ -27,10 +34,11 @@ guestfish - the libguestfs Filesystem Interactive SHell Welcome to guestfish, the libguestfs filesystem interactive shell for editing virtual machine filesystems. - Type: 'help' for help with commands + Type: 'help' for a list of commands + 'man' to read the manual 'quit' to quit the shell - > help + > man =head2 From shell scripts @@ -40,7 +48,7 @@ Create a new C file in a guest: add disk.img run mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root / - write_file /etc/motd "Welcome, new users" 0 + write /etc/motd "Welcome, new users" _EOF_ List the LVM logical volumes in a guest: @@ -56,7 +64,7 @@ Update C in a guest: guestfish \ add disk.img : run : mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root / : \ - write-file /etc/resolv.conf "nameserver 1.2.3.4" 0 + write /etc/resolv.conf "nameserver 1.2.3.4" Edit C interactively: @@ -75,14 +83,25 @@ in the virtual machine: =head2 As a script interpreter -Create a 50MB disk containing an ext2-formatted partition: +Create a 100MB disk containing an ext2-formatted partition: #!/usr/bin/guestfish -f - alloc /tmp/output.img 50M + sparse test1.img 100M run part-disk /dev/sda mbr mkfs ext2 /dev/sda1 +=head2 Start with a prepared disk + +An alternate way to create a 100MB disk called C containing +a single ext2-formatted partition: + + guestfish -N fs + +To list what is available do: + + guestfish -N list | less + =head2 Remote control eval `guestfish --listen --ro` @@ -98,14 +117,9 @@ the functionality of the guestfs API, see L. 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 might want to look at the +rescue a broken virtual machine image, you should look at the L command. -Using guestfish in read/write mode on live virtual machines can be -dangerous, potentially causing disk corruption. Use the I<--ro> -(read-only) option to use guestfish safely if the disk image or -virtual machine might be live. - =head1 OPTIONS =over 4 @@ -159,16 +173,16 @@ Typical usage is either: guestfish -i /dev/Guests/MyGuest -You cannot use I<-a>, I<-m>, I<--listen>, I<--remote> or I<--selinux> -in conjunction with this option, and options other than I<--ro> might -not behave correctly. +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. See also: L. =item B<--listen> Fork into the background and listen for remote commands. See section -I below. +L below. =item B<-m dev[:mountpoint]> | B<--mount dev[:mountpoint]> @@ -178,7 +192,7 @@ If the mountpoint is omitted, it defaults to C. You have to mount something on C before most commands will work. -If any C<-m> or C<--mount> options are given, the guest is +If any I<-m> or I<--mount> options are given, the guest is automatically launched. If you don't know what filesystems a disk image contains, you @@ -191,20 +205,30 @@ or you can use the L program. Disable autosync. This is enabled by default. See the discussion of autosync in the L manpage. +=item B<-N type> | B<--new type> | B<-N list> + +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 below. + =item B<--remote[=pid]> Send remote commands to C<$GUESTFISH_PID> or C. See section -I below. +L below. =item B<-r> | B<--ro> -This changes the C<-a> and C<-m> options so that disks are added and +This changes the I<-a> and I<-m> options so that disks are added and mounts are done read-only (see L). The option must always be used if the disk image or virtual machine might be running, and is generally recommended in cases where you don't need write access to the disk. +Note that prepared disk images created with I<-N> are not affected by +the I<--ro> option. + =item B<--selinux> Enable SELinux support for the guest. See L. @@ -272,7 +296,7 @@ any other commands C is a synonym for C. You must C (or C) your guest before mounting or performing any other commands. -The only exception is that if the C<-m> or C<--mount> option was +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). @@ -298,9 +322,97 @@ must be escaped with a backslash. =head1 NUMBERS -Commands which take integers as parameters use the C convention which -is to use C<0> to prefix an octal number or C<0x> to prefix a -hexadecimal number. For example: +This section applies to all commands which can take integers +as parameters. + +=head2 SIZE SUFFIX + +When the command takes a parameter measured in bytes, you can use one +of the following suffixes to specify kilobytes, megabytes and larger +sizes: + +=over 4 + +=item B or B or B + +The size in kilobytes (multiplied by 1024). + +=item B + +The size in SI 1000 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in megabytes (multiplied by 1048576). + +=item B + +The size in SI 1000000 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in gigabytes (multiplied by 2**30). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**9 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in terabytes (multiplied by 2**40). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**12 byte units. + +=item B

or B + +The size in petabytes (multiplied by 2**50). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**15 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in exabytes (multiplied by 2**60). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**18 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in zettabytes (multiplied by 2**70). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**21 byte units. + +=item B or B + +The size in yottabytes (multiplied by 2**80). + +=item B + +The size in SI 10**24 byte units. + +=back + +For example: + + truncate-size /file 1G + +would truncate the file to 1 gigabyte. + +Be careful because a few commands take sizes in kilobytes or megabytes +(eg. the parameter to L is specified in megabytes already). +Adding a suffix will probably not do what you expect. + +=head2 OCTAL AND HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS + +For specifying the radix (base) use the C convention: C<0> to prefix +an octal number or C<0x> to prefix a hexadecimal number. For example: 1234 decimal number 1234 02322 octal number, equivalent to decimal 1234 @@ -313,7 +425,9 @@ the Unix L program): chmod 0777 /public # OK chmod 777 /public # WRONG! This is mode 777 decimal = 01411 octal. -Commands that return numbers currently always print them in decimal. +Commands that return numbers usually print them in decimal, but +some commands print numbers in other radices (eg. C prints +the mode in octal, preceeded by C<0>). =head1 WILDCARDS AND GLOBBING @@ -367,6 +481,9 @@ will create a directory C on the host, and then export the contents of C on the mounted filesystem to C. (See C). +To change the local directory, use the C command. C will +have no effect, due to the way that subprocesses work in Unix. + =head1 PIPES Use CspaceE | command> to pipe the output of the @@ -382,6 +499,7 @@ Other examples: hexdump /bin/ls | head list-devices | tail -1 + tgz-out / - | tar ztf - The space before the pipe symbol is required, any space after the pipe symbol is optional. Everything after the pipe symbol is just passed @@ -424,6 +542,39 @@ This syntax implicitly calls C (q.v.) so it also handles case insensitivity like Windows would. This only works in argument positions that expect a path. +=head1 UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING FILES + +For commands such as C, C, C, C and +others which upload from or download to a local file, you can use the +special filename C<-> to mean "from stdin" or "to stdout". For example: + + upload - /foo + +reads stdin and creates from that a file C in the disk image, +and: + + tar-out /etc - | tar tf - + +writes the tarball to stdout and then pipes that into the external +"tar" command (see L). + +When using C<-> to read from stdin, the input is read up to the end of +stdin. You can also use a special "heredoc"-like syntax to read up to +some arbitrary end marker: + + upload -<. The end +marker must appear on a line of its own, without any preceeding or +following characters (not even spaces). + +Note that the C<-EE> syntax only applies to parameters used to +upload local files (so-called "FileIn" parameters in the generator). + =head1 EXIT ON ERROR BEHAVIOUR By default, guestfish will ignore any errors when in interactive mode @@ -455,13 +606,13 @@ To cause the server to exit, send it the exit command: guestfish --remote exit Note that the server will normally exit if there is an error in a -command. You can change this in the usual way. See section I. +command. You can change this in the usual way. See section +L. =head2 CONTROLLING MULTIPLE GUESTFISH PROCESSES The C statement sets the environment variable C<$GUESTFISH_PID>, -which is how the C<--remote> option knows where to send the commands. +which is how the I<--remote> option knows where to send the commands. You can have several guestfish listener processes running using: eval `guestfish --listen` @@ -480,53 +631,66 @@ user ID of the process, and C<$PID> is the process ID of the server. Guestfish client and server versions must match exactly. -=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS - -The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in -other words, they are not part of the L API. +=head1 PREPARED DISK IMAGES -=head2 alloc | allocate +Use the I<-N type> or I<--new type> parameter to select one of a set +of preformatted disk images that guestfish can make for you to save +typing. This is particularly useful for testing purposes. This +option is used instead of the I<-a> option, and like I<-a> can appear +multiple times (and can be mixed with I<-a>). - alloc filename size +The new disk is called C for the first I<-N>, C +for the second and so on. Existing files in the current directory are +I. -This creates an empty (zeroed) file of the given size, and then adds -so it can be further examined. +The type briefly describes how the disk should be sized, partitioned, +how filesystem(s) should be created, and how content should be added. +Optionally the type can be followed by extra parameters, separated by +C<:> (colon) characters. For example, I<-N fs> creates a default +100MB, sparsely-allocated disk, containing a single partition, with +the partition formatted as ext2. I<-N fs:ext4:1G> is the same, but +for an ext4 filesystem on a 1GB disk instead. -For more advanced image creation, see L utility. +To list the available types and any extra parameters they take, run: -Size can be specified (where C means a number): + guestfish -N list | less -=over 4 +Note that the prepared filesystem is not mounted. You would usually +have to use the C command or add the +I<-m /dev/sda1> option. -=item C or CK or CKB +If any I<-N> or I<--new> options are given, the guest is automatically +launched. -number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy +=head2 EXAMPLES -=item CM or CMB +Create a 100MB disk with an ext4-formatted partition: -number of megabytes + guestfish -N fs:ext4 -=item CG or CGB +Create a 32MB disk with a VFAT-formatted partition, and mount it: -number of gigabytes + guestfish -N fs:vfat:32M -m /dev/sda1 -=item CT or CTB +Create a blank 200MB disk: -number of terabytes + guestfish -N disk:200M -=item CP or CPB +=head1 GUESTFISH COMMANDS -number of petabytes +The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in +other words, they are not part of the L API. -=item CE or CEB +=head2 alloc | allocate -number of exabytes + alloc filename size -=item Csects +This creates an empty (zeroed) file of the given size, and then adds +so it can be further examined. -number of 512 byte sectors +For more advanced image creation, see L utility. -=back +Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>. =head2 echo @@ -574,6 +738,12 @@ itself. Note that C won't do what you might expect. +=head2 man | manual + + man + +Opens the manual page for guestfish. + =head2 more | less more filename @@ -615,39 +785,17 @@ danger you could run out of real disk space during a write operation. For more advanced image creation, see L utility. -Size can be specified (where C means a number): - -=over 4 - -=item C or CK or CKB - -number of kilobytes, eg: C<1440> = standard 3.5in floppy - -=item CM or CMB - -number of megabytes - -=item CG or CGB - -number of gigabytes +Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. C<1M>. -=item CT or CTB +=head2 supported -number of terabytes + supported -=item CP or CPB +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. -number of petabytes - -=item CE or CEB - -number of exabytes - -=item Csects - -number of 512 byte sectors - -=back +See also L. =head2 time @@ -660,6 +808,11 @@ can be useful for benchmarking operations. @ACTIONS@ +=head1 EXIT CODE + +guestfish returns 0 if the commands completed without error, or +1 if there was an error. + =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES =over 4 @@ -672,13 +825,13 @@ set, it uses C. =item GUESTFISH_PID Used with the I<--remote> option to specify the remote guestfish -process to control. See section I. +process to control. See section +L. =item HOME -If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history -is saved in C<$HOME/.guestfish> +If compiled with GNU readline support, various files in the +home directory can be used. See L. =item LIBGUESTFS_APPEND @@ -728,21 +881,71 @@ enough. =back -=head1 EXIT CODE +=head1 FILES + +=over 4 + +=item $HOME/.guestfish + +If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history +is saved in this file. + +=item $HOME/.inputrc + +=item /etc/inputrc -guestfish returns I<0> if the commands completed without error, or -I<1> if there was an error. +If compiled with GNU readline support, then these files can be used to +configure readline. For further information, please see +L. + +To write rules which only apply to guestfish, use: + + $if guestfish + ... + $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 in the current +directory. The second use of C<-N> will use C and so on. +Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten. + +=back =head1 SEE ALSO L, L, L, +L, L, L, +L, L, +L, L, -L. +L, +L, +L. =head1 AUTHORS @@ -750,7 +953,7 @@ Richard W.M. Jones (C) =head1 COPYRIGHT -Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc. +Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Red Hat Inc. L This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify