Provided by: virtme-ng_1.38-2_all 
NAME
vng - Quickly run kernels inside a virtualized snapshot of your live system
SYNOPSIS
vng [-h] [--version] [--run [RUN] | --build | --clean | --dump DUMP] [--dry-run] [--skip-config] [--no-
virtme-ng-init] [--gdb] [--snaps] [--debug] [--kconfig] [--skip-modules] [--commit COMMIT] [--config
CONFIG] [--configitem CONFIGITEM] [--compiler COMPILER] [--busybox PATH_TO_BUSYBOX] [--qemu QEMU] [--name
NAME] [--user USER] [--root ROOT] [--root-release ROOT_RELEASE] [--rw] [--force-9p] [--disable-microvm]
[--disable-kvm] [--disable-monitor] [--cwd CWD] [--pwd] [--rodir RODIR] [--rwdir RWDIR] [--overlay-rwdir
OVERLAY_RWDIR] [--cpus CPUS] [--memory MEMORY] [--numa
MEM[,cpus=FIRST_CPU1[-LAST_CPU1]][,cpus=FIRST_CPU2[-LAST_CPU2]]...] [--numa-distance SRC,DST=VAL]
[--balloon] [--network NETWORK] [--net-mac-address NET_MAC_ADDRESS] [--disk PATH] [--exec EXEC] [--append
APPEND] [--force-initramfs] [--sound] [--graphics] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--qemu-opts QEMU_OPTS]
[--build-host BUILD_HOST] [--build-host-exec-prefix BUILD_HOST_EXEC_PREFIX] [--build-host-vmlinux]
[--arch ARCH] [--cross-compile CROSS_COMPILE] [--force] [--nvgpu [GPU PCI Address]] [--console [PORT]]
[--console-client [PORT]] [--ssh [PORT]] [--ssh-client [PORT]] [--ssh-tcp] [--remote-cmd COMMAND]
[--systemd] [envs ...]
DESCRIPTION
Build and run kernels inside a virtualized snapshot of your live system
envs Additional Makefile variables
OPTIONS
--version, -V
show program's version number and exit
--dry-run
Only show the commands without actually running them.
--skip-config, -s
[deprecated] Do not re-generate kernel .config
--no-virtme-ng-init
Fallback to the bash virtme-init (useful for debugging/development)
--gdb Attach a debugging session to a running instance started with --debug
--snaps
Allow to execute snaps inside virtme-ng
--debug
Start the instance with debugging enabled (allow to generate crash dumps)
--kconfig, -k
Only override the kernel .config without building/running anything
--skip-modules, -S
Run a really fast build by skipping external modules (no external modules support)
--commit COMMIT, -c COMMIT
Use a kernel identified by a specific commit id, tag or branch
--config CONFIG, --custom CONFIG, -f CONFIG
Use one (or more) specific kernel .config snippet to override default config settings
--configitem CONFIGITEM
add a CONFIG_ITEM=val, after --config <fragments>, these override previous config settings
--compiler COMPILER
[deprecated] Compiler to be used as CC when building the kernel. Please set CC= and HOSTCC=
variables in the virtme-ng command line instead.
--busybox PATH_TO_BUSYBOX
Use the specified busybox binary
--qemu QEMU
Use the specified QEMU binary
--name NAME
Set guest hostname and qemu -name flag
--user USER
Change user inside the guest (default is same user as the host)
--root ROOT
Pass a specific chroot to use inside the virtualized kernel (useful with --arch)
--root-release ROOT_RELEASE
Use a target Ubuntu release to create a new chroot (used with --root)
--rw Give the guest read-write access to its root filesystem. WARNING: this can be dangerous for the
host filesystem!
--force-9p
Use legacy 9p filesystem as rootfs
--disable-microvm
Avoid using the "microvm" QEMU architecture (only on x86_64)
--disable-kvm
Avoid using hardware virtualization / KVM
--disable-monitor
Disable QEMU STDIO monitor
--cwd CWD
Change guest working directory (default is current working directory when possible)
--pwd [deprecated] --pwd is set implicitly by default
--rodir RODIR
Supply a read-only directory to the guest. Use --rodir=path or --rodir=guestpath=hostpath
--rwdir RWDIR
Supply a read/write directory to the guest. Use --rwdir=path or --rwdir=guestpath=hostpath
--overlay-rwdir OVERLAY_RWDIR
Supply a directory that is r/w to the guest but read-only in the host. Use --overlay-rwdir=path.
--cpus CPUS, -p CPUS
Set guest CPU count (qemu -smp flag)
--memory MEMORY, -m MEMORY
Set guest memory size (qemu -m flag)
--numa MEM[,cpus=FIRST_CPU1[-LAST_CPU1]][,cpus=FIRST_CPU2[-LAST_CPU2]]...
Create a NUMA node in the guest. Use this option multiple times to create more NUMA nodes. The
total memory size assigned to NUMA nodes must match the guest memory size (specified with
--memory/-m). This option implicitly disables the microvm architecture.
--numa-distance SRC,DST=VAL
Set a distance of VAL between NUMA node SRC_NODE and DST_NODE. Use this option multiple times to
define multiple distances between NUMA nodes. This option is used only together with --numa.
--balloon
Allow the host to ask the guest to release memory
--network NETWORK, -n NETWORK
Enable network access: user, bridge(=<br>), loop
--net-mac-address NET_MAC_ADDRESS
The MAC address to assign to the NIC interface, e.g. 52:54:00:12:34:56. The last octet will be
incremented for the next network devices.
--disk PATH, -D PATH
Add a file as virtio-scsi disk (can be used multiple times)
--exec EXEC, -e EXEC
Execute a command inside the kernel and exit
--append APPEND, -a APPEND
Additional kernel boot options (can be used multiple times)
--force-initramfs
Use an initramfs even if unnecessary
--sound
Enable audio device (if the architecture supports it)
--graphics, -g
Show graphical output instead of using a console.
--verbose, -v
Increase console output verbosity.
--quiet, -q
Override verbose mode (disable --verbose).
--qemu-opts QEMU_OPTS, -o QEMU_OPTS
Additional arguments for QEMU (can be used multiple times) or bundled together: --qemu-opts='...'
--build-host BUILD_HOST
Perform kernel build on a remote server (ssh access required)
--build-host-exec-prefix BUILD_HOST_EXEC_PREFIX
Prepend a command (e.g., chroot) to the make command executed on the remote build host
--build-host-vmlinux
Copy vmlinux back from the build host
--arch ARCH
Generate and test a kernel for a specific architecture (default is host architecture ; if set, to
be used with --root)
--cross-compile CROSS_COMPILE
Set cross-compile prefix
--force
Force reset git repository to target branch or commit (warning: this may drop uncommitted
changes), and force kernel config override
--nvgpu [GPU PCI Address]
Add a passthrough NVIDIA GPU
--systemd
Execute systemd as init (EXPERIMENTAL)
ACTION
--run [RUN], -r [RUN]
Run a specified kernel; --run can accept one of the following arguments: 1) nothing (in this case
it'll try to boot the same kernel running on the host), 2) a kernel binary (like
./arch/x86/boot/bzImage), 3) a directory (where it'll try to find a valid kernel binary file), 4)
an upstream version, for example `vng --run v6.6.17` (in this case vng will download a precompiled
upstream kernel from the Ubuntu mainline repository)
--build, -b
Build the kernel in the current directory (or remotely if used with --build-host)
--clean, -x
Clean the kernel repository (local or remote if used with --build-host)
--dump DUMP, -d DUMP
Generate a memory dump of the running kernel (instance needs to be started with --debug)
REMOTE CONSOLE
--console [PORT]
Enable a server to communicate later from the host using '--console-client'. By default, a simple
console will be offered using a VSOCK connection, and 'socat' for the proxy.
--console-client [PORT]
Connect to a VM launched with the '--console' option for a remote control.
--ssh [PORT]
Enable SSH server to communicate later from the host to using '--ssh-client'.
--ssh-client [PORT]
Connect to a VM launched with the '--ssh' option for a remote control.
--ssh-tcp
Use TCP for the SSH connection to the guest
--remote-cmd COMMAND
To start in the VM a different command than the default one (--server), or to launch this command
instead of a prompt (--client).
COMMENTS
virtme-ng is a tool that allows to easily and quickly recompile and test a Linux kernel, starting from
the source code. It allows to re‐ compile the kernel in a few minutes (rather than hours), then the
kernel is automatically started in a virtualized environment that is an exact copy-on-write copy of your
live system, which means that any changes made to the virtualized environment do not affect the host
system.
In order to do this, a minimal config is produced (with the bare minimum support to test the kernel
inside qemu), then the selected kernel is automatically built and started inside qemu, using the
filesystem of the host as a copy-on-write snapshot.
This means that you can safely destroy the entire filesystem, crash the kernel, etc. without affecting
the host.
NOTE: kernels produced with virtme-ng are lacking lots of features, in order to reduce the build time to
the minimum and still provide you a usable kernel capable of running your tests and experiments.
virtme-ng is based on virtme, written by Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>.
AUTHOR
virtme-ng is written by Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>
Based on virtme by Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
DISTRIBUTION
The latest version of virtme-ng may be downloaded from https://github.com/arighi/virtme-ng
virtme-ng 1.38 2025-10-13 VNG(1)