Provided by: libguestfs-tools_1.24.5-1ubuntu0.1_amd64 
NAME
guestfish - the guest filesystem shell
SYNOPSIS
guestfish [--options] [commands]
guestfish
guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img
guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img -m dev[:mountpoint]
guestfish -d libvirt-domain
guestfish [--ro|--rw] -a disk.img -i
guestfish -d libvirt-domain -i
WARNING
Using guestfish in read/write mode on live virtual machines can be dangerous, potentially
causing disk corruption. Use the --ro (read-only) option to use guestfish safely if the
disk image or virtual machine might be live.
DESCRIPTION
Guestfish is a shell and command-line tool for examining and modifying virtual machine
filesystems. It uses libguestfs and exposes all of the functionality of the guestfs API,
see guestfs(3).
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
should look at the virt-rescue(1) command.
EXAMPLES
As an interactive shell
$ guestfish
Welcome to guestfish, the guest filesystem shell for
editing virtual machine filesystems.
Type: 'help' for a list of commands
'man' to read the manual
'quit' to quit the shell
><fs> add-ro disk.img
><fs> run
><fs> list-filesystems
/dev/sda1: ext4
/dev/vg_guest/lv_root: ext4
/dev/vg_guest/lv_swap: swap
><fs> mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root /
><fs> cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda
[...]
><fs> exit
From shell scripts
Create a new "/etc/motd" file in a guest or disk image:
guestfish <<_EOF_
add disk.img
run
mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root /
write /etc/motd "Welcome, new users"
_EOF_
List the LVM logical volumes in a disk image:
guestfish -a disk.img --ro <<_EOF_
run
lvs
_EOF_
List all the filesystems in a disk image:
guestfish -a disk.img --ro <<_EOF_
run
list-filesystems
_EOF_
On one command line
Update "/etc/resolv.conf" in a guest:
guestfish \
add disk.img : run : mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root / : \
write /etc/resolv.conf "nameserver 1.2.3.4"
Edit "/boot/grub/grub.conf" interactively:
guestfish --rw --add disk.img \
--mount /dev/vg_guest/lv_root \
--mount /dev/sda1:/boot \
edit /boot/grub/grub.conf
Mount disks automatically
Use the -i option to automatically mount the disks from a virtual machine:
guestfish --ro -a disk.img -i cat /etc/group
guestfish --ro -d libvirt-domain -i cat /etc/group
Another way to edit "/boot/grub/grub.conf" interactively is:
guestfish --rw -a disk.img -i edit /boot/grub/grub.conf
As a script interpreter
Create a 100MB disk containing an ext2-formatted partition:
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
sparse test1.img 100M
run
part-disk /dev/sda mbr
mkfs ext2 /dev/sda1
Start with a prepared disk
An alternate way to create a 100MB disk called "test1.img" containing a single
ext2-formatted partition:
guestfish -N fs
To list what is available do:
guestfish -N help | less
Remote drives
Access a remote disk using ssh:
guestfish -a ssh://example.com/path/to/disk.img
Remote control
eval "`guestfish --listen`"
guestfish --remote add-ro disk.img
guestfish --remote run
guestfish --remote lvs
OPTIONS
--help
Displays general help on options.
-h
--cmd-help
Lists all available guestfish commands.
-h cmd
--cmd-help cmd
Displays detailed help on a single command "cmd".
-a image
--add image
Add a block device or virtual machine image to the shell.
The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and force a
particular format use the --format=.. option.
Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the "add" command, with "readonly:true"
if the --ro flag was given, and with "format:..." if the --format=... flag was given.
-a URI
--add URI
Add a remote disk. See "ADDING REMOTE STORAGE".
-c URI
--connect URI
When used in conjunction with the -d option, this specifies the libvirt URI to use.
The default is to use the default libvirt connection.
--csh
If using the --listen option and a csh-like shell, use this option. See section
"REMOTE CONTROL AND CSH" below.
-d libvirt-domain
--domain libvirt-domain
Add disks from the named libvirt domain. If the --ro option is also used, then any
libvirt domain can be used. However in write mode, only libvirt domains which are
shut down can be named here.
Domain UUIDs can be used instead of names.
Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the "add-domain" command, with
"readonly:true" if the --ro flag was given, and with "format:..." if the --format=...
flag was given.
--echo-keys
When prompting for keys and passphrases, guestfish normally turns echoing off so you
cannot see what you are typing. If you are not worried about Tempest attacks and
there is no one else in the room you can specify this flag to see what you are typing.
-f file
--file file
Read commands from "file". To write pure guestfish scripts, use:
#!/usr/bin/guestfish -f
--format=raw|qcow2|..
--format
The default for the -a option is to auto-detect the format of the disk image. Using
this forces the disk format for -a options which follow on the command line. Using
--format with no argument switches back to auto-detection for subsequent -a options.
For example:
guestfish --format=raw -a disk.img
forces raw format (no auto-detection) for "disk.img".
guestfish --format=raw -a disk.img --format -a another.img
forces raw format (no auto-detection) for "disk.img" and reverts to auto-detection for
"another.img".
If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use this option to
specify the disk format. This avoids a possible security problem with malicious
guests (CVE-2010-3851). See also "add".
-i
--inspector
Using virt-inspector(1) code, inspect the disks looking for an operating system and
mount filesystems as they would be mounted on the real virtual machine.
Typical usage is either:
guestfish -d myguest -i
(for an inactive libvirt domain called myguest), or:
guestfish --ro -d myguest -i
(for active domains, readonly), or specify the block device directly:
guestfish --rw -a /dev/Guests/MyGuest -i
Note that the command line syntax changed slightly over older versions of guestfish.
You can still use the old syntax:
guestfish [--ro] -i disk.img
guestfish [--ro] -i libvirt-domain
Using this flag is mostly equivalent to using the "inspect-os" command and then using
other commands to mount the filesystems that were found.
--keys-from-stdin
Read key or passphrase parameters from stdin. The default is to try to read
passphrases from the user by opening "/dev/tty".
--listen
Fork into the background and listen for remote commands. See section "REMOTE CONTROL
GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET" below.
--live
Connect to a live virtual machine. (Experimental, see "ATTACHING TO RUNNING DAEMONS"
in guestfs(3)).
-m dev[:mountpoint[:options[:fstype]]]
--mount dev[:mountpoint[:options[:fstype]]]
Mount the named partition or logical volume on the given mountpoint.
If the mountpoint is omitted, it defaults to "/".
You have to mount something on "/" before most commands will work.
If any -m or --mount options are given, the guest is automatically launched.
If you don't know what filesystems a disk image contains, you can either run guestfish
without this option, then list the partitions, filesystems and LVs available (see
"list-partitions", "list-filesystems" and "lvs" commands), or you can use the
virt-filesystems(1) program.
The third (and rarely used) part of the mount parameter is the list of mount options
used to mount the underlying filesystem. If this is not given, then the mount options
are either the empty string or "ro" (the latter if the --ro flag is used). By
specifying the mount options, you override this default choice. Probably the only
time you would use this is to enable ACLs and/or extended attributes if the filesystem
can support them:
-m /dev/sda1:/:acl,user_xattr
Using this flag is equivalent to using the "mount-options" command.
The fourth part of the parameter is the filesystem driver to use, such as "ext3" or
"ntfs". This is rarely needed, but can be useful if multiple drivers are valid for a
filesystem (eg: "ext2" and "ext3"), or if libguestfs misidentifies a filesystem.
--network
Enable QEMU user networking in the guest.
-N [filename=]type
--new [filename=]type
-N help
Prepare a fresh disk image formatted as "type". This is an alternative to the -a
option: whereas -a adds an existing disk, -N creates a preformatted disk with a
filesystem and adds it. See "PREPARED DISK IMAGES" below.
-n
--no-sync
Disable autosync. This is enabled by default. See the discussion of autosync in the
guestfs(3) manpage.
--no-dest-paths
Don't tab-complete paths on the guest filesystem. It is useful to be able to hit the
tab key to complete paths on the guest filesystem, but this causes extra "hidden"
guestfs calls to be made, so this option is here to allow this feature to be disabled.
--pipe-error
If writes fail to pipe commands (see "PIPES" below), then the command returns an
error.
The default (also for historical reasons) is to ignore such errors so that:
><fs> command_with_lots_of_output | head
doesn't give an error.
--progress-bars
Enable progress bars, even when guestfish is used non-interactively.
Progress bars are enabled by default when guestfish is used as an interactive shell.
--no-progress-bars
Disable progress bars.
--remote[=pid]
Send remote commands to $GUESTFISH_PID or "pid". See section "REMOTE CONTROL
GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET" below.
-r
--ro
This changes the -a, -d and -m options so that disks are added and mounts are done
read-only.
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 -N are not affected by this option. Also
commands like "add" are not affected - you have to specify the "readonly:true" option
explicitly if you need it.
See also "OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE" below.
--selinux
Enable SELinux support for the guest. See "SELINUX" in guestfs(3).
-v
--verbose
Enable very verbose messages. This is particularly useful if you find a bug.
-V
--version
Display the guestfish / libguestfs version number and exit.
-w
--rw
This changes the -a, -d and -m options so that disks are added and mounts are done
read-write.
See "OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE" below.
-x Echo each command before executing it.
COMMANDS ON COMMAND LINE
Any additional (non-option) arguments are treated as commands to execute.
Commands to execute should be separated by a colon (":"), where the colon is a separate
parameter. Thus:
guestfish cmd [args...] : cmd [args...] : cmd [args...] ...
If there are no additional arguments, then we enter a shell, either an interactive shell
with a prompt (if the input is a terminal) or a non-interactive shell.
In either command line mode or non-interactive shell, the first command that gives an
error causes the whole shell to exit. In interactive mode (with a prompt) if a command
fails, you can continue to enter commands.
USING launch (OR run)
As with guestfs(3), you must first configure your guest by adding disks, then launch it,
then mount any disks you need, and finally issue actions/commands. So the general order
of the day is:
• add or -a/--add
• launch (aka run)
• mount or -m/--mount
• any other commands
"run" is a synonym for "launch". You must "launch" (or "run") your guest before mounting
or performing any other commands.
The only exception is that if any of the -i, -m, --mount, -N or --new options were given
then "run" is done automatically, simply because guestfish can't perform the action you
asked for without doing this.
OPENING DISKS FOR READ AND WRITE
The guestfish, guestmount(1) and virt-rescue(1) options --ro and --rw affect whether the
other command line options -a, -c, -d, -i and -m open disk images read-only or for
writing.
In libguestfs ≤ 1.10, guestfish, guestmount and virt-rescue defaulted to opening disk
images supplied on the command line for write. To open a disk image read-only you have to
do -a image --ro.
This matters: If you accidentally open a live VM disk image writable then you will cause
irreversible disk corruption.
In a future libguestfs we intend to change the default the other way. Disk images will be
opened read-only. You will have to either specify guestfish --rw, guestmount --rw, virt-
rescue --rw, or change the configuration file "/etc/libguestfs-tools.conf" in order to get
write access for disk images specified by those other command line options.
This version of guestfish, guestmount and virt-rescue has a --rw option which does nothing
(it is already the default). However it is highly recommended that you use this option to
indicate that you need write access, and prepare your scripts for the day when this option
will be required for write access.
Note: This does not affect commands like "add" and "mount", or any other libguestfs
program apart from guestfish and guestmount.
QUOTING
You can quote ordinary parameters using either single or double quotes. For example:
add "file with a space.img"
rm '/file name'
rm '/"'
A few commands require a list of strings to be passed. For these, use a whitespace-
separated list, enclosed in quotes. Strings containing whitespace to be passed through
must be enclosed in single quotes. A literal single quote must be escaped with a
backslash.
vgcreate VG "/dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1"
command "/bin/echo 'foo bar'"
command "/bin/echo \'foo\'"
ESCAPE SEQUENCES IN DOUBLE QUOTED ARGUMENTS
In double-quoted arguments (only) use backslash to insert special characters:
"\a"
Alert (bell) character.
"\b"
Backspace character.
"\f"
Form feed character.
"\n"
Newline character.
"\r"
Carriage return character.
"\t"
Horizontal tab character.
"\v"
Vertical tab character.
"\""
A literal double quote character.
"\ooo"
A character with octal value ooo. There must be precisely 3 octal digits (unlike C).
"\xhh"
A character with hex value hh. There must be precisely 2 hex digits.
In the current implementation "\000" and "\x00" cannot be used in strings.
"\\"
A literal backslash character.
OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS
Some commands take optional arguments. These arguments appear in this documentation as
"[argname:..]". You can use them as in these examples:
add filename
add filename readonly:true
add filename format:qcow2 readonly:false
Each optional argument can appear at most once. All optional arguments must appear after
the required ones.
NUMBERS
This section applies to all commands which can take integers as parameters.
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:
k or K or KiB
The size in kilobytes (multiplied by 1024).
KB The size in SI 1000 byte units.
M or MiB
The size in megabytes (multiplied by 1048576).
MB The size in SI 1000000 byte units.
G or GiB
The size in gigabytes (multiplied by 2**30).
GB The size in SI 10**9 byte units.
T or TiB
The size in terabytes (multiplied by 2**40).
TB The size in SI 10**12 byte units.
P or PiB
The size in petabytes (multiplied by 2**50).
PB The size in SI 10**15 byte units.
E or EiB
The size in exabytes (multiplied by 2**60).
EB The size in SI 10**18 byte units.
Z or ZiB
The size in zettabytes (multiplied by 2**70).
ZB The size in SI 10**21 byte units.
Y or YiB
The size in yottabytes (multiplied by 2**80).
YB The size in SI 10**24 byte units.
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 "memsize" is specified in megabytes already). Adding a suffix will probably not do
what you expect.
OCTAL AND HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS
For specifying the radix (base) use the C convention: 0 to prefix an octal number or "0x"
to prefix a hexadecimal number. For example:
1234 decimal number 1234
02322 octal number, equivalent to decimal 1234
0x4d2 hexadecimal number, equivalent to decimal 1234
When using the "chmod" command, you almost always want to specify an octal number for the
mode, and you must prefix it with 0 (unlike the Unix chmod(1) program):
chmod 0777 /public # OK
chmod 777 /public # WRONG! This is mode 777 decimal = 01411 octal.
Commands that return numbers usually print them in decimal, but some commands print
numbers in other radices (eg. "umask" prints the mode in octal, preceded by 0).
WILDCARDS AND GLOBBING
Neither guestfish nor the underlying guestfs API performs wildcard expansion (globbing) by
default. So for example the following will not do what you expect:
rm-rf /home/*
Assuming you don't have a directory called literally "/home/*" then the above command will
return an error.
To perform wildcard expansion, use the "glob" command.
glob rm-rf /home/*
runs "rm-rf" on each path that matches (ie. potentially running the command many times),
equivalent to:
rm-rf /home/jim
rm-rf /home/joe
rm-rf /home/mary
"glob" only works on simple guest paths and not on device names.
If you have several parameters, each containing a wildcard, then glob will perform a
Cartesian product.
COMMENTS
Any line which starts with a # character is treated as a comment and ignored. The # can
optionally be preceded by whitespace, but not by a command. For example:
# this is a comment
# this is a comment
foo # NOT a comment
Blank lines are also ignored.
RUNNING COMMANDS LOCALLY
Any line which starts with a ! character is treated as a command sent to the local shell
("/bin/sh" or whatever system(3) uses). For example:
!mkdir local
tgz-out /remote local/remote-data.tar.gz
will create a directory "local" on the host, and then export the contents of "/remote" on
the mounted filesystem to "local/remote-data.tar.gz". (See "tgz-out").
To change the local directory, use the "lcd" command. "!cd" will have no effect, due to
the way that subprocesses work in Unix.
LOCAL COMMANDS WITH INLINE EXECUTION
If a line starts with <! then the shell command is executed (as for !), but subsequently
any output (stdout) of the shell command is parsed and executed as guestfish commands.
Thus you can use shell script to construct arbitrary guestfish commands which are then
parsed by guestfish.
For example it is tedious to create a sequence of files (eg. "/foo.1" through "/foo.100")
using guestfish commands alone. However this is simple if we use a shell script to create
the guestfish commands for us:
<! for n in `seq 1 100`; do echo write /foo.$n $n; done
or with names like "/foo.001":
<! for n in `seq 1 100`; do printf "write /foo.%03d %d\n" $n $n; done
When using guestfish interactively it can be helpful to just run the shell script first
(ie. remove the initial "<" character so it is just an ordinary ! local command), see what
guestfish commands it would run, and when you are happy with those prepend the "<"
character to run the guestfish commands for real.
PIPES
Use "command <space> | command" to pipe the output of the first command (a guestfish
command) to the second command (any host command). For example:
cat /etc/passwd | awk -F: '$3 == 0 { print }'
(where "cat" is the guestfish cat command, but "awk" is the host awk program). The above
command would list all accounts in the guest filesystem which have UID 0, ie. root
accounts including backdoors. 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 straight to the host shell, so it can
contain redirections, globs and anything else that makes sense on the host side.
To use a literal argument which begins with a pipe symbol, you have to quote it, eg:
echo "|"
HOME DIRECTORIES
If a parameter starts with the character "~" then the tilde may be expanded as a home
directory path (either "~" for the current user's home directory, or "~user" for another
user).
Note that home directory expansion happens for users known on the host, not in the guest
filesystem.
To use a literal argument which begins with a tilde, you have to quote it, eg:
echo "~"
ENCRYPTED DISKS
Libguestfs has some support for Linux guests encrypted according to the Linux Unified Key
Setup (LUKS) standard, which includes nearly all whole disk encryption systems used by
modern Linux guests. Currently only LVM-on-LUKS is supported.
Identify encrypted block devices and partitions using "vfs-type":
><fs> vfs-type /dev/sda2
crypto_LUKS
Then open those devices using "luks-open". This creates a device-mapper device called
"/dev/mapper/luksdev".
><fs> luks-open /dev/sda2 luksdev
Enter key or passphrase ("key"): <enter the passphrase>
Finally you have to tell LVM to scan for volume groups on the newly created mapper device:
vgscan
vg-activate-all true
The logical volume(s) can now be mounted in the usual way.
Before closing a LUKS device you must unmount any logical volumes on it and deactivate the
volume groups by calling "vg-activate false VG" on each one. Then you can close the
mapper device:
vg-activate false /dev/VG
luks-close /dev/mapper/luksdev
WINDOWS PATHS
If a path is prefixed with "win:" then you can use Windows-style drive letters and paths
(with some limitations). The following commands are equivalent:
file /WINDOWS/system32/config/system.LOG
file win:\windows\system32\config\system.log
file WIN:C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.LOG
The parameter is rewritten "behind the scenes" by looking up the position where the drive
is mounted, prepending that to the path, changing all backslash characters to forward
slash, then resolving the result using "case-sensitive-path". For example if the E: drive
was mounted on "/e" then the parameter might be rewritten like this:
win:e:\foo\bar => /e/FOO/bar
This only works in argument positions that expect a path.
UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING FILES
For commands such as "upload", "download", "tar-in", "tar-out" and others which upload
from or download to a local file, you can use the special filename "-" to mean "from
stdin" or "to stdout". For example:
upload - /foo
reads stdin and creates from that a file "/foo" 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
"PIPES").
When using "-" 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 -<<END /foo
input line 1
input line 2
input line 3
END
Any string of characters can be used instead of "END". The end marker must appear on a
line of its own, without any preceding or following characters (not even spaces).
Note that the "-<<" syntax only applies to parameters used to upload local files (so-
called "FileIn" parameters in the generator).
EXIT ON ERROR BEHAVIOUR
By default, guestfish will ignore any errors when in interactive mode (ie. taking commands
from a human over a tty), and will exit on the first error in non-interactive mode
(scripts, commands given on the command line).
If you prefix a command with a - character, then that command will not cause guestfish to
exit, even if that (one) command returns an error.
REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET
Guestfish can be remote-controlled over a socket. This is useful particularly in shell
scripts where you want to make several different changes to a filesystem, but you don't
want the overhead of starting up a guestfish process each time.
Start a guestfish server process using:
eval "`guestfish --listen`"
and then send it commands by doing:
guestfish --remote cmd [...]
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 "EXIT ON ERROR BEHAVIOUR".
CONTROLLING MULTIPLE GUESTFISH PROCESSES
The "eval" statement sets the environment variable $GUESTFISH_PID, which is how the
--remote option knows where to send the commands. You can have several guestfish listener
processes running using:
eval "`guestfish --listen`"
pid1=$GUESTFISH_PID
eval "`guestfish --listen`"
pid2=$GUESTFISH_PID
...
guestfish --remote=$pid1 cmd
guestfish --remote=$pid2 cmd
REMOTE CONTROL AND CSH
When using csh-like shells (csh, tcsh etc) you have to add the --csh option:
eval "`guestfish --listen --csh`"
REMOTE CONTROL DETAILS
Remote control happens over a Unix domain socket called
"/tmp/.guestfish-$UID/socket-$PID", where $UID is the effective user ID of the process,
and $PID is the process ID of the server.
Guestfish client and server versions must match exactly.
Older versions of guestfish were vulnerable to CVE-2013-4419 (see "CVE-2013-4419" in
guestfs(3)). This is fixed in the current version.
USING REMOTE CONTROL ROBUSTLY FROM SHELL SCRIPTS
From Bash, you can use the following code which creates a guestfish instance, correctly
quotes the command line, handles failure to start, and cleans up guestfish when the script
exits:
#!/bin/bash -
set -e
guestfish[0]="guestfish"
guestfish[1]="--listen"
guestfish[2]="--ro"
guestfish[3]="-a"
guestfish[4]="disk.img"
GUESTFISH_PID=
eval $("${guestfish[@]}")
if [ -z "$GUESTFISH_PID" ]; then
echo "error: guestfish didn't start up, see error messages above"
exit 1
fi
cleanup_guestfish ()
{
guestfish --remote -- exit >/dev/null 2>&1 ||:
}
trap cleanup_guestfish EXIT ERR
guestfish --remote -- run
# ...
REMOTE CONTROL DOES NOT WORK WITH -a ETC. OPTIONS
Options such as -a, --add, -N, --new etc don't interact properly with remote support.
They are processed locally, and not sent through to the remote guestfish. In particular
this won't do what you expect:
guestfish --remote --add disk.img
Don't use these options. Use the equivalent commands instead, eg:
guestfish --remote add-drive disk.img
or:
guestfish --remote
><fs> add disk.img
REMOTE CONTROL RUN COMMAND HANGING
Using the "run" (or "launch") command remotely in a command substitution context hangs,
ie. don't do (note the backquotes):
a=`guestfish --remote run`
Since the "run" command produces no output on stdout, this is not useful anyway. For
further information see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=592910.
PREPARED DISK IMAGES
Use the -N [filename=]type or --new [filename=]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 -a option,
and like -a can appear multiple times (and can be mixed with -a).
The new disk is called "test1.img" for the first -N, "test2.img" for the second and so on.
Existing files in the current directory are overwritten. You can use a different filename
by specifying "filename=" before the type (see examples below).
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 ":" (colon) characters. For example, -N fs creates a
default 100MB, sparsely-allocated disk, containing a single partition, with the partition
formatted as ext2. -N fs:ext4:1G is the same, but for an ext4 filesystem on a 1GB disk
instead.
Note that the prepared filesystem is not mounted. You would usually have to use the
"mount /dev/sda1 /" command or add the -m /dev/sda1 option.
If any -N or --new options are given, the libguestfs appliance is automatically launched.
EXAMPLES
Create a 100MB disk with an ext4-formatted partition, called "test1.img" in the current
directory:
guestfish -N fs:ext4
Create a 32MB disk with a VFAT-formatted partition, and mount it:
guestfish -N fs:vfat:32M -m /dev/sda1
Create a blank 200MB disk:
guestfish -N disk:200M
Create a blank 200MB disk called "blankdisk.img" (instead of "test1.img"):
guestfish -N blankdisk.img=disk:200M
-N disk - create a blank disk
"guestfish -N [filename=]disk[:size]"
Create a blank disk, size 100MB (by default).
The default size can be changed by supplying an optional parameter.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
size 100M the size of the disk image
-N part - create a partitioned disk
"guestfish -N [filename=]part[:size[:partition]]"
Create a disk with a single partition. By default the size of the disk is 100MB (the
available space in the partition will be a tiny bit smaller) and the partition table will
be MBR (old DOS-style).
These defaults can be changed by supplying optional parameters.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
size 100M the size of the disk image
partition mbr partition table type
-N fs - create a filesystem
"guestfish -N [filename=]fs[:filesystem[:size[:partition]]]"
Create a disk with a single partition, with the partition containing an empty filesystem.
This defaults to creating a 100MB disk (the available space in the filesystem will be a
tiny bit smaller) with an MBR (old DOS-style) partition table and an ext2 filesystem.
These defaults can be changed by supplying optional parameters.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
filesystem ext2 the type of filesystem to use
size 100M the size of the disk image
partition mbr partition table type
-N lv - create a disk with logical volume
"guestfish -N [filename=]lv[:name[:size[:partition]]]"
Create a disk with a single partition, set up the partition as an LVM2 physical volume,
and place a volume group and logical volume on there. This defaults to creating a 100MB
disk with the VG and LV called "/dev/VG/LV". You can change the name of the VG and LV by
supplying an alternate name as the first optional parameter.
Note this does not create a filesystem. Use 'lvfs' to do that.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
name /dev/VG/LV the name of the VG and LV to use
size 100M the size of the disk image
partition mbr partition table type
-N lvfs - create a disk with logical volume and filesystem
"guestfish -N [filename=]lvfs[:name[:filesystem[:size[:partition]]]]"
Create a disk with a single partition, set up the partition as an LVM2 physical volume,
and place a volume group and logical volume on there. Then format the LV with a
filesystem. This defaults to creating a 100MB disk with the VG and LV called
"/dev/VG/LV", with an ext2 filesystem.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
name /dev/VG/LV the name of the VG and LV to use
filesystem ext2 the type of filesystem to use
size 100M the size of the disk image
partition mbr partition table type
-N bootroot - create a boot and root filesystem
"guestfish -N [filename=]bootroot[:bootfs[:rootfs[:size[:bootsize[:partition]]]]]"
Create a disk with two partitions, for boot and root filesystem. Format the two
filesystems independently. There are several optional parameters which control the exact
layout and filesystem types.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
bootfs ext2 the type of filesystem to use for boot
rootfs ext2 the type of filesystem to use for root
size 100M the size of the disk image
bootsize 32M the size of the boot filesystem
partition mbr partition table type
-N bootrootlv - create a boot and root filesystem using LVM
"guestfish -N
[filename=]bootrootlv[:name[:bootfs[:rootfs[:size[:bootsize[:partition]]]]]]"
This is the same as "bootroot" but the root filesystem (only) is placed on a logical
volume, named by default "/dev/VG/LV". There are several optional parameters which
control the exact layout.
The optional parameters are:
Name Default value
name /dev/VG/LV the name of the VG and LV for root
bootfs ext2 the type of filesystem to use for boot
rootfs ext2 the type of filesystem to use for root
size 100M the size of the disk image
bootsize 32M the size of the boot filesystem
partition mbr partition table type
ADDING REMOTE STORAGE
For API-level documentation on this topic, see "guestfs_add_drive_opts" in guestfs(3) and
"REMOTE STORAGE" in guestfs(3).
On the command line, you can use the -a option to add network block devices using a URI-
style format, for example:
guestfish -a ssh://root@example.com/disk.img
URIs cannot be used with the "add" command. The equivalent command using the API directly
is:
><fs> add /disk.img protocol:ssh server:tcp:example.com username:root
The possible -a URI formats are described below.
-a disk.img
-a file:///path/to/disk.img
Add the local disk image (or device) called "disk.img".
-a ftp://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
-a ftps://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
-a http://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
-a https://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
-a tftp://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
Add a disk located on a remote FTP, HTTP or TFTP server.
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /disk.img protocol:(ftp|...) server:tcp:example.com
-a gluster://example.com[:port]/disk
Add a disk image located on GlusterFS storage.
The server is the one running "glusterd", and may be "localhost".
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /disk protocol:gluster server:tcp:example.com
-a iscsi://example.com[:port]/target-iqn-name[/lun]
Add a disk located on an iSCSI server.
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /target-iqn-name/lun protocol:iscsi server:tcp:example.com
-a nbd://example.com[:port]
-a nbd://example.com[:port]/exportname
-a nbd://?socket=/socket
-a nbd:///exportname?socket=/socket
Add a disk located on Network Block Device (nbd) storage.
The /exportname part of the URI specifies an NBD export name, but is usually left empty.
The optional ?socket parameter can be used to specify a Unix domain socket that we talk to
the NBD server over. Note that you cannot mix server name (ie. TCP/IP) and socket path.
The equivalent API command would be (no export name):
><fs> add "" protocol:nbd server:[tcp:example.com|unix:/socket]
-a rbd://example.com[:port]/disk
Add a disk image located on a Ceph (RBD/librbd) storage volume.
Although libguestfs and Ceph supports multiple servers, only a single server can be
specified when using this URI syntax.
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /disk protocol:rbd server:tcp:example.com
-a sheepdog://[example.com[:port]]/volume/image
Add a disk image located on a Sheepdog volume.
The server name is optional. Although libguestfs and Sheepdog supports multiple servers,
only at most one server can be specified when using this URI syntax.
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /disk protocol:sheepdog [server:tcp:example.com]
-a ssh://[user@]example.com[:port]/disk.img
Add a disk image located on a remote server, accessed using the Secure Shell (ssh) SFTP
protocol. SFTP is supported out of the box by all major SSH servers.
The equivalent API command would be:
><fs> add /disk protocol:ssh server:tcp:example.com [username:user]
PROGRESS BARS
Some (not all) long-running commands send progress notification messages as they are
running. Guestfish turns these messages into progress bars.
When a command that supports progress bars takes longer than two seconds to run, and if
progress bars are enabled, then you will see one appearing below the command:
><fs> copy-size /large-file /another-file 2048M
/ 10% [#####-----------------------------------------] 00:30
The spinner on the left hand side moves round once for every progress notification
received from the backend. This is a (reasonably) golden assurance that the command is
"doing something" even if the progress bar is not moving, because the command is able to
send the progress notifications. When the bar reaches 100% and the command finishes, the
spinner disappears.
Progress bars are enabled by default when guestfish is used interactively. You can enable
them even for non-interactive modes using --progress-bars, and you can disable them
completely using --no-progress-bars.
PROMPT
You can change or add colours to the default prompt ("><fs>") by setting the
"GUESTFISH_PS1" environment variable. A simple prompt can be set by setting this to an
alternate string:
$ GUESTFISH_PS1='(type a command) '
$ export GUESTFISH_PS1
$ guestfish
[...]
(type a command) ▂
You can also use special escape sequences, as described in the table below:
\\ A literal backslash character.
\[
\] Place non-printing characters (eg. terminal control codes for colours) between
"\[...\]". What this does it to tell the readline(3) library that it should treat
this subsequence as zero-width, so that command-line redisplay, editing etc works.
\a A bell character.
\e An ASCII ESC (escape) character.
\n A newline.
\r A carriage return.
\NNN
The ASCII character whose code is the octal value NNN.
\xNN
The ASCII character whose code is the hex value NN.
EXAMPLES OF PROMPTS
Note these these require a terminal that supports ANSI escape codes.
GUESTFISH_PS1='\[\e[1;30m\]><fs>\[\e[0;30m\] '
A bold black version of the ordinary prompt.
WINDOWS 8
Windows 8 "fast startup" can prevent guestfish from mounting NTFS partitions. See
"WINDOWS HIBERNATION AND WINDOWS 8 FAST STARTUP" in guestfs(3).
GUESTFISH COMMANDS
The commands in this section are guestfish convenience commands, in other words, they are
not part of the guestfs(3) API.
help
help
help cmd
Without any parameter, this provides general help.
With a "cmd" parameter, this displays detailed help for that command.
exit
quit
This exits guestfish. You can also use "^D" key.
alloc
allocate
alloc filename size
This creates an empty (zeroed) file of the given size, and then adds so it can be further
examined.
For more advanced image creation, see qemu-img(1) utility.
Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. "1M".
To create a sparse file, use "sparse" instead. To create a prepared disk image, see
"PREPARED DISK IMAGES".
copy-in
copy-in local [local ...] /remotedir
"copy-in" copies local files or directories recursively into the disk image, placing them
in the directory called "/remotedir" (which must exist). This guestfish meta-command
turns into a sequence of "tar-in" and other commands as necessary.
Multiple local files and directories can be specified, but the last parameter must always
be a remote directory. Wildcards cannot be used.
copy-out
copy-out remote [remote ...] localdir
"copy-out" copies remote files or directories recursively out of the disk image, placing
them on the host disk in a local directory called "localdir" (which must exist). This
guestfish meta-command turns into a sequence of "download", "tar-out" and other commands
as necessary.
Multiple remote files and directories can be specified, but the last parameter must always
be a local directory. To download to the current directory, use "." as in:
copy-out /home .
Wildcards cannot be used in the ordinary command, but you can use them with the help of
"glob" like this:
glob copy-out /home/* .
delete-event
delete-event name
Delete the event handler which was previously registered as "name". If multiple event
handlers were registered with the same name, they are all deleted.
See also the guestfish commands "event" and "list-events".
display
display filename
Use "display" (a graphical display program) to display an image file. It downloads the
file, and runs "display" on it.
To use an alternative program, set the "GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE" environment variable.
For example to use the GNOME display program:
export GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE=eog
See also display(1).
echo
echo [params ...]
This echos the parameters to the terminal.
edit
vi
emacs
edit filename
This is used to edit a file. It downloads the file, edits it locally using your editor,
then uploads the result.
The editor is $EDITOR. However if you use the alternate commands "vi" or "emacs" you will
get those corresponding editors.
event
event name eventset "shell script ..."
Register a shell script fragment which is executed when an event is raised. See
"guestfs_set_event_callback" in guestfs(3) for a discussion of the event API in
libguestfs.
The "name" parameter is a name that you give to this event handler. It can be any string
(even the empty string) and is simply there so you can delete the handler using the
guestfish "delete-event" command.
The "eventset" parameter is a comma-separated list of one or more events, for example
"close" or "close,trace". The special value "*" means all events.
The third and final parameter is the shell script fragment (or any external command) that
is executed when any of the events in the eventset occurs. It is executed using "$SHELL
-c", or if $SHELL is not set then "/bin/sh -c".
The shell script fragment receives callback parameters as arguments $1, $2 etc. The
actual event that was called is available in the environment variable $EVENT.
event "" close "echo closed"
event messages appliance,library,trace "echo $@"
event "" progress "echo progress: $3/$4"
event "" * "echo $EVENT $@"
See also the guestfish commands "delete-event" and "list-events".
glob
glob command args...
Expand wildcards in any paths in the args list, and run "command" repeatedly on each
matching path.
See "WILDCARDS AND GLOBBING".
hexedit
hexedit <filename|device>
hexedit <filename|device> <max>
hexedit <filename|device> <start> <max>
Use hexedit (a hex editor) to edit all or part of a binary file or block device.
This command works by downloading potentially the whole file or device, editing it
locally, then uploading it. If the file or device is large, you have to specify which
part you wish to edit by using "max" and/or "start" "max" parameters. "start" and "max"
are specified in bytes, with the usual modifiers allowed such as "1M" (1 megabyte).
For example to edit the first few sectors of a disk you might do:
hexedit /dev/sda 1M
which would allow you to edit anywhere within the first megabyte of the disk.
To edit the superblock of an ext2 filesystem on "/dev/sda1", do:
hexedit /dev/sda1 0x400 0x400
(assuming the superblock is in the standard location).
This command requires the external hexedit(1) program. You can specify another program to
use by setting the "HEXEDITOR" environment variable.
See also "hexdump".
lcd
lcd directory
Change the local directory, ie. the current directory of guestfish itself.
Note that "!cd" won't do what you might expect.
list-events
list-events
List the event handlers registered using the guestfish "event" command.
man
manual
man
Opens the manual page for guestfish.
more
less
more filename
less filename
This is used to view a file.
The default viewer is $PAGER. However if you use the alternate command "less" you will
get the "less" command specifically.
reopen
reopen
Close and reopen the libguestfs handle. It is not necessary to use this normally, because
the handle is closed properly when guestfish exits. However this is occasionally useful
for testing.
setenv
setenv VAR value
Set the environment variable "VAR" to the string "value".
To print the value of an environment variable use a shell command such as:
!echo $VAR
sparse
sparse filename size
This creates an empty sparse file of the given size, and then adds so it can be further
examined.
In all respects it works the same as the "alloc" command, except that the image file is
allocated sparsely, which means that disk blocks are not assigned to the file until they
are needed. Sparse disk files only use space when written to, but they are slower and
there is a danger you could run out of real disk space during a write operation.
For more advanced image creation, see qemu-img(1) utility.
Size can be specified using standard suffixes, eg. "1M".
See also the guestfish "scratch" command.
supported
supported
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.
See also "AVAILABILITY" in guestfs(3).
time
time command args...
Run the command as usual, but print the elapsed time afterwards. This can be useful for
benchmarking operations.
unsetenv
unsetenv VAR
Remove "VAR" from the environment.
COMMANDS
acl-delete-def-file
acl-delete-def-file dir
This function deletes the default POSIX Access Control List (ACL) attached to directory
"dir".
acl-get-file
acl-get-file path acltype
This function returns the POSIX Access Control List (ACL) attached to "path". The ACL is
returned in "long text form" (see acl(5)).
The "acltype" parameter may be:
"access"
Return the ordinary (access) ACL for any file, directory or other filesystem object.
"default"
Return the default ACL. Normally this only makes sense if "path" is a directory.
acl-set-file
acl-set-file path acltype acl
This function sets the POSIX Access Control List (ACL) attached to "path".
The "acltype" parameter may be:
"access"
Set the ordinary (access) ACL for any file, directory or other filesystem object.
"default"
Set the default ACL. Normally this only makes sense if "path" is a directory.
The "acl" parameter is the new ACL in either "long text form" or "short text form" (see
acl(5)). The new ACL completely replaces any previous ACL on the file. The ACL must
contain the full Unix permissions (eg. "u::rwx,g::rx,o::rx").
If you are specifying individual users or groups, then the mask field is also required
(eg. "m::rwx"), followed by the "u:ID:..." and/or "g:ID:..." field(s). A full ACL string
might therefore look like this:
u::rwx,g::rwx,o::rwx,m::rwx,u:500:rwx,g:500:rwx
\ Unix permissions / \mask/ \ ACL /
You should use numeric UIDs and GIDs. To map usernames and groupnames to the correct
numeric ID in the context of the guest, use the Augeas functions (see "aug-init").
add-cdrom
add-cdrom filename
This function adds a virtual CD-ROM disk image to the guest.
Do not use this function! ISO files are just ordinary read-only disk images. Use "add-
drive-ro" instead.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "add-drive" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
add-domain
domain
add-domain dom [libvirturi:..] [readonly:true|false] [iface:..] [live:true|false] [allowuuid:true|false] [readonlydisk:..]
This function adds the disk(s) attached to the named libvirt domain "dom". It works by
connecting to libvirt, requesting the domain and domain XML from libvirt, parsing it for
disks, and calling "add-drive-opts" on each one.
The number of disks added is returned. This operation is atomic: if an error is returned,
then no disks are added.
This function does some minimal checks to make sure the libvirt domain is not running
(unless "readonly" is true). In a future version we will try to acquire the libvirt lock
on each disk.
Disks must be accessible locally. This often means that adding disks from a remote
libvirt connection (see http://libvirt.org/remote.html) will fail unless those disks are
accessible via the same device path locally too.
The optional "libvirturi" parameter sets the libvirt URI (see
http://libvirt.org/uri.html). If this is not set then we connect to the default libvirt
URI (or one set through an environment variable, see the libvirt documentation for full
details).
The optional "live" flag controls whether this call will try to connect to a running
virtual machine "guestfsd" process if it sees a suitable <channel> element in the libvirt
XML definition. The default (if the flag is omitted) is never to try. See "ATTACHING TO
RUNNING DAEMONS" in guestfs(3) for more information.
If the "allowuuid" flag is true (default is false) then a UUID may be passed instead of
the domain name. The "dom" string is treated as a UUID first and looked up, and if that
lookup fails then we treat "dom" as a name as usual.
The optional "readonlydisk" parameter controls what we do for disks which are marked
<readonly/> in the libvirt XML. Possible values are:
readonlydisk = "error"
If "readonly" is false:
The whole call is aborted with an error if any disk with the <readonly/> flag is
found.
If "readonly" is true:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are added read-only.
readonlydisk = "read"
If "readonly" is false:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are added read-only. Other disks are added
read/write.
If "readonly" is true:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are added read-only.
readonlydisk = "write" (default)
If "readonly" is false:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are added read/write.
If "readonly" is true:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are added read-only.
readonlydisk = "ignore"
If "readonly" is true or false:
Disks with the <readonly/> flag are skipped.
The other optional parameters are passed directly through to "add-drive-opts".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
add-drive
add
add-drive-opts
add-drive filename [readonly:true|false] [format:..] [iface:..] [name:..] [label:..] [protocol:..] [server:..] [username:..] [secret:..] [cachemode:..]
This function adds a disk image called "filename" to the handle. "filename" may be a
regular host file or a host device.
When this function is called before "launch" (the usual case) then the first time you call
this function, the disk appears in the API as "/dev/sda", the second time as "/dev/sdb",
and so on.
In libguestfs ≥ 1.20 you can also call this function after launch (with some
restrictions). This is called "hotplugging". When hotplugging, you must specify a
"label" so that the new disk gets a predictable name. For more information see
"HOTPLUGGING" in guestfs(3).
You don't necessarily need to be root when using libguestfs. However you obviously do
need sufficient permissions to access the filename for whatever operations you want to
perform (ie. read access if you just want to read the image or write access if you want to
modify the image).
This call checks that "filename" exists.
"filename" may be the special string "/dev/null". See "NULL DISKS" in guestfs(3).
The optional arguments are:
"readonly"
If true then the image is treated as read-only. Writes are still allowed, but they
are stored in a temporary snapshot overlay which is discarded at the end. The disk
that you add is not modified.
"format"
This forces the image format. If you omit this (or use "add-drive" or "add-drive-ro")
then the format is automatically detected. Possible formats include "raw" and
"qcow2".
Automatic detection of the format opens you up to a potential security hole when
dealing with untrusted raw-format images. See CVE-2010-3851 and RHBZ#642934.
Specifying the format closes this security hole.
"iface"
This rarely-used option lets you emulate the behaviour of the deprecated "add-drive-
with-if" call (q.v.)
"name"
The name the drive had in the original guest, e.g. "/dev/sdb". This is used as a hint
to the guest inspection process if it is available.
"label"
Give the disk a label. The label should be a unique, short string using only ASCII
characters "[a-zA-Z]". As well as its usual name in the API (such as "/dev/sda"), the
drive will also be named "/dev/disk/guestfs/label".
See "DISK LABELS" in guestfs(3).
"protocol"
The optional protocol argument can be used to select an alternate source protocol.
See also: "REMOTE STORAGE" in guestfs(3).
"protocol = "file""
"filename" is interpreted as a local file or device. This is the default if the
optional protocol parameter is omitted.
"protocol = "ftp"|"ftps"|"http"|"https"|"tftp""
Connect to a remote FTP, HTTP or TFTP server. The "server" parameter must also be
supplied - see below.
See also: "FTP, HTTP AND TFTP" in guestfs(3)
"protocol = "gluster""
Connect to the GlusterFS server. The "server" parameter must also be supplied -
see below.
See also: "GLUSTER" in guestfs(3)
"protocol = "iscsi""
Connect to the iSCSI server. The "server" parameter must also be supplied - see
below.
See also: "ISCSI" in guestfs(3).
"protocol = "nbd""
Connect to the Network Block Device server. The "server" parameter must also be
supplied - see below.
See also: "NETWORK BLOCK DEVICE" in guestfs(3).
"protocol = "rbd""
Connect to the Ceph (librbd/RBD) server. The "server" parameter must also be
supplied - see below. The "username" parameter may be supplied. See below. The
"secret" parameter may be supplied. See below.
See also: "CEPH" in guestfs(3).
"protocol = "sheepdog""
Connect to the Sheepdog server. The "server" parameter may also be supplied - see
below.
See also: "SHEEPDOG" in guestfs(3).
"protocol = "ssh""
Connect to the Secure Shell (ssh) server.
The "server" parameter must be supplied. The "username" parameter may be
supplied. See below.
See also: "SSH" in guestfs(3).
"server"
For protocols which require access to a remote server, this is a list of server(s).
Protocol Number of servers required
-------- --------------------------
file List must be empty or param not used at all
ftp|ftps|http|https|tftp Exactly one
gluster Exactly one
iscsi Exactly one
nbd Exactly one
rbd One or more
sheepdog Zero or more
ssh Exactly one
Each list element is a string specifying a server. The string must be in one of the
following formats:
hostname
hostname:port
tcp:hostname
tcp:hostname:port
unix:/path/to/socket
If the port number is omitted, then the standard port number for the protocol is used
(see "/etc/services").
"username"
For the "ftp", "ftps", "http", "https", "iscsi", "rbd", "ssh" and "tftp" protocols,
this specifies the remote username.
If not given, then the local username is used for "ssh", and no authentication is
attempted for ceph. But note this sometimes may give unexpected results, for example
if using the libvirt backend and if the libvirt backend is configured to start the
qemu appliance as a special user such as "qemu.qemu". If in doubt, specify the remote
username you want.
"secret"
For the "rbd" protocol only, this specifies the 'secret' to use when connecting to the
remote device.
If not given, then a secret matching the given username will be looked up in the
default keychain locations, or if no username is given, then no authentication will be
used.
"cachemode"
Choose whether or not libguestfs will obey sync operations (safe but slow) or not
(unsafe but fast). The possible values for this string are:
"cachemode = "writeback""
This is the default.
Write operations in the API do not return until a write(2) call has completed in
the host [but note this does not imply that anything gets written to disk].
Sync operations in the API, including implicit syncs caused by filesystem
journalling, will not return until an fdatasync(2) call has completed in the host,
indicating that data has been committed to disk.
"cachemode = "unsafe""
In this mode, there are no guarantees. Libguestfs may cache anything and ignore
sync requests. This is suitable only for scratch or temporary disks.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
add-drive-ro
add-ro
add-drive-ro filename
This function is the equivalent of calling "add-drive-opts" with the optional parameter
"GUESTFS_ADD_DRIVE_OPTS_READONLY" set to 1, so the disk is added read-only, with the
format being detected automatically.
add-drive-ro-with-if
add-drive-ro-with-if filename iface
This is the same as "add-drive-ro" but it allows you to specify the QEMU interface
emulation to use at run time.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "add-drive" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
add-drive-scratch
scratch
add-drive-scratch size [name:..] [label:..]
This command adds a temporary scratch drive to the handle. The "size" parameter is the
virtual size (in bytes). The scratch drive is blank initially (all reads return zeroes
until you start writing to it). The drive is deleted when the handle is closed.
The optional arguments "name" and "label" are passed through to "add-drive".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
add-drive-with-if
add-drive-with-if filename iface
This is the same as "add-drive" but it allows you to specify the QEMU interface emulation
to use at run time.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "add-drive" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
aug-clear
aug-clear augpath
Set the value associated with "path" to "NULL". This is the same as the augtool(1)
"clear" command.
aug-close
aug-close
Close the current Augeas handle and free up any resources used by it. After calling this,
you have to call "aug-init" again before you can use any other Augeas functions.
aug-defnode
aug-defnode name expr val
Defines a variable "name" whose value is the result of evaluating "expr".
If "expr" evaluates to an empty nodeset, a node is created, equivalent to calling "aug-
set" "expr", "value". "name" will be the nodeset containing that single node.
On success this returns a pair containing the number of nodes in the nodeset, and a
boolean flag if a node was created.
aug-defvar
aug-defvar name expr
Defines an Augeas variable "name" whose value is the result of evaluating "expr". If
"expr" is NULL, then "name" is undefined.
On success this returns the number of nodes in "expr", or 0 if "expr" evaluates to
something which is not a nodeset.
aug-get
aug-get augpath
Look up the value associated with "path". If "path" matches exactly one node, the "value"
is returned.
aug-init
aug-init root flags
Create a new Augeas handle for editing configuration files. If there was any previous
Augeas handle associated with this guestfs session, then it is closed.
You must call this before using any other "aug-*" commands.
"root" is the filesystem root. "root" must not be NULL, use "/" instead.
The flags are the same as the flags defined in <augeas.h>, the logical or of the following
integers:
"AUG_SAVE_BACKUP" = 1
Keep the original file with a ".augsave" extension.
"AUG_SAVE_NEWFILE" = 2
Save changes into a file with extension ".augnew", and do not overwrite original.
Overrides "AUG_SAVE_BACKUP".
"AUG_TYPE_CHECK" = 4
Typecheck lenses.
This option is only useful when debugging Augeas lenses. Use of this option may
require additional memory for the libguestfs appliance. You may need to set the
"LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE" environment variable or call "set-memsize".
"AUG_NO_STDINC" = 8
Do not use standard load path for modules.
"AUG_SAVE_NOOP" = 16
Make save a no-op, just record what would have been changed.
"AUG_NO_LOAD" = 32
Do not load the tree in "aug-init".
To close the handle, you can call "aug-close".
To find out more about Augeas, see http://augeas.net/.
aug-insert
aug-insert augpath label true|false
Create a new sibling "label" for "path", inserting it into the tree before or after "path"
(depending on the boolean flag "before").
"path" must match exactly one existing node in the tree, and "label" must be a label, ie.
not contain "/", "*" or end with a bracketed index "[N]".
aug-label
aug-label augpath
The label (name of the last element) of the Augeas path expression "augpath" is returned.
"augpath" must match exactly one node, else this function returns an error.
aug-load
aug-load
Load files into the tree.
See "aug_load" in the Augeas documentation for the full gory details.
aug-ls
aug-ls augpath
This is just a shortcut for listing "aug-match" "path/*" and sorting the resulting nodes
into alphabetical order.
aug-match
aug-match augpath
Returns a list of paths which match the path expression "path". The returned paths are
sufficiently qualified so that they match exactly one node in the current tree.
aug-mv
aug-mv src dest
Move the node "src" to "dest". "src" must match exactly one node. "dest" is overwritten
if it exists.
aug-rm
aug-rm augpath
Remove "path" and all of its children.
On success this returns the number of entries which were removed.
aug-save
aug-save
This writes all pending changes to disk.
The flags which were passed to "aug-init" affect exactly how files are saved.
aug-set
aug-set augpath val
Set the value associated with "path" to "val".
In the Augeas API, it is possible to clear a node by setting the value to NULL. Due to an
oversight in the libguestfs API you cannot do that with this call. Instead you must use
the "aug-clear" call.
aug-setm
aug-setm base sub val
Change multiple Augeas nodes in a single operation. "base" is an expression matching
multiple nodes. "sub" is a path expression relative to "base". All nodes matching "base"
are found, and then for each node, "sub" is changed to "val". "sub" may also be "NULL" in
which case the "base" nodes are modified.
This returns the number of nodes modified.
available
available 'groups ...'
This command is used to check the availability of some groups of functionality in the
appliance, which not all builds of the libguestfs appliance will be able to provide.
The libguestfs groups, and the functions that those groups correspond to, are listed in
"AVAILABILITY" in guestfs(3). You can also fetch this list at runtime by calling
"available-all-groups".
The argument "groups" is a list of group names, eg: "["inotify", "augeas"]" would check
for the availability of the Linux inotify functions and Augeas (configuration file
editing) functions.
The command returns no error if all requested groups are available.
It fails with an error if one or more of the requested groups is unavailable in the
appliance.
If an unknown group name is included in the list of groups then an error is always
returned.
Notes:
• "feature-available" is the same as this call, but with a slightly simpler to use API:
that call returns a boolean true/false instead of throwing an error.
• You must call "launch" before calling this function.
The reason is because we don't know what groups are supported by the appliance/daemon
until it is running and can be queried.
• If a group of functions is available, this does not necessarily mean that they will
work. You still have to check for errors when calling individual API functions even
if they are available.
• It is usually the job of distro packagers to build complete functionality into the
libguestfs appliance. Upstream libguestfs, if built from source with all requirements
satisfied, will support everything.
• This call was added in version 1.0.80. In previous versions of libguestfs all you
could do would be to speculatively execute a command to find out if the daemon
implemented it. See also "version".
See also "filesystem-available".
available-all-groups
available-all-groups
This command returns a list of all optional groups that this daemon knows about. Note
this returns both supported and unsupported groups. To find out which ones the daemon can
actually support you have to call "available" / "feature-available" on each member of the
returned list.
See also "available", "feature-available" and "AVAILABILITY" in guestfs(3).
base64-in
base64-in (base64file|-) filename
This command uploads base64-encoded data from "base64file" to "filename".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
base64-out
base64-out filename (base64file|-)
This command downloads the contents of "filename", writing it out to local file
"base64file" encoded as base64.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
blkid
blkid device
This command returns block device attributes for "device". The following fields are
usually present in the returned hash. Other fields may also be present.
"UUID"
The uuid of this device.
"LABEL"
The label of this device.
"VERSION"
The version of blkid command.
"TYPE"
The filesystem type or RAID of this device.
"USAGE"
The usage of this device, for example "filesystem" or "raid".
blockdev-flushbufs
blockdev-flushbufs device
This tells the kernel to flush internal buffers associated with "device".
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-getbsz
blockdev-getbsz device
This returns the block size of a device.
Note: this is different from both size in blocks and filesystem block size. Also this
setting is not really used by anything. You should probably not use it for anything.
Filesystems have their own idea about what block size to choose.
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-getro
blockdev-getro device
Returns a boolean indicating if the block device is read-only (true if read-only, false if
not).
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-getsize64
blockdev-getsize64 device
This returns the size of the device in bytes.
See also "blockdev-getsz".
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-getss
blockdev-getss device
This returns the size of sectors on a block device. Usually 512, but can be larger for
modern devices.
(Note, this is not the size in sectors, use "blockdev-getsz" for that).
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-getsz
blockdev-getsz device
This returns the size of the device in units of 512-byte sectors (even if the sectorsize
isn't 512 bytes ... weird).
See also "blockdev-getss" for the real sector size of the device, and "blockdev-getsize64"
for the more useful size in bytes.
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-rereadpt
blockdev-rereadpt device
Reread the partition table on "device".
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-setbsz
blockdev-setbsz device blocksize
This call does nothing and has never done anything because of a bug in blockdev. Do not
use it.
If you need to set the filesystem block size, use the "blocksize" option of "mkfs".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mkfs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
blockdev-setro
blockdev-setro device
Sets the block device named "device" to read-only.
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
blockdev-setrw
blockdev-setrw device
Sets the block device named "device" to read-write.
This uses the blockdev(8) command.
btrfs-device-add
btrfs-device-add 'devices ...' fs
Add the list of device(s) in "devices" to the btrfs filesystem mounted at "fs". If
"devices" is an empty list, this does nothing.
btrfs-device-delete
btrfs-device-delete 'devices ...' fs
Remove the "devices" from the btrfs filesystem mounted at "fs". If "devices" is an empty
list, this does nothing.
btrfs-filesystem-balance
btrfs-filesystem-balance fs
Balance the chunks in the btrfs filesystem mounted at "fs" across the underlying devices.
btrfs-filesystem-resize
btrfs-filesystem-resize mountpoint [size:N]
This command resizes a btrfs filesystem.
Note that unlike other resize calls, the filesystem has to be mounted and the parameter is
the mountpoint not the device (this is a requirement of btrfs itself).
The optional parameters are:
"size"
The new size (in bytes) of the filesystem. If omitted, the filesystem is resized to
the maximum size.
See also btrfs(8).
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
btrfs-filesystem-sync
btrfs-filesystem-sync fs
Force sync on the btrfs filesystem mounted at "fs".
btrfs-fsck
btrfs-fsck device [superblock:N] [repair:true|false]
Used to check a btrfs filesystem, "device" is the device file where the filesystem is
stored.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
btrfs-set-seeding
btrfs-set-seeding device true|false
Enable or disable the seeding feature of a device that contains a btrfs filesystem.
btrfs-subvolume-create
btrfs-subvolume-create dest
Create a btrfs subvolume. The "dest" argument is the destination directory and the name
of the snapshot, in the form "/path/to/dest/name".
btrfs-subvolume-delete
btrfs-subvolume-delete subvolume
Delete the named btrfs subvolume.
btrfs-subvolume-list
btrfs-subvolume-list fs
List the btrfs snapshots and subvolumes of the btrfs filesystem which is mounted at "fs".
btrfs-subvolume-set-default
btrfs-subvolume-set-default id fs
Set the subvolume of the btrfs filesystem "fs" which will be mounted by default. See
"btrfs-subvolume-list" to get a list of subvolumes.
btrfs-subvolume-snapshot
btrfs-subvolume-snapshot source dest
Create a writable snapshot of the btrfs subvolume "source". The "dest" argument is the
destination directory and the name of the snapshot, in the form "/path/to/dest/name".
canonical-device-name
canonical-device-name device
This utility function is useful when displaying device names to the user. It takes a
number of irregular device names and returns them in a consistent format:
"/dev/hdX"
"/dev/vdX"
These are returned as "/dev/sdX". Note this works for device names and partition
names. This is approximately the reverse of the algorithm described in "BLOCK DEVICE
NAMING" in guestfs(3).
"/dev/mapper/VG-LV"
"/dev/dm-N"
Converted to "/dev/VG/LV" form using "lvm-canonical-lvm-name".
Other strings are returned unmodified.
cap-get-file
cap-get-file path
This function returns the Linux capabilities attached to "path". The capabilities set is
returned in text form (see cap_to_text(3)).
If no capabilities are attached to a file, an empty string is returned.
cap-set-file
cap-set-file path cap
This function sets the Linux capabilities attached to "path". The capabilities set "cap"
should be passed in text form (see cap_from_text(3)).
case-sensitive-path
case-sensitive-path path
This can be used to resolve case insensitive paths on a filesystem which is case
sensitive. The use case is to resolve paths which you have read from Windows
configuration files or the Windows Registry, to the true path.
The command handles a peculiarity of the Linux ntfs-3g filesystem driver (and probably
others), which is that although the underlying filesystem is case-insensitive, the driver
exports the filesystem to Linux as case-sensitive.
One consequence of this is that special directories such as "c:\windows" may appear as
"/WINDOWS" or "/windows" (or other things) depending on the precise details of how they
were created. In Windows itself this would not be a problem.
Bug or feature? You decide: http://www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-faq/#posixfilenames1
"case-sensitive-path" attempts to resolve the true case of each element in the path. It
will return a resolved path if either the full path or its parent directory exists. If the
parent directory exists but the full path does not, the case of the parent directory will
be correctly resolved, and the remainder appended unmodified. For example, if the file
"/Windows/System32/netkvm.sys" exists:
"case-sensitive-path" ("/windows/system32/netkvm.sys")
"Windows/System32/netkvm.sys"
"case-sensitive-path" ("/windows/system32/NoSuchFile")
"Windows/System32/NoSuchFile"
"case-sensitive-path" ("/windows/system33/netkvm.sys")
ERROR
Note: Because of the above behaviour, "case-sensitive-path" cannot be used to check for
the existence of a file.
Note: This function does not handle drive names, backslashes etc.
See also "realpath".
cat
cat path
Return the contents of the file named "path".
Because, in C, this function returns a "char *", there is no way to differentiate between
a "\0" character in a file and end of string. To handle binary files, use the "read-file"
or "download" functions.
checksum
checksum csumtype path
This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the file named "path".
The type of checksum to compute is given by the "csumtype" parameter which must have one
of the following values:
"crc"
Compute the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) specified by POSIX for the "cksum" command.
"md5"
Compute the MD5 hash (using the "md5sum" program).
"sha1"
Compute the SHA1 hash (using the "sha1sum" program).
"sha224"
Compute the SHA224 hash (using the "sha224sum" program).
"sha256"
Compute the SHA256 hash (using the "sha256sum" program).
"sha384"
Compute the SHA384 hash (using the "sha384sum" program).
"sha512"
Compute the SHA512 hash (using the "sha512sum" program).
The checksum is returned as a printable string.
To get the checksum for a device, use "checksum-device".
To get the checksums for many files, use "checksums-out".
checksum-device
checksum-device csumtype device
This call computes the MD5, SHAx or CRC checksum of the contents of the device named
"device". For the types of checksums supported see the "checksum" command.
checksums-out
checksums-out csumtype directory (sumsfile|-)
This command computes the checksums of all regular files in "directory" and then emits a
list of those checksums to the local output file "sumsfile".
This can be used for verifying the integrity of a virtual machine. However to be properly
secure you should pay attention to the output of the checksum command (it uses the ones
from GNU coreutils). In particular when the filename is not printable, coreutils uses a
special backslash syntax. For more information, see the GNU coreutils info file.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
chmod
chmod mode path
Change the mode (permissions) of "path" to "mode". Only numeric modes are supported.
Note: When using this command from guestfish, "mode" by default would be decimal, unless
you prefix it with 0 to get octal, ie. use 0700 not 700.
The mode actually set is affected by the umask.
chown
chown owner group path
Change the file owner to "owner" and group to "group".
Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use names, you will need to locate
and parse the password file yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
command
command 'arguments ...'
This call runs a command from the guest filesystem. The filesystem must be mounted, and
must contain a compatible operating system (ie. something Linux, with the same or
compatible processor architecture).
The single parameter is an argv-style list of arguments. The first element is the name of
the program to run. Subsequent elements are parameters. The list must be non-empty (ie.
must contain a program name). Note that the command runs directly, and is not invoked via
the shell (see "sh").
The return value is anything printed to stdout by the command.
If the command returns a non-zero exit status, then this function returns an error
message. The error message string is the content of stderr from the command.
The $PATH environment variable will contain at least "/usr/bin" and "/bin". If you
require a program from another location, you should provide the full path in the first
parameter.
Shared libraries and data files required by the program must be available on filesystems
which are mounted in the correct places. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure all
filesystems that are needed are mounted at the right locations.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
command-lines
command-lines 'arguments ...'
This is the same as "command", but splits the result into a list of lines.
See also: "sh-lines"
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
compress-device-out
compress-device-out ctype device (zdevice|-) [level:N]
This command compresses "device" and writes it out to the local file "zdevice".
The "ctype" and optional "level" parameters have the same meaning as in "compress-out".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
compress-out
compress-out ctype file (zfile|-) [level:N]
This command compresses "file" and writes it out to the local file "zfile".
The compression program used is controlled by the "ctype" parameter. Currently this
includes: "compress", "gzip", "bzip2", "xz" or "lzop". Some compression types may not be
supported by particular builds of libguestfs, in which case you will get an error
containing the substring "not supported".
The optional "level" parameter controls compression level. The meaning and default for
this parameter depends on the compression program being used.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
config
config hvparam hvvalue
This can be used to add arbitrary hypervisor parameters of the form -param value.
Actually it's not quite arbitrary - we prevent you from setting some parameters which
would interfere with parameters that we use.
The first character of "hvparam" string must be a "-" (dash).
"hvvalue" can be NULL.
copy-device-to-device
copy-device-to-device src dest [srcoffset:N] [destoffset:N] [size:N] [sparse:true|false]
The four calls "copy-device-to-device", "copy-device-to-file", "copy-file-to-device", and
"copy-file-to-file" let you copy from a source (device|file) to a destination
(device|file).
Partial copies can be made since you can specify optionally the source offset, destination
offset and size to copy. These values are all specified in bytes. If not given, the
offsets both default to zero, and the size defaults to copying as much as possible until
we hit the end of the source.
The source and destination may be the same object. However overlapping regions may not be
copied correctly.
If the destination is a file, it is created if required. If the destination file is not
large enough, it is extended.
If the "sparse" flag is true then the call avoids writing blocks that contain only zeroes,
which can help in some situations where the backing disk is thin-provisioned. Note that
unless the target is already zeroed, using this option will result in incorrect copying.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
copy-device-to-file
copy-device-to-file src dest [srcoffset:N] [destoffset:N] [size:N] [sparse:true|false]
See "copy-device-to-device" for a general overview of this call.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
copy-file-to-device
copy-file-to-device src dest [srcoffset:N] [destoffset:N] [size:N] [sparse:true|false]
See "copy-device-to-device" for a general overview of this call.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
copy-file-to-file
copy-file-to-file src dest [srcoffset:N] [destoffset:N] [size:N] [sparse:true|false]
See "copy-device-to-device" for a general overview of this call.
This is not the function you want for copying files. This is for copying blocks within
existing files. See "cp", "cp-a" and "mv" for general file copying and moving functions.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
copy-size
copy-size src dest size
This command copies exactly "size" bytes from one source device or file "src" to another
destination device or file "dest".
Note this will fail if the source is too short or if the destination is not large enough.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "copy-device-to-device" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
cp
cp src dest
This copies a file from "src" to "dest" where "dest" is either a destination filename or
destination directory.
cp-a
cp-a src dest
This copies a file or directory from "src" to "dest" recursively using the "cp -a"
command.
cp-r
cp-r src dest
This copies a file or directory from "src" to "dest" recursively using the "cp -rP"
command.
Most users should use "cp-a" instead. This command is useful when you don't want to
preserve permissions, because the target filesystem does not support it (primarily when
writing to DOS FAT filesystems).
dd
dd src dest
This command copies from one source device or file "src" to another destination device or
file "dest". Normally you would use this to copy to or from a device or partition, for
example to duplicate a filesystem.
If the destination is a device, it must be as large or larger than the source file or
device, otherwise the copy will fail. This command cannot do partial copies (see "copy-
device-to-device").
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "copy-device-to-device" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
device-index
device-index device
This function takes a device name (eg. "/dev/sdb") and returns the index of the device in
the list of devices.
Index numbers start from 0. The named device must exist, for example as a string returned
from "list-devices".
See also "list-devices", "part-to-dev".
df
df
This command runs the "df" command to report disk space used.
This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It is not intended that you try
to parse the output string. Use "statvfs" from programs.
df-h
df-h
This command runs the "df -h" command to report disk space used in human-readable format.
This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It is not intended that you try
to parse the output string. Use "statvfs" from programs.
disk-format
disk-format filename
Detect and return the format of the disk image called "filename". "filename" can also be
a host device, etc. If the format of the image could not be detected, then "unknown" is
returned.
Note that detecting the disk format can be insecure under some circumstances. See
"CVE-2010-3851" in guestfs(3).
See also: "DISK IMAGE FORMATS" in guestfs(3)
disk-has-backing-file
disk-has-backing-file filename
Detect and return whether the disk image "filename" has a backing file.
Note that detecting disk features can be insecure under some circumstances. See
"CVE-2010-3851" in guestfs(3).
disk-virtual-size
disk-virtual-size filename
Detect and return the virtual size in bytes of the disk image called "filename".
Note that detecting disk features can be insecure under some circumstances. See
"CVE-2010-3851" in guestfs(3).
dmesg
dmesg
This returns the kernel messages ("dmesg" output) from the guest kernel. This is
sometimes useful for extended debugging of problems.
Another way to get the same information is to enable verbose messages with "set-verbose"
or by setting the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1" before running the program.
download
download remotefilename (filename|-)
Download file "remotefilename" and save it as "filename" on the local machine.
"filename" can also be a named pipe.
See also "upload", "cat".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
download-offset
download-offset remotefilename (filename|-) offset size
Download file "remotefilename" and save it as "filename" on the local machine.
"remotefilename" is read for "size" bytes starting at "offset" (this region must be within
the file or device).
Note that there is no limit on the amount of data that can be downloaded with this call,
unlike with "pread", and this call always reads the full amount unless an error occurs.
See also "download", "pread".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
drop-caches
drop-caches whattodrop
This instructs the guest kernel to drop its page cache, and/or dentries and inode caches.
The parameter "whattodrop" tells the kernel what precisely to drop, see
http://linux-mm.org/Drop_Caches
Setting "whattodrop" to 3 should drop everything.
This automatically calls sync(2) before the operation, so that the maximum guest memory is
freed.
du
du path
This command runs the "du -s" command to estimate file space usage for "path".
"path" can be a file or a directory. If "path" is a directory then the estimate includes
the contents of the directory and all subdirectories (recursively).
The result is the estimated size in kilobytes (ie. units of 1024 bytes).
e2fsck
e2fsck device [correct:true|false] [forceall:true|false]
This runs the ext2/ext3 filesystem checker on "device". It can take the following
optional arguments:
"correct"
Automatically repair the file system. This option will cause e2fsck to automatically
fix any filesystem problems that can be safely fixed without human intervention.
This option may not be specified at the same time as the "forceall" option.
"forceall"
Assume an answer of 'yes' to all questions; allows e2fsck to be used non-
interactively.
This option may not be specified at the same time as the "correct" option.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
e2fsck-f
e2fsck-f device
This runs "e2fsck -p -f device", ie. runs the ext2/ext3 filesystem checker on "device",
noninteractively (-p), even if the filesystem appears to be clean (-f).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "e2fsck" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
echo-daemon
echo-daemon 'words ...'
This command concatenates the list of "words" passed with single spaces between them and
returns the resulting string.
You can use this command to test the connection through to the daemon.
See also "ping-daemon".
egrep
egrep regex path
This calls the external "egrep" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
egrepi
egrepi regex path
This calls the external "egrep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
equal
equal file1 file2
This compares the two files "file1" and "file2" and returns true if their content is
exactly equal, or false otherwise.
The external cmp(1) program is used for the comparison.
exists
exists path
This returns "true" if and only if there is a file, directory (or anything) with the given
"path" name.
See also "is-file", "is-dir", "stat".
extlinux
extlinux directory
Install the SYSLINUX bootloader on the device mounted at "directory". Unlike "syslinux"
which requires a FAT filesystem, this can be used on an ext2/3/4 or btrfs filesystem.
The "directory" parameter can be either a mountpoint, or a directory within the
mountpoint.
You also have to mark the partition as "active" ("part-set-bootable") and a Master Boot
Record must be installed (eg. using "pwrite-device") on the first sector of the whole
disk. The SYSLINUX package comes with some suitable Master Boot Records. See the
extlinux(1) man page for further information.
Additional configuration can be supplied to SYSLINUX by placing a file called
"extlinux.conf" on the filesystem under "directory". For further information about the
contents of this file, see extlinux(1).
See also "syslinux".
fallocate
fallocate path len
This command preallocates a file (containing zero bytes) named "path" of size "len" bytes.
If the file exists already, it is overwritten.
Do not confuse this with the guestfish-specific "alloc" command which allocates a file in
the host and attaches it as a device.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "fallocate64" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
fallocate64
fallocate64 path len
This command preallocates a file (containing zero bytes) named "path" of size "len" bytes.
If the file exists already, it is overwritten.
Note that this call allocates disk blocks for the file. To create a sparse file use
"truncate-size" instead.
The deprecated call "fallocate" does the same, but owing to an oversight it only allowed
30 bit lengths to be specified, effectively limiting the maximum size of files created
through that call to 1GB.
Do not confuse this with the guestfish-specific "alloc" and "sparse" commands which create
a file in the host and attach it as a device.
feature-available
feature-available 'groups ...'
This is the same as "available", but unlike that call it returns a simple true/false
boolean result, instead of throwing an exception if a feature is not found. For other
documentation see "available".
fgrep
fgrep pattern path
This calls the external "fgrep" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
fgrepi
fgrepi pattern path
This calls the external "fgrep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
file
file path
This call uses the standard file(1) command to determine the type or contents of the file.
This call will also transparently look inside various types of compressed file.
The exact command which runs is "file -zb path". Note in particular that the filename is
not prepended to the output (the -b option).
The output depends on the output of the underlying file(1) command and it can change in
future in ways beyond our control. In other words, the output is not guaranteed by the
ABI.
See also: file(1), "vfs-type", "lstat", "is-file", "is-blockdev" (etc), "is-zero".
file-architecture
file-architecture filename
This detects the architecture of the binary "filename", and returns it if known.
Currently defined architectures are:
"i386"
This string is returned for all 32 bit i386, i486, i586, i686 binaries irrespective of
the precise processor requirements of the binary.
"x86_64"
64 bit x86-64.
"sparc"
32 bit SPARC.
"sparc64"
64 bit SPARC V9 and above.
"ia64"
Intel Itanium.
"ppc"
32 bit Power PC.
"ppc64"
64 bit Power PC.
Libguestfs may return other architecture strings in future.
The function works on at least the following types of files:
• many types of Un*x and Linux binary
• many types of Un*x and Linux shared library
• Windows Win32 and Win64 binaries
• Windows Win32 and Win64 DLLs
Win32 binaries and DLLs return "i386".
Win64 binaries and DLLs return "x86_64".
• Linux kernel modules
• Linux new-style initrd images
• some non-x86 Linux vmlinuz kernels
What it can't do currently:
• static libraries (libfoo.a)
• Linux old-style initrd as compressed ext2 filesystem (RHEL 3)
• x86 Linux vmlinuz kernels
x86 vmlinuz images (bzImage format) consist of a mix of 16-, 32- and compressed code,
and are horribly hard to unpack. If you want to find the architecture of a kernel,
use the architecture of the associated initrd or kernel module(s) instead.
filesize
filesize file
This command returns the size of "file" in bytes.
To get other stats about a file, use "stat", "lstat", "is-dir", "is-file" etc. To get the
size of block devices, use "blockdev-getsize64".
filesystem-available
filesystem-available filesystem
Check whether libguestfs supports the named filesystem. The argument "filesystem" is a
filesystem name, such as "ext3".
You must call "launch" before using this command.
This is mainly useful as a negative test. If this returns true, it doesn't mean that a
particular filesystem can be created or mounted, since filesystems can fail for other
reasons such as it being a later version of the filesystem, or having incompatible
features, or lacking the right mkfs.<fs> tool.
See also "available", "feature-available", "AVAILABILITY" in guestfs(3).
fill
fill c len path
This command creates a new file called "path". The initial content of the file is "len"
octets of "c", where "c" must be a number in the range "[0..255]".
To fill a file with zero bytes (sparsely), it is much more efficient to use "truncate-
size". To create a file with a pattern of repeating bytes use "fill-pattern".
fill-dir
fill-dir dir nr
This function, useful for testing filesystems, creates "nr" empty files in the directory
"dir" with names 00000000 through "nr-1" (ie. each file name is 8 digits long padded with
zeroes).
fill-pattern
fill-pattern pattern len path
This function is like "fill" except that it creates a new file of length "len" containing
the repeating pattern of bytes in "pattern". The pattern is truncated if necessary to
ensure the length of the file is exactly "len" bytes.
find
find directory
This command lists out all files and directories, recursively, starting at "directory".
It is essentially equivalent to running the shell command "find directory -print" but some
post-processing happens on the output, described below.
This returns a list of strings without any prefix. Thus if the directory structure was:
/tmp/a
/tmp/b
/tmp/c/d
then the returned list from "find" "/tmp" would be 4 elements:
a
b
c
c/d
If "directory" is not a directory, then this command returns an error.
The returned list is sorted.
find0
find0 directory (files|-)
This command lists out all files and directories, recursively, starting at "directory",
placing the resulting list in the external file called "files".
This command works the same way as "find" with the following exceptions:
• The resulting list is written to an external file.
• Items (filenames) in the result are separated by "\0" characters. See find(1) option
-print0.
• The result list is not sorted.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
findfs-label
findfs-label label
This command searches the filesystems and returns the one which has the given label. An
error is returned if no such filesystem can be found.
To find the label of a filesystem, use "vfs-label".
findfs-uuid
findfs-uuid uuid
This command searches the filesystems and returns the one which has the given UUID. An
error is returned if no such filesystem can be found.
To find the UUID of a filesystem, use "vfs-uuid".
fsck
fsck fstype device
This runs the filesystem checker (fsck) on "device" which should have filesystem type
"fstype".
The returned integer is the status. See fsck(8) for the list of status codes from "fsck".
Notes:
• Multiple status codes can be summed together.
• A non-zero return code can mean "success", for example if errors have been corrected
on the filesystem.
• Checking or repairing NTFS volumes is not supported (by linux-ntfs).
This command is entirely equivalent to running "fsck -a -t fstype device".
fstrim
fstrim mountpoint [offset:N] [length:N] [minimumfreeextent:N]
Trim the free space in the filesystem mounted on "mountpoint". The filesystem must be
mounted read-write.
The filesystem contents are not affected, but any free space in the filesystem is
"trimmed", that is, given back to the host device, thus making disk images more sparse,
allowing unused space in qcow2 files to be reused, etc.
This operation requires support in libguestfs, the mounted filesystem, the host
filesystem, qemu and the host kernel. If this support isn't present it may give an error
or even appear to run but do nothing.
See also "zero-free-space". That is a slightly different operation that turns free space
in the filesystem into zeroes. It is valid to call "fstrim" either instead of, or after
calling "zero-free-space".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
get-append
get-append
Return the additional kernel options which are added to the guest kernel command line.
If "NULL" then no options are added.
get-attach-method
get-attach-method
Return the current backend.
See "set-backend" and "BACKEND" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "get-backend" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
get-autosync
get-autosync
Get the autosync flag.
get-backend
get-backend
Return the current backend.
This handle property was previously called the "attach method".
See "set-backend" and "BACKEND" in guestfs(3).
get-cachedir
get-cachedir
Get the directory used by the handle to store the appliance cache.
get-direct
get-direct
Return the direct appliance mode flag.
get-e2attrs
get-e2attrs file
This returns the file attributes associated with "file".
The attributes are a set of bits associated with each inode which affect the behaviour of
the file. The attributes are returned as a string of letters (described below). The
string may be empty, indicating that no file attributes are set for this file.
These attributes are only present when the file is located on an ext2/3/4 filesystem.
Using this call on other filesystem types will result in an error.
The characters (file attributes) in the returned string are currently:
'A' When the file is accessed, its atime is not modified.
'a' The file is append-only.
'c' The file is compressed on-disk.
'D' (Directories only.) Changes to this directory are written synchronously to disk.
'd' The file is not a candidate for backup (see dump(8)).
'E' The file has compression errors.
'e' The file is using extents.
'h' The file is storing its blocks in units of the filesystem blocksize instead of
sectors.
'I' (Directories only.) The directory is using hashed trees.
'i' The file is immutable. It cannot be modified, deleted or renamed. No link can be
created to this file.
'j' The file is data-journaled.
's' When the file is deleted, all its blocks will be zeroed.
'S' Changes to this file are written synchronously to disk.
'T' (Directories only.) This is a hint to the block allocator that subdirectories
contained in this directory should be spread across blocks. If not present, the block
allocator will try to group subdirectories together.
't' For a file, this disables tail-merging. (Not used by upstream implementations of
ext2.)
'u' When the file is deleted, its blocks will be saved, allowing the file to be undeleted.
'X' The raw contents of the compressed file may be accessed.
'Z' The compressed file is dirty.
More file attributes may be added to this list later. Not all file attributes may be set
for all kinds of files. For detailed information, consult the chattr(1) man page.
See also "set-e2attrs".
Don't confuse these attributes with extended attributes (see "getxattr").
get-e2generation
get-e2generation file
This returns the ext2 file generation of a file. The generation (which used to be called
the "version") is a number associated with an inode. This is most commonly used by NFS
servers.
The generation is only present when the file is located on an ext2/3/4 filesystem. Using
this call on other filesystem types will result in an error.
See "set-e2generation".
get-e2label
get-e2label device
This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on "device".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "vfs-label" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
get-e2uuid
get-e2uuid device
This returns the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on "device".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "vfs-uuid" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
get-hv
get-hv
Return the current hypervisor binary.
This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will return the default qemu
binary name.
get-libvirt-requested-credential-challenge
get-libvirt-requested-credential-challenge index
Get the challenge (provided by libvirt) for the "index"'th requested credential. If
libvirt did not provide a challenge, this returns the empty string "".
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
get-libvirt-requested-credential-defresult
get-libvirt-requested-credential-defresult index
Get the default result (provided by libvirt) for the "index"'th requested credential. If
libvirt did not provide a default result, this returns the empty string "".
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
get-libvirt-requested-credential-prompt
get-libvirt-requested-credential-prompt index
Get the prompt (provided by libvirt) for the "index"'th requested credential. If libvirt
did not provide a prompt, this returns the empty string "".
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
get-libvirt-requested-credentials
get-libvirt-requested-credentials
This should only be called during the event callback for events of type
"GUESTFS_EVENT_LIBVIRT_AUTH".
Return the list of credentials requested by libvirt. Possible values are a subset of the
strings provided when you called "set-libvirt-supported-credentials".
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
get-memsize
get-memsize
This gets the memory size in megabytes allocated to the hypervisor.
If "set-memsize" was not called on this handle, and if "LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE" was not set,
then this returns the compiled-in default value for memsize.
For more information on the architecture of libguestfs, see guestfs(3).
get-network
get-network
This returns the enable network flag.
get-path
get-path
Return the current search path.
This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will return the default
path.
get-pgroup
get-pgroup
This returns the process group flag.
get-pid
pid
get-pid
Return the process ID of the hypervisor. If there is no hypervisor running, then this
will return an error.
This is an internal call used for debugging and testing.
get-program
get-program
Get the program name. See "set-program".
get-qemu
get-qemu
Return the current hypervisor binary (usually qemu).
This is always non-NULL. If it wasn't set already, then this will return the default qemu
binary name.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "get-hv" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
get-recovery-proc
get-recovery-proc
Return the recovery process enabled flag.
get-selinux
get-selinux
This returns the current setting of the selinux flag which is passed to the appliance at
boot time. See "set-selinux".
For more information on the architecture of libguestfs, see guestfs(3).
get-smp
get-smp
This returns the number of virtual CPUs assigned to the appliance.
get-tmpdir
get-tmpdir
Get the directory used by the handle to store temporary files.
get-trace
get-trace
Return the command trace flag.
get-umask
get-umask
Return the current umask. By default the umask is 022 unless it has been set by calling
"umask".
get-verbose
get-verbose
This returns the verbose messages flag.
getcon
getcon
This gets the SELinux security context of the daemon.
See the documentation about SELINUX in guestfs(3), and "setcon"
getxattr
getxattr path name
Get a single extended attribute from file "path" named "name". This call follows
symlinks. If you want to lookup an extended attribute for the symlink itself, use
"lgetxattr".
Normally it is better to get all extended attributes from a file in one go by calling
"getxattrs". However some Linux filesystem implementations are buggy and do not provide a
way to list out attributes. For these filesystems (notably ntfs-3g) you have to know the
names of the extended attributes you want in advance and call this function.
Extended attribute values are blobs of binary data. If there is no extended attribute
named "name", this returns an error.
See also: "getxattrs", "lgetxattr", attr(5).
getxattrs
getxattrs path
This call lists the extended attributes of the file or directory "path".
At the system call level, this is a combination of the listxattr(2) and getxattr(2) calls.
See also: "lgetxattrs", attr(5).
glob-expand
glob-expand pattern
This command searches for all the pathnames matching "pattern" according to the wildcard
expansion rules used by the shell.
If no paths match, then this returns an empty list (note: not an error).
It is just a wrapper around the C glob(3) function with flags "GLOB_MARK|GLOB_BRACE". See
that manual page for more details.
Notice that there is no equivalent command for expanding a device name (eg. "/dev/sd*").
Use "list-devices", "list-partitions" etc functions instead.
grep
grep-opts
grep regex path [extended:true|false] [fixed:true|false] [insensitive:true|false] [compressed:true|false]
This calls the external "grep" program and returns the matching lines.
The optional flags are:
"extended"
Use extended regular expressions. This is the same as using the -E flag.
"fixed"
Match fixed (don't use regular expressions). This is the same as using the -F flag.
"insensitive"
Match case-insensitive. This is the same as using the -i flag.
"compressed"
Use "zgrep" instead of "grep". This allows the input to be compress- or gzip-
compressed.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
grepi
grepi regex path
This calls the external "grep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
grub-install
grub-install root device
This command installs GRUB 1 (the Grand Unified Bootloader) on "device", with the root
directory being "root".
Notes:
• There is currently no way in the API to install grub2, which is used by most modern
Linux guests. It is possible to run the grub2 command from the guest, although see
the caveats in "RUNNING COMMANDS" in guestfs(3).
• This uses "grub-install" from the host. Unfortunately grub is not always compatible
with itself, so this only works in rather narrow circumstances. Careful testing with
each guest version is advisable.
• If grub-install reports the error "No suitable drive was found in the generated device
map." it may be that you need to create a "/boot/grub/device.map" file first that
contains the mapping between grub device names and Linux device names. It is usually
sufficient to create a file containing:
(hd0) /dev/vda
replacing "/dev/vda" with the name of the installation device.
head
head path
This command returns up to the first 10 lines of a file as a list of strings.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
head-n
head-n nrlines path
If the parameter "nrlines" is a positive number, this returns the first "nrlines" lines of
the file "path".
If the parameter "nrlines" is a negative number, this returns lines from the file "path",
excluding the last "nrlines" lines.
If the parameter "nrlines" is zero, this returns an empty list.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
hexdump
hexdump path
This runs "hexdump -C" on the given "path". The result is the human-readable, canonical
hex dump of the file.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
hivex-close
hivex-close
Close the current hivex handle.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-commit
hivex-commit filename
Commit (write) changes to the hive.
If the optional "filename" parameter is null, then the changes are written back to the
same hive that was opened. If this is not null then they are written to the alternate
filename given and the original hive is left untouched.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-add-child
hivex-node-add-child parent name
Add a child node to "parent" named "name".
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-children
hivex-node-children nodeh
Return the list of nodes which are subkeys of "nodeh".
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-delete-child
hivex-node-delete-child nodeh
Delete "nodeh", recursively if necessary.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-get-child
hivex-node-get-child nodeh name
Return the child of "nodeh" with the name "name", if it exists. This can return 0 meaning
the name was not found.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-get-value
hivex-node-get-value nodeh key
Return the value attached to "nodeh" which has the name "key", if it exists. This can
return 0 meaning the key was not found.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-name
hivex-node-name nodeh
Return the name of "nodeh".
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-parent
hivex-node-parent nodeh
Return the parent node of "nodeh".
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-set-value
hivex-node-set-value nodeh key t val
Set or replace a single value under the node "nodeh". The "key" is the name, "t" is the
type, and "val" is the data.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-node-values
hivex-node-values nodeh
Return the array of (key, datatype, data) tuples attached to "nodeh".
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-open
hivex-open filename [verbose:true|false] [debug:true|false] [write:true|false]
Open the Windows Registry hive file named "filename". If there was any previous hivex
handle associated with this guestfs session, then it is closed.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
hivex-root
hivex-root
Return the root node of the hive.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-value-key
hivex-value-key valueh
Return the key (name) field of a (key, datatype, data) tuple.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-value-type
hivex-value-type valueh
Return the data type field from a (key, datatype, data) tuple.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
hivex-value-utf8
hivex-value-utf8 valueh
This calls "hivex-value-value" (which returns the data field from a hivex value tuple).
It then assumes that the field is a UTF-16LE string and converts the result to UTF-8 (or
if this is not possible, it returns an error).
This is useful for reading strings out of the Windows registry. However it is not
foolproof because the registry is not strongly-typed and fields can contain arbitrary or
unexpected data.
hivex-value-value
hivex-value-value valueh
Return the data field of a (key, datatype, data) tuple.
This is a wrapper around the hivex(3) call of the same name.
See also: "hivex-value-utf8".
initrd-cat
initrd-cat initrdpath filename
This command unpacks the file "filename" from the initrd file called "initrdpath". The
filename must be given without the initial "/" character.
For example, in guestfish you could use the following command to examine the boot script
(usually called "/init") contained in a Linux initrd or initramfs image:
initrd-cat /boot/initrd-<version>.img init
See also "initrd-list".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
initrd-list
initrd-list path
This command lists out files contained in an initrd.
The files are listed without any initial "/" character. The files are listed in the order
they appear (not necessarily alphabetical). Directory names are listed as separate items.
Old Linux kernels (2.4 and earlier) used a compressed ext2 filesystem as initrd. We only
support the newer initramfs format (compressed cpio files).
inotify-add-watch
inotify-add-watch path mask
Watch "path" for the events listed in "mask".
Note that if "path" is a directory then events within that directory are watched, but this
does not happen recursively (in subdirectories).
Note for non-C or non-Linux callers: the inotify events are defined by the Linux kernel
ABI and are listed in "/usr/include/sys/inotify.h".
inotify-close
inotify-close
This closes the inotify handle which was previously opened by inotify_init. It removes
all watches, throws away any pending events, and deallocates all resources.
inotify-files
inotify-files
This function is a helpful wrapper around "inotify-read" which just returns a list of
pathnames of objects that were touched. The returned pathnames are sorted and
deduplicated.
inotify-init
inotify-init maxevents
This command creates a new inotify handle. The inotify subsystem can be used to notify
events which happen to objects in the guest filesystem.
"maxevents" is the maximum number of events which will be queued up between calls to
"inotify-read" or "inotify-files". If this is passed as 0, then the kernel (or previously
set) default is used. For Linux 2.6.29 the default was 16384 events. Beyond this limit,
the kernel throws away events, but records the fact that it threw them away by setting a
flag "IN_Q_OVERFLOW" in the returned structure list (see "inotify-read").
Before any events are generated, you have to add some watches to the internal watch list.
See: "inotify-add-watch" and "inotify-rm-watch".
Queued up events should be read periodically by calling "inotify-read" (or "inotify-files"
which is just a helpful wrapper around "inotify-read"). If you don't read the events out
often enough then you risk the internal queue overflowing.
The handle should be closed after use by calling "inotify-close". This also removes any
watches automatically.
See also inotify(7) for an overview of the inotify interface as exposed by the Linux
kernel, which is roughly what we expose via libguestfs. Note that there is one global
inotify handle per libguestfs instance.
inotify-read
inotify-read
Return the complete queue of events that have happened since the previous read call.
If no events have happened, this returns an empty list.
Note: In order to make sure that all events have been read, you must call this function
repeatedly until it returns an empty list. The reason is that the call will read events
up to the maximum appliance-to-host message size and leave remaining events in the queue.
inotify-rm-watch
inotify-rm-watch wd
Remove a previously defined inotify watch. See "inotify-add-watch".
inspect-get-arch
inspect-get-arch root
This returns the architecture of the inspected operating system. The possible return
values are listed under "file-architecture".
If the architecture could not be determined, then the string "unknown" is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-distro
inspect-get-distro root
This returns the distro (distribution) of the inspected operating system.
Currently defined distros are:
"archlinux"
Arch Linux.
"buildroot"
Buildroot-derived distro, but not one we specifically recognize.
"centos"
CentOS.
"cirros"
Cirros.
"debian"
Debian.
"fedora"
Fedora.
"freedos"
FreeDOS.
"gentoo"
Gentoo.
"linuxmint"
Linux Mint.
"mageia"
Mageia.
"mandriva"
Mandriva.
"meego"
MeeGo.
"openbsd"
OpenBSD.
"opensuse"
OpenSUSE.
"pardus"
Pardus.
"redhat-based"
Some Red Hat-derived distro.
"rhel"
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
"scientificlinux"
Scientific Linux.
"slackware"
Slackware.
"sles"
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or Desktop.
"suse-based"
Some openSuSE-derived distro.
"ttylinux"
ttylinux.
"ubuntu"
Ubuntu.
"unknown"
The distro could not be determined.
"windows"
Windows does not have distributions. This string is returned if the OS type is
Windows.
Future versions of libguestfs may return other strings here. The caller should be
prepared to handle any string.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-drive-mappings
inspect-get-drive-mappings root
This call is useful for Windows which uses a primitive system of assigning drive letters
(like "C:") to partitions. This inspection API examines the Windows Registry to find out
how disks/partitions are mapped to drive letters, and returns a hash table as in the
example below:
C => /dev/vda2
E => /dev/vdb1
F => /dev/vdc1
Note that keys are drive letters. For Windows, the key is case insensitive and just
contains the drive letter, without the customary colon separator character.
In future we may support other operating systems that also used drive letters, but the
keys for those might not be case insensitive and might be longer than 1 character. For
example in OS-9, hard drives were named "h0", "h1" etc.
For Windows guests, currently only hard drive mappings are returned. Removable disks (eg.
DVD-ROMs) are ignored.
For guests that do not use drive mappings, or if the drive mappings could not be
determined, this returns an empty hash table.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details. See also "inspect-get-
mountpoints", "inspect-get-filesystems".
inspect-get-filesystems
inspect-get-filesystems root
This returns a list of all the filesystems that we think are associated with this
operating system. This includes the root filesystem, other ordinary filesystems, and non-
mounted devices like swap partitions.
In the case of a multi-boot virtual machine, it is possible for a filesystem to be shared
between operating systems.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details. See also "inspect-get-
mountpoints".
inspect-get-format
inspect-get-format root
This returns the format of the inspected operating system. You can use it to detect
install images, live CDs and similar.
Currently defined formats are:
"installed"
This is an installed operating system.
"installer"
The disk image being inspected is not an installed operating system, but a bootable
install disk, live CD, or similar.
"unknown"
The format of this disk image is not known.
Future versions of libguestfs may return other strings here. The caller should be
prepared to handle any string.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-hostname
inspect-get-hostname root
This function returns the hostname of the operating system as found by inspection of the
guest's configuration files.
If the hostname could not be determined, then the string "unknown" is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-icon
inspect-get-icon root [favicon:true|false] [highquality:true|false]
This function returns an icon corresponding to the inspected operating system. The icon
is returned as a buffer containing a PNG image (re-encoded to PNG if necessary).
If it was not possible to get an icon this function returns a zero-length (non-NULL)
buffer. Callers must check for this case.
Libguestfs will start by looking for a file called "/etc/favicon.png" or
"C:\etc\favicon.png" and if it has the correct format, the contents of this file will be
returned. You can disable favicons by passing the optional "favicon" boolean as false
(default is true).
If finding the favicon fails, then we look in other places in the guest for a suitable
icon.
If the optional "highquality" boolean is true then only high quality icons are returned,
which means only icons of high resolution with an alpha channel. The default (false) is
to return any icon we can, even if it is of substandard quality.
Notes:
• Unlike most other inspection API calls, the guest's disks must be mounted up before
you call this, since it needs to read information from the guest filesystem during the
call.
• Security: The icon data comes from the untrusted guest, and should be treated with
caution. PNG files have been known to contain exploits. Ensure that libpng (or other
relevant libraries) are fully up to date before trying to process or display the icon.
• The PNG image returned can be any size. It might not be square. Libguestfs tries to
return the largest, highest quality icon available. The application must scale the
icon to the required size.
• Extracting icons from Windows guests requires the external "wrestool" program from the
"icoutils" package, and several programs ("bmptopnm", "pnmtopng", "pamcut") from the
"netpbm" package. These must be installed separately.
• Operating system icons are usually trademarks. Seek legal advice before using
trademarks in applications.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
inspect-get-major-version
inspect-get-major-version root
This returns the major version number of the inspected operating system.
Windows uses a consistent versioning scheme which is not reflected in the popular public
names used by the operating system. Notably the operating system known as "Windows 7" is
really version 6.1 (ie. major = 6, minor = 1). You can find out the real versions
corresponding to releases of Windows by consulting Wikipedia or MSDN.
If the version could not be determined, then 0 is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-minor-version
inspect-get-minor-version root
This returns the minor version number of the inspected operating system.
If the version could not be determined, then 0 is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details. See also "inspect-get-major-
version".
inspect-get-mountpoints
inspect-get-mountpoints root
This returns a hash of where we think the filesystems associated with this operating
system should be mounted. Callers should note that this is at best an educated guess made
by reading configuration files such as "/etc/fstab". In particular note that this may
return filesystems which are non-existent or not mountable and callers should be prepared
to handle or ignore failures if they try to mount them.
Each element in the returned hashtable has a key which is the path of the mountpoint (eg.
"/boot") and a value which is the filesystem that would be mounted there (eg.
"/dev/sda1").
Non-mounted devices such as swap devices are not returned in this list.
For operating systems like Windows which still use drive letters, this call will only
return an entry for the first drive "mounted on" "/". For information about the mapping
of drive letters to partitions, see "inspect-get-drive-mappings".
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details. See also "inspect-get-
filesystems".
inspect-get-package-format
inspect-get-package-format root
This function and "inspect-get-package-management" return the package format and package
management tool used by the inspected operating system. For example for Fedora these
functions would return "rpm" (package format) and "yum" (package management).
This returns the string "unknown" if we could not determine the package format or if the
operating system does not have a real packaging system (eg. Windows).
Possible strings include: "rpm", "deb", "ebuild", "pisi", "pacman", "pkgsrc". Future
versions of libguestfs may return other strings.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-package-management
inspect-get-package-management root
"inspect-get-package-format" and this function return the package format and package
management tool used by the inspected operating system. For example for Fedora these
functions would return "rpm" (package format) and "yum" (package management).
This returns the string "unknown" if we could not determine the package management tool or
if the operating system does not have a real packaging system (eg. Windows).
Possible strings include: "yum", "up2date", "apt" (for all Debian derivatives), "portage",
"pisi", "pacman", "urpmi", "zypper". Future versions of libguestfs may return other
strings.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-product-name
inspect-get-product-name root
This returns the product name of the inspected operating system. The product name is
generally some freeform string which can be displayed to the user, but should not be
parsed by programs.
If the product name could not be determined, then the string "unknown" is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-product-variant
inspect-get-product-variant root
This returns the product variant of the inspected operating system.
For Windows guests, this returns the contents of the Registry key
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" "InstallationType" which is usually a
string such as "Client" or "Server" (other values are possible). This can be used to
distinguish consumer and enterprise versions of Windows that have the same version number
(for example, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 Server are both version 6.1, but the former is
"Client" and the latter is "Server").
For enterprise Linux guests, in future we intend this to return the product variant such
as "Desktop", "Server" and so on. But this is not implemented at present.
If the product variant could not be determined, then the string "unknown" is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details. See also "inspect-get-product-
name", "inspect-get-major-version".
inspect-get-roots
inspect-get-roots
This function is a convenient way to get the list of root devices, as returned from a
previous call to "inspect-os", but without redoing the whole inspection process.
This returns an empty list if either no root devices were found or the caller has not
called "inspect-os".
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-type
inspect-get-type root
This returns the type of the inspected operating system. Currently defined types are:
"linux"
Any Linux-based operating system.
"windows"
Any Microsoft Windows operating system.
"freebsd"
FreeBSD.
"netbsd"
NetBSD.
"openbsd"
OpenBSD.
"hurd"
GNU/Hurd.
"dos"
MS-DOS, FreeDOS and others.
"unknown"
The operating system type could not be determined.
Future versions of libguestfs may return other strings here. The caller should be
prepared to handle any string.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-windows-current-control-set
inspect-get-windows-current-control-set root
This returns the Windows CurrentControlSet of the inspected guest. The CurrentControlSet
is a registry key name such as "ControlSet001".
This call assumes that the guest is Windows and that the Registry could be examined by
inspection. If this is not the case then an error is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-get-windows-systemroot
inspect-get-windows-systemroot root
This returns the Windows systemroot of the inspected guest. The systemroot is a directory
path such as "/WINDOWS".
This call assumes that the guest is Windows and that the systemroot could be determined by
inspection. If this is not the case then an error is returned.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-is-live
inspect-is-live root
If "inspect-get-format" returns "installer" (this is an install disk), then this returns
true if a live image was detected on the disk.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-is-multipart
inspect-is-multipart root
If "inspect-get-format" returns "installer" (this is an install disk), then this returns
true if the disk is part of a set.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-is-netinst
inspect-is-netinst root
If "inspect-get-format" returns "installer" (this is an install disk), then this returns
true if the disk is a network installer, ie. not a self-contained install CD but one which
is likely to require network access to complete the install.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-list-applications
inspect-list-applications root
Return the list of applications installed in the operating system.
Note: This call works differently from other parts of the inspection API. You have to
call "inspect-os", then "inspect-get-mountpoints", then mount up the disks, before calling
this. Listing applications is a significantly more difficult operation which requires
access to the full filesystem. Also note that unlike the other "inspect-get-*" calls
which are just returning data cached in the libguestfs handle, this call actually reads
parts of the mounted filesystems during the call.
This returns an empty list if the inspection code was not able to determine the list of
applications.
The application structure contains the following fields:
"app_name"
The name of the application. For Red Hat-derived and Debian-derived Linux guests,
this is the package name.
"app_display_name"
The display name of the application, sometimes localized to the install language of
the guest operating system.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "". Callers needing to display
something can use "app_name" instead.
"app_epoch"
For package managers which use epochs, this contains the epoch of the package (an
integer). If unavailable, this is returned as 0.
"app_version"
The version string of the application or package. If unavailable this is returned as
an empty string "".
"app_release"
The release string of the application or package, for package managers that use this.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app_install_path"
The installation path of the application (on operating systems such as Windows which
use installation paths). This path is in the format used by the guest operating
system, it is not a libguestfs path.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app_trans_path"
The install path translated into a libguestfs path. If unavailable this is returned
as an empty string "".
"app_publisher"
The name of the publisher of the application, for package managers that use this. If
unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app_url"
The URL (eg. upstream URL) of the application. If unavailable this is returned as an
empty string "".
"app_source_package"
For packaging systems which support this, the name of the source package. If
unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app_summary"
A short (usually one line) description of the application or package. If unavailable
this is returned as an empty string "".
"app_description"
A longer description of the application or package. If unavailable this is returned
as an empty string "".
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "inspect-list-applications2" call
instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
inspect-list-applications2
inspect-list-applications2 root
Return the list of applications installed in the operating system.
Note: This call works differently from other parts of the inspection API. You have to
call "inspect-os", then "inspect-get-mountpoints", then mount up the disks, before calling
this. Listing applications is a significantly more difficult operation which requires
access to the full filesystem. Also note that unlike the other "inspect-get-*" calls
which are just returning data cached in the libguestfs handle, this call actually reads
parts of the mounted filesystems during the call.
This returns an empty list if the inspection code was not able to determine the list of
applications.
The application structure contains the following fields:
"app2_name"
The name of the application. For Red Hat-derived and Debian-derived Linux guests,
this is the package name.
"app2_display_name"
The display name of the application, sometimes localized to the install language of
the guest operating system.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "". Callers needing to display
something can use "app2_name" instead.
"app2_epoch"
For package managers which use epochs, this contains the epoch of the package (an
integer). If unavailable, this is returned as 0.
"app2_version"
The version string of the application or package. If unavailable this is returned as
an empty string "".
"app2_release"
The release string of the application or package, for package managers that use this.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_arch"
The architecture string of the application or package, for package managers that use
this. If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_install_path"
The installation path of the application (on operating systems such as Windows which
use installation paths). This path is in the format used by the guest operating
system, it is not a libguestfs path.
If unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_trans_path"
The install path translated into a libguestfs path. If unavailable this is returned
as an empty string "".
"app2_publisher"
The name of the publisher of the application, for package managers that use this. If
unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_url"
The URL (eg. upstream URL) of the application. If unavailable this is returned as an
empty string "".
"app2_source_package"
For packaging systems which support this, the name of the source package. If
unavailable this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_summary"
A short (usually one line) description of the application or package. If unavailable
this is returned as an empty string "".
"app2_description"
A longer description of the application or package. If unavailable this is returned
as an empty string "".
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
inspect-os
inspect-os
This function uses other libguestfs functions and certain heuristics to inspect the
disk(s) (usually disks belonging to a virtual machine), looking for operating systems.
The list returned is empty if no operating systems were found.
If one operating system was found, then this returns a list with a single element, which
is the name of the root filesystem of this operating system. It is also possible for this
function to return a list containing more than one element, indicating a dual-boot or
multi-boot virtual machine, with each element being the root filesystem of one of the
operating systems.
You can pass the root string(s) returned to other "inspect-get-*" functions in order to
query further information about each operating system, such as the name and version.
This function uses other libguestfs features such as "mount-ro" and "umount-all" in order
to mount and unmount filesystems and look at the contents. This should be called with no
disks currently mounted. The function may also use Augeas, so any existing Augeas handle
will be closed.
This function cannot decrypt encrypted disks. The caller must do that first (supplying
the necessary keys) if the disk is encrypted.
Please read "INSPECTION" in guestfs(3) for more details.
See also "list-filesystems".
is-blockdev
is-blockdev-opts
is-blockdev path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a block device with the given "path" name.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a block device also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-chardev
is-chardev-opts
is-chardev path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a character device with the given "path" name.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a chardev also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-config
is-config
This returns true iff this handle is being configured (in the "CONFIG" state).
For more information on states, see guestfs(3).
is-dir
is-dir-opts
is-dir path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a directory with the given "path" name. Note
that it returns false for other objects like files.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a directory also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-fifo
is-fifo-opts
is-fifo path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a FIFO (named pipe) with the given "path"
name.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a FIFO also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-file
is-file-opts
is-file path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a regular file with the given "path" name.
Note that it returns false for other objects like directories.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a file also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-lv
is-lv device
This command tests whether "device" is a logical volume, and returns true iff this is the
case.
is-socket
is-socket-opts
is-socket path [followsymlinks:true|false]
This returns "true" if and only if there is a Unix domain socket with the given "path"
name.
If the optional flag "followsymlinks" is true, then a symlink (or chain of symlinks) that
ends with a socket also causes the function to return true.
See also "stat".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
is-symlink
is-symlink path
This returns "true" if and only if there is a symbolic link with the given "path" name.
See also "stat".
is-whole-device
is-whole-device device
This returns "true" if and only if "device" refers to a whole block device. That is, not a
partition or a logical device.
is-zero
is-zero path
This returns true iff the file exists and the file is empty or it contains all zero bytes.
is-zero-device
is-zero-device device
This returns true iff the device exists and contains all zero bytes.
Note that for large devices this can take a long time to run.
isoinfo
isoinfo isofile
This is the same as "isoinfo-device" except that it works for an ISO file located inside
some other mounted filesystem. Note that in the common case where you have added an ISO
file as a libguestfs device, you would not call this. Instead you would call "isoinfo-
device".
isoinfo-device
isoinfo-device device
"device" is an ISO device. This returns a struct of information read from the primary
volume descriptor (the ISO equivalent of the superblock) of the device.
Usually it is more efficient to use the isoinfo(1) command with the -d option on the host
to analyze ISO files, instead of going through libguestfs.
For information on the primary volume descriptor fields, see
http://wiki.osdev.org/ISO_9660#The_Primary_Volume_Descriptor
journal-close
journal-close
Close the journal handle.
journal-get
journal-get
Read the current journal entry. This returns all the fields in the journal as a set of
"(attrname, attrval)" pairs. The "attrname" is the field name (a string).
The "attrval" is the field value (a binary blob, often but not always a string). Please
note that "attrval" is a byte array, not a \0-terminated C string.
The length of data may be truncated to the data threshold (see: "journal-set-data-
threshold", "journal-get-data-threshold").
If you set the data threshold to unlimited (0) then this call can read a journal entry of
any size, ie. it is not limited by the libguestfs protocol.
journal-get-data-threshold
journal-get-data-threshold
Get the current data threshold for reading journal entries. This is a hint to the journal
that it may truncate data fields to this size when reading them (note also that it may not
truncate them). If this returns 0, then the threshold is unlimited.
See also "journal-set-data-threshold".
journal-next
journal-next
Move to the next journal entry. You have to call this at least once after opening the
handle before you are able to read data.
The returned boolean tells you if there are any more journal records to read. "true"
means you can read the next record (eg. using "journal-get-data"), and "false" means you
have reached the end of the journal.
journal-open
journal-open directory
Open the systemd journal located in "directory". Any previously opened journal handle is
closed.
The contents of the journal can be read using "journal-next" and "journal-get".
After you have finished using the journal, you should close the handle by calling
"journal-close".
journal-set-data-threshold
journal-set-data-threshold threshold
Set the data threshold for reading journal entries. This is a hint to the journal that it
may truncate data fields to this size when reading them (note also that it may not
truncate them). If you set this to 0, then the threshold is unlimited.
See also "journal-get-data-threshold".
journal-skip
journal-skip skip
Skip forwards ("skip ≥ 0") or backwards ("skip < 0") in the journal.
The number of entries actually skipped is returned (note "rskip ≥ 0"). If this is not the
same as the absolute value of the skip parameter ("|skip|") you passed in then it means
you have reached the end or the start of the journal.
kill-subprocess
kill-subprocess
This kills the hypervisor.
Do not call this. See: "shutdown" instead.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "shutdown" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
launch
run
launch
You should call this after configuring the handle (eg. adding drives) but before
performing any actions.
Do not call "launch" twice on the same handle. Although it will not give an error (for
historical reasons), the precise behaviour when you do this is not well defined. Handles
are very cheap to create, so create a new one for each launch.
lchown
lchown owner group path
Change the file owner to "owner" and group to "group". This is like "chown" but if "path"
is a symlink then the link itself is changed, not the target.
Only numeric uid and gid are supported. If you want to use names, you will need to locate
and parse the password file yourself (Augeas support makes this relatively easy).
ldmtool-create-all
ldmtool-create-all
This function scans all block devices looking for Windows dynamic disk volumes and
partitions, and creates devices for any that were found.
Call "list-ldm-volumes" and "list-ldm-partitions" to return all devices.
Note that you don't normally need to call this explicitly, since it is done automatically
at "launch" time. However you might want to call this function if you have hotplugged
disks or have just created a Windows dynamic disk.
ldmtool-diskgroup-disks
ldmtool-diskgroup-disks diskgroup
Return the disks in a Windows dynamic disk group. The "diskgroup" parameter should be the
GUID of a disk group, one element from the list returned by "ldmtool-scan".
ldmtool-diskgroup-name
ldmtool-diskgroup-name diskgroup
Return the name of a Windows dynamic disk group. The "diskgroup" parameter should be the
GUID of a disk group, one element from the list returned by "ldmtool-scan".
ldmtool-diskgroup-volumes
ldmtool-diskgroup-volumes diskgroup
Return the volumes in a Windows dynamic disk group. The "diskgroup" parameter should be
the GUID of a disk group, one element from the list returned by "ldmtool-scan".
ldmtool-remove-all
ldmtool-remove-all
This is essentially the opposite of "ldmtool-create-all". It removes the device mapper
mappings for all Windows dynamic disk volumes
ldmtool-scan
ldmtool-scan
This function scans for Windows dynamic disks. It returns a list of identifiers (GUIDs)
for all disk groups that were found. These identifiers can be passed to other "ldmtool-*"
functions.
This function scans all block devices. To scan a subset of block devices, call "ldmtool-
scan-devices" instead.
ldmtool-scan-devices
ldmtool-scan-devices 'devices ...'
This function scans for Windows dynamic disks. It returns a list of identifiers (GUIDs)
for all disk groups that were found. These identifiers can be passed to other "ldmtool-*"
functions.
The parameter "devices" is a list of block devices which are scanned. If this list is
empty, all block devices are scanned.
ldmtool-volume-hint
ldmtool-volume-hint diskgroup volume
Return the hint field of the volume named "volume" in the disk group with GUID
"diskgroup". This may not be defined, in which case the empty string is returned. The
hint field is often, though not always, the name of a Windows drive, eg. "E:".
ldmtool-volume-partitions
ldmtool-volume-partitions diskgroup volume
Return the list of partitions in the volume named "volume" in the disk group with GUID
"diskgroup".
ldmtool-volume-type
ldmtool-volume-type diskgroup volume
Return the type of the volume named "volume" in the disk group with GUID "diskgroup".
Possible volume types that can be returned here include: "simple", "spanned", "striped",
"mirrored", "raid5". Other types may also be returned.
lgetxattr
lgetxattr path name
Get a single extended attribute from file "path" named "name". If "path" is a symlink,
then this call returns an extended attribute from the symlink.
Normally it is better to get all extended attributes from a file in one go by calling
"getxattrs". However some Linux filesystem implementations are buggy and do not provide a
way to list out attributes. For these filesystems (notably ntfs-3g) you have to know the
names of the extended attributes you want in advance and call this function.
Extended attribute values are blobs of binary data. If there is no extended attribute
named "name", this returns an error.
See also: "lgetxattrs", "getxattr", attr(5).
lgetxattrs
lgetxattrs path
This is the same as "getxattrs", but if "path" is a symbolic link, then it returns the
extended attributes of the link itself.
list-9p
list-9p
List all 9p filesystems attached to the guest. A list of mount tags is returned.
list-devices
list-devices
List all the block devices.
The full block device names are returned, eg. "/dev/sda".
See also "list-filesystems".
list-disk-labels
list-disk-labels
If you add drives using the optional "label" parameter of "add-drive-opts", you can use
this call to map between disk labels, and raw block device and partition names (like
"/dev/sda" and "/dev/sda1").
This returns a hashtable, where keys are the disk labels (without the "/dev/disk/guestfs"
prefix), and the values are the full raw block device and partition names (eg. "/dev/sda"
and "/dev/sda1").
list-dm-devices
list-dm-devices
List all device mapper devices.
The returned list contains "/dev/mapper/*" devices, eg. ones created by a previous call to
"luks-open".
Device mapper devices which correspond to logical volumes are not returned in this list.
Call "lvs" if you want to list logical volumes.
list-filesystems
list-filesystems
This inspection command looks for filesystems on partitions, block devices and logical
volumes, returning a list of "mountables" containing filesystems and their type.
The return value is a hash, where the keys are the devices containing filesystems, and the
values are the filesystem types. For example:
"/dev/sda1" => "ntfs"
"/dev/sda2" => "ext2"
"/dev/vg_guest/lv_root" => "ext4"
"/dev/vg_guest/lv_swap" => "swap"
The key is not necessarily a block device. It may also be an opaque 'mountable' string
which can be passed to "mount".
The value can have the special value "unknown", meaning the content of the device is
undetermined or empty. "swap" means a Linux swap partition.
This command runs other libguestfs commands, which might include "mount" and "umount", and
therefore you should use this soon after launch and only when nothing is mounted.
Not all of the filesystems returned will be mountable. In particular, swap partitions are
returned in the list. Also this command does not check that each filesystem found is
valid and mountable, and some filesystems might be mountable but require special options.
Filesystems may not all belong to a single logical operating system (use "inspect-os" to
look for OSes).
list-ldm-partitions
list-ldm-partitions
This function returns all Windows dynamic disk partitions that were found at launch time.
It returns a list of device names.
list-ldm-volumes
list-ldm-volumes
This function returns all Windows dynamic disk volumes that were found at launch time. It
returns a list of device names.
list-md-devices
list-md-devices
List all Linux md devices.
list-partitions
list-partitions
List all the partitions detected on all block devices.
The full partition device names are returned, eg. "/dev/sda1"
This does not return logical volumes. For that you will need to call "lvs".
See also "list-filesystems".
ll
ll directory
List the files in "directory" (relative to the root directory, there is no cwd) in the
format of 'ls -la'.
This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It is not intended that you try
to parse the output string.
llz
llz directory
List the files in "directory" in the format of 'ls -laZ'.
This command is mostly useful for interactive sessions. It is not intended that you try
to parse the output string.
ln
ln target linkname
This command creates a hard link using the "ln" command.
ln-f
ln-f target linkname
This command creates a hard link using the "ln -f" command. The -f option removes the
link ("linkname") if it exists already.
ln-s
ln-s target linkname
This command creates a symbolic link using the "ln -s" command.
ln-sf
ln-sf target linkname
This command creates a symbolic link using the "ln -sf" command, The -f option removes the
link ("linkname") if it exists already.
lremovexattr
lremovexattr xattr path
This is the same as "removexattr", but if "path" is a symbolic link, then it removes an
extended attribute of the link itself.
ls
ls directory
List the files in "directory" (relative to the root directory, there is no cwd). The '.'
and '..' entries are not returned, but hidden files are shown.
ls0
ls0 dir (filenames|-)
This specialized command is used to get a listing of the filenames in the directory "dir".
The list of filenames is written to the local file "filenames" (on the host).
In the output file, the filenames are separated by "\0" characters.
"." and ".." are not returned. The filenames are not sorted.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
lsetxattr
lsetxattr xattr val vallen path
This is the same as "setxattr", but if "path" is a symbolic link, then it sets an extended
attribute of the link itself.
lstat
lstat path
Returns file information for the given "path".
This is the same as "stat" except that if "path" is a symbolic link, then the link is
stat-ed, not the file it refers to.
This is the same as the lstat(2) system call.
lstatlist
lstatlist path 'names ...'
This call allows you to perform the "lstat" operation on multiple files, where all files
are in the directory "path". "names" is the list of files from this directory.
On return you get a list of stat structs, with a one-to-one correspondence to the "names"
list. If any name did not exist or could not be lstat'd, then the "ino" field of that
structure is set to "-1".
This call is intended for programs that want to efficiently list a directory contents
without making many round-trips. See also "lxattrlist" for a similarly efficient call for
getting extended attributes.
luks-add-key
luks-add-key device keyslot
This command adds a new key on LUKS device "device". "key" is any existing key, and is
used to access the device. "newkey" is the new key to add. "keyslot" is the key slot
that will be replaced.
Note that if "keyslot" already contains a key, then this command will fail. You have to
use "luks-kill-slot" first to remove that key.
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
luks-close
luks-close device
This closes a LUKS device that was created earlier by "luks-open" or "luks-open-ro". The
"device" parameter must be the name of the LUKS mapping device (ie. "/dev/mapper/mapname")
and not the name of the underlying block device.
luks-format
luks-format device keyslot
This command erases existing data on "device" and formats the device as a LUKS encrypted
device. "key" is the initial key, which is added to key slot "slot". (LUKS supports 8
key slots, numbered 0-7).
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
luks-format-cipher
luks-format-cipher device keyslot cipher
This command is the same as "luks-format" but it also allows you to set the "cipher" used.
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
luks-kill-slot
luks-kill-slot device keyslot
This command deletes the key in key slot "keyslot" from the encrypted LUKS device
"device". "key" must be one of the other keys.
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
luks-open
luks-open device mapname
This command opens a block device which has been encrypted according to the Linux Unified
Key Setup (LUKS) standard.
"device" is the encrypted block device or partition.
The caller must supply one of the keys associated with the LUKS block device, in the "key"
parameter.
This creates a new block device called "/dev/mapper/mapname". Reads and writes to this
block device are decrypted from and encrypted to the underlying "device" respectively.
If this block device contains LVM volume groups, then calling "vgscan" followed by "vg-
activate-all" will make them visible.
Use "list-dm-devices" to list all device mapper devices.
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
luks-open-ro
luks-open-ro device mapname
This is the same as "luks-open" except that a read-only mapping is created.
This command has one or more key or passphrase parameters. Guestfish will prompt for
these separately.
lvcreate
lvcreate logvol volgroup mbytes
This creates an LVM logical volume called "logvol" on the volume group "volgroup", with
"size" megabytes.
lvcreate-free
lvcreate-free logvol volgroup percent
Create an LVM logical volume called "/dev/volgroup/logvol", using approximately "percent"
% of the free space remaining in the volume group. Most usefully, when "percent" is 100
this will create the largest possible LV.
lvm-canonical-lv-name
lvm-canonical-lv-name lvname
This converts alternative naming schemes for LVs that you might find to the canonical
name. For example, "/dev/mapper/VG-LV" is converted to "/dev/VG/LV".
This command returns an error if the "lvname" parameter does not refer to a logical
volume.
See also "is-lv", "canonical-device-name".
lvm-clear-filter
lvm-clear-filter
This undoes the effect of "lvm-set-filter". LVM will be able to see every block device.
This command also clears the LVM cache and performs a volume group scan.
lvm-remove-all
lvm-remove-all
This command removes all LVM logical volumes, volume groups and physical volumes.
lvm-set-filter
lvm-set-filter 'devices ...'
This sets the LVM device filter so that LVM will only be able to "see" the block devices
in the list "devices", and will ignore all other attached block devices.
Where disk image(s) contain duplicate PVs or VGs, this command is useful to get LVM to
ignore the duplicates, otherwise LVM can get confused. Note also there are two types of
duplication possible: either cloned PVs/VGs which have identical UUIDs; or VGs that are
not cloned but just happen to have the same name. In normal operation you cannot create
this situation, but you can do it outside LVM, eg. by cloning disk images or by bit
twiddling inside the LVM metadata.
This command also clears the LVM cache and performs a volume group scan.
You can filter whole block devices or individual partitions.
You cannot use this if any VG is currently in use (eg. contains a mounted filesystem),
even if you are not filtering out that VG.
lvremove
lvremove device
Remove an LVM logical volume "device", where "device" is the path to the LV, such as
"/dev/VG/LV".
You can also remove all LVs in a volume group by specifying the VG name, "/dev/VG".
lvrename
lvrename logvol newlogvol
Rename a logical volume "logvol" with the new name "newlogvol".
lvresize
lvresize device mbytes
This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM logical volume to "mbytes". When
reducing, data in the reduced part is lost.
lvresize-free
lvresize-free lv percent
This expands an existing logical volume "lv" so that it fills "pc"% of the remaining free
space in the volume group. Commonly you would call this with pc = 100 which expands the
logical volume as much as possible, using all remaining free space in the volume group.
lvs
lvs
List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent of the lvs(8) command.
This returns a list of the logical volume device names (eg. "/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00").
See also "lvs-full", "list-filesystems".
lvs-full
lvs-full
List all the logical volumes detected. This is the equivalent of the lvs(8) command. The
"full" version includes all fields.
lvuuid
lvuuid device
This command returns the UUID of the LVM LV "device".
lxattrlist
lxattrlist path 'names ...'
This call allows you to get the extended attributes of multiple files, where all files are
in the directory "path". "names" is the list of files from this directory.
On return you get a flat list of xattr structs which must be interpreted sequentially.
The first xattr struct always has a zero-length "attrname". "attrval" in this struct is
zero-length to indicate there was an error doing "lgetxattr" for this file, or is a C
string which is a decimal number (the number of following attributes for this file, which
could be "0"). Then after the first xattr struct are the zero or more attributes for the
first named file. This repeats for the second and subsequent files.
This call is intended for programs that want to efficiently list a directory contents
without making many round-trips. See also "lstatlist" for a similarly efficient call for
getting standard stats.
max-disks
max-disks
Return the maximum number of disks that may be added to a handle (eg. by "add-drive-opts"
and similar calls).
This function was added in libguestfs 1.19.7. In previous versions of libguestfs the
limit was 25.
See "MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DISKS" in guestfs(3) for additional information on this topic.
md-create
md-create name 'devices ...' [missingbitmap:N] [nrdevices:N] [spare:N] [chunk:N] [level:..]
Create a Linux md (RAID) device named "name" on the devices in the list "devices".
The optional parameters are:
"missingbitmap"
A bitmap of missing devices. If a bit is set it means that a missing device is added
to the array. The least significant bit corresponds to the first device in the array.
As examples:
If "devices = ["/dev/sda"]" and "missingbitmap = 0x1" then the resulting array would
be "[<missing>, "/dev/sda"]".
If "devices = ["/dev/sda"]" and "missingbitmap = 0x2" then the resulting array would
be "["/dev/sda", <missing>]".
This defaults to 0 (no missing devices).
The length of "devices" + the number of bits set in "missingbitmap" must equal
"nrdevices" + "spare".
"nrdevices"
The number of active RAID devices.
If not set, this defaults to the length of "devices" plus the number of bits set in
"missingbitmap".
"spare"
The number of spare devices.
If not set, this defaults to 0.
"chunk"
The chunk size in bytes.
"level"
The RAID level, which can be one of: linear, raid0, 0, stripe, raid1, 1, mirror,
raid4, 4, raid5, 5, raid6, 6, raid10, 10. Some of these are synonymous, and more
levels may be added in future.
If not set, this defaults to "raid1".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
md-detail
md-detail md
This command exposes the output of 'mdadm -DY <md>'. The following fields are usually
present in the returned hash. Other fields may also be present.
"level"
The raid level of the MD device.
"devices"
The number of underlying devices in the MD device.
"metadata"
The metadata version used.
"uuid"
The UUID of the MD device.
"name"
The name of the MD device.
md-stat
md-stat md
This call returns a list of the underlying devices which make up the single software RAID
array device "md".
To get a list of software RAID devices, call "list-md-devices".
Each structure returned corresponds to one device along with additional status
information:
"mdstat_device"
The name of the underlying device.
"mdstat_index"
The index of this device within the array.
"mdstat_flags"
Flags associated with this device. This is a string containing (in no specific order)
zero or more of the following flags:
"W" write-mostly
"F" device is faulty
"S" device is a RAID spare
"R" replacement
md-stop
md-stop md
This command deactivates the MD array named "md". The device is stopped, but it is not
destroyed or zeroed.
mkdir
mkdir path
Create a directory named "path".
mkdir-mode
mkdir-mode path mode
This command creates a directory, setting the initial permissions of the directory to
"mode".
For common Linux filesystems, the actual mode which is set will be "mode & ~umask &
01777". Non-native-Linux filesystems may interpret the mode in other ways.
See also "mkdir", "umask"
mkdir-p
mkdir-p path
Create a directory named "path", creating any parent directories as necessary. This is
like the "mkdir -p" shell command.
mkdtemp
mkdtemp tmpl
This command creates a temporary directory. The "tmpl" parameter should be a full
pathname for the temporary directory name with the final six characters being "XXXXXX".
For example: "/tmp/myprogXXXXXX" or "/Temp/myprogXXXXXX", the second one being suitable
for Windows filesystems.
The name of the temporary directory that was created is returned.
The temporary directory is created with mode 0700 and is owned by root.
The caller is responsible for deleting the temporary directory and its contents after use.
See also: mkdtemp(3)
mke2fs
mke2fs device [blockscount:N] [blocksize:N] [fragsize:N] [blockspergroup:N] [numberofgroups:N] [bytesperinode:N] [inodesize:N] [journalsize:N] [numberofinodes:N] [stridesize:N] [stripewidth:N] [maxonlineresize:N] [reservedblockspercentage:N] [mmpupdateinterval:N] [journaldevice:..] [label:..] [lastmounteddir:..] [creatoros:..] [fstype:..] [usagetype:..] [uuid:..] [forcecreate:true|false] [writesbandgrouponly:true|false] [lazyitableinit:true|false] [lazyjournalinit:true|false] [testfs:true|false] [discard:true|false] [quotatype:true|false] [extent:true|false] [filetype:true|false] [flexbg:true|false] [hasjournal:true|false] [journaldev:true|false] [largefile:true|false] [quota:true|false] [resizeinode:true|false] [sparsesuper:true|false] [uninitbg:true|false]
"mke2fs" is used to create an ext2, ext3, or ext4 filesystem on "device".
The optional "blockscount" is the size of the filesystem in blocks. If omitted it
defaults to the size of "device". Note if the filesystem is too small to contain a
journal, "mke2fs" will silently create an ext2 filesystem instead.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mke2fs-J
mke2fs-J fstype blocksize device journal
This creates an ext2/3/4 filesystem on "device" with an external journal on "journal". It
is equivalent to the command:
mke2fs -t fstype -b blocksize -J device=<journal> <device>
See also "mke2journal".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mke2fs-JL
mke2fs-JL fstype blocksize device label
This creates an ext2/3/4 filesystem on "device" with an external journal on the journal
labeled "label".
See also "mke2journal-L".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mke2fs-JU
mke2fs-JU fstype blocksize device uuid
This creates an ext2/3/4 filesystem on "device" with an external journal on the journal
with UUID "uuid".
See also "mke2journal-U".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mke2journal
mke2journal blocksize device
This creates an ext2 external journal on "device". It is equivalent to the command:
mke2fs -O journal_dev -b blocksize device
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mke2journal-L
mke2journal-L blocksize label device
This creates an ext2 external journal on "device" with label "label".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mke2journal-U
mke2journal-U blocksize uuid device
This creates an ext2 external journal on "device" with UUID "uuid".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mke2fs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mkfifo
mkfifo mode path
This call creates a FIFO (named pipe) called "path" with mode "mode". It is just a
convenient wrapper around "mknod".
The mode actually set is affected by the umask.
mkfs
mkfs-opts
mkfs fstype device [blocksize:N] [features:..] [inode:N] [sectorsize:N]
This function creates a filesystem on "device". The filesystem type is "fstype", for
example "ext3".
The optional arguments are:
"blocksize"
The filesystem block size. Supported block sizes depend on the filesystem type, but
typically they are 1024, 2048 or 4096 for Linux ext2/3 filesystems.
For VFAT and NTFS the "blocksize" parameter is treated as the requested cluster size.
For UFS block sizes, please see mkfs.ufs(8).
"features"
This passes the -O parameter to the external mkfs program.
For certain filesystem types, this allows extra filesystem features to be selected.
See mke2fs(8) and mkfs.ufs(8) for more details.
You cannot use this optional parameter with the "gfs" or "gfs2" filesystem type.
"inode"
This passes the -I parameter to the external mke2fs(8) program which sets the inode
size (only for ext2/3/4 filesystems at present).
"sectorsize"
This passes the -S parameter to external mkfs.ufs(8) program, which sets sector size
for ufs filesystem.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mkfs-b
mkfs-b fstype blocksize device
This call is similar to "mkfs", but it allows you to control the block size of the
resulting filesystem. Supported block sizes depend on the filesystem type, but typically
they are 1024, 2048 or 4096 only.
For VFAT and NTFS the "blocksize" parameter is treated as the requested cluster size.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mkfs" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mkfs-btrfs
mkfs-btrfs 'devices ...' [allocstart:N] [bytecount:N] [datatype:..] [leafsize:N] [label:..] [metadata:..] [nodesize:N] [sectorsize:N]
Create a btrfs filesystem, allowing all configurables to be set. For more information on
the optional arguments, see mkfs.btrfs(8).
Since btrfs filesystems can span multiple devices, this takes a non-empty list of devices.
To create general filesystems, use "mkfs".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mklost-and-found
mklost-and-found mountpoint
Make the "lost+found" directory, normally in the root directory of an ext2/3/4 filesystem.
"mountpoint" is the directory under which we try to create the "lost+found" directory.
mkmountpoint
mkmountpoint exemptpath
"mkmountpoint" and "rmmountpoint" are specialized calls that can be used to create extra
mountpoints before mounting the first filesystem.
These calls are only necessary in some very limited circumstances, mainly the case where
you want to mount a mix of unrelated and/or read-only filesystems together.
For example, live CDs often contain a "Russian doll" nest of filesystems, an ISO outer
layer, with a squashfs image inside, with an ext2/3 image inside that. You can unpack
this as follows in guestfish:
add-ro Fedora-11-i686-Live.iso
run
mkmountpoint /cd
mkmountpoint /sqsh
mkmountpoint /ext3fs
mount /dev/sda /cd
mount-loop /cd/LiveOS/squashfs.img /sqsh
mount-loop /sqsh/LiveOS/ext3fs.img /ext3fs
The inner filesystem is now unpacked under the /ext3fs mountpoint.
"mkmountpoint" is not compatible with "umount-all". You may get unexpected errors if you
try to mix these calls. It is safest to manually unmount filesystems and remove
mountpoints after use.
"umount-all" unmounts filesystems by sorting the paths longest first, so for this to work
for manual mountpoints, you must ensure that the innermost mountpoints have the longest
pathnames, as in the example code above.
For more details see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=599503
Autosync [see "set-autosync", this is set by default on handles] can cause "umount-all" to
be called when the handle is closed which can also trigger these issues.
mknod
mknod mode devmajor devminor path
This call creates block or character special devices, or named pipes (FIFOs).
The "mode" parameter should be the mode, using the standard constants. "devmajor" and
"devminor" are the device major and minor numbers, only used when creating block and
character special devices.
Note that, just like mknod(2), the mode must be bitwise OR'd with S_IFBLK, S_IFCHR,
S_IFIFO or S_IFSOCK (otherwise this call just creates a regular file). These constants
are available in the standard Linux header files, or you can use "mknod-b", "mknod-c" or
"mkfifo" which are wrappers around this command which bitwise OR in the appropriate
constant for you.
The mode actually set is affected by the umask.
mknod-b
mknod-b mode devmajor devminor path
This call creates a block device node called "path" with mode "mode" and device
major/minor "devmajor" and "devminor". It is just a convenient wrapper around "mknod".
The mode actually set is affected by the umask.
mknod-c
mknod-c mode devmajor devminor path
This call creates a char device node called "path" with mode "mode" and device major/minor
"devmajor" and "devminor". It is just a convenient wrapper around "mknod".
The mode actually set is affected by the umask.
mkswap
mkswap-opts
mkswap device [label:..] [uuid:..]
Create a Linux swap partition on "device".
The option arguments "label" and "uuid" allow you to set the label and/or UUID of the new
swap partition.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mkswap-L
mkswap-L label device
Create a swap partition on "device" with label "label".
Note that you cannot attach a swap label to a block device (eg. "/dev/sda"), just to a
partition. This appears to be a limitation of the kernel or swap tools.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mkswap" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mkswap-U
mkswap-U uuid device
Create a swap partition on "device" with UUID "uuid".
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "mkswap" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
mkswap-file
mkswap-file path
Create a swap file.
This command just writes a swap file signature to an existing file. To create the file
itself, use something like "fallocate".
mktemp
mktemp tmpl [suffix:..]
This command creates a temporary file. The "tmpl" parameter should be a full pathname for
the temporary directory name with the final six characters being "XXXXXX".
For example: "/tmp/myprogXXXXXX" or "/Temp/myprogXXXXXX", the second one being suitable
for Windows filesystems.
The name of the temporary file that was created is returned.
The temporary file is created with mode 0600 and is owned by root.
The caller is responsible for deleting the temporary file after use.
If the optional "suffix" parameter is given, then the suffix (eg. ".txt") is appended to
the temporary name.
See also: "mkdtemp".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
modprobe
modprobe modulename
This loads a kernel module in the appliance.
The kernel module must have been whitelisted when libguestfs was built (see
"appliance/kmod.whitelist.in" in the source).
mount
mount mountable mountpoint
Mount a guest disk at a position in the filesystem. Block devices are named "/dev/sda",
"/dev/sdb" and so on, as they were added to the guest. If those block devices contain
partitions, they will have the usual names (eg. "/dev/sda1"). Also LVM "/dev/VG/LV"-style
names can be used, or 'mountable' strings returned by "list-filesystems" or "inspect-get-
mountpoints".
The rules are the same as for mount(2): A filesystem must first be mounted on "/" before
others can be mounted. Other filesystems can only be mounted on directories which already
exist.
The mounted filesystem is writable, if we have sufficient permissions on the underlying
device.
Before libguestfs 1.13.16, this call implicitly added the options "sync" and "noatime".
The "sync" option greatly slowed writes and caused many problems for users. If your
program might need to work with older versions of libguestfs, use "mount-options" instead
(using an empty string for the first parameter if you don't want any options).
mount-9p
mount-9p mounttag mountpoint [options:..]
Mount the virtio-9p filesystem with the tag "mounttag" on the directory "mountpoint".
If required, "trans=virtio" will be automatically added to the options. Any other options
required can be passed in the optional "options" parameter.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mount-local
mount-local localmountpoint [readonly:true|false] [options:..] [cachetimeout:N] [debugcalls:true|false]
This call exports the libguestfs-accessible filesystem to a local mountpoint (directory)
called "localmountpoint". Ordinary reads and writes to files and directories under
"localmountpoint" are redirected through libguestfs.
If the optional "readonly" flag is set to true, then writes to the filesystem return error
"EROFS".
"options" is a comma-separated list of mount options. See guestmount(1) for some useful
options.
"cachetimeout" sets the timeout (in seconds) for cached directory entries. The default is
60 seconds. See guestmount(1) for further information.
If "debugcalls" is set to true, then additional debugging information is generated for
every FUSE call.
When "mount-local" returns, the filesystem is ready, but is not processing requests
(access to it will block). You have to call "mount-local-run" to run the main loop.
See "MOUNT LOCAL" in guestfs(3) for full documentation.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
mount-local-run
mount-local-run
Run the main loop which translates kernel calls to libguestfs calls.
This should only be called after "mount-local" returns successfully. The call will not
return until the filesystem is unmounted.
Note you must not make concurrent libguestfs calls on the same handle from another thread.
You may call this from a different thread than the one which called "mount-local", subject
to the usual rules for threads and libguestfs (see "MULTIPLE HANDLES AND MULTIPLE THREADS"
in guestfs(3)).
See "MOUNT LOCAL" in guestfs(3) for full documentation.
mount-loop
mount-loop file mountpoint
This command lets you mount "file" (a filesystem image in a file) on a mount point. It is
entirely equivalent to the command "mount -o loop file mountpoint".
mount-options
mount-options options mountable mountpoint
This is the same as the "mount" command, but it allows you to set the mount options as for
the mount(8) -o flag.
If the "options" parameter is an empty string, then no options are passed (all options
default to whatever the filesystem uses).
mount-ro
mount-ro mountable mountpoint
This is the same as the "mount" command, but it mounts the filesystem with the read-only
(-o ro) flag.
mount-vfs
mount-vfs options vfstype mountable mountpoint
This is the same as the "mount" command, but it allows you to set both the mount options
and the vfstype as for the mount(8) -o and -t flags.
mountpoints
mountpoints
This call is similar to "mounts". That call returns a list of devices. This one returns
a hash table (map) of device name to directory where the device is mounted.
mounts
mounts
This returns the list of currently mounted filesystems. It returns the list of devices
(eg. "/dev/sda1", "/dev/VG/LV").
Some internal mounts are not shown.
See also: "mountpoints"
mv
mv src dest
This moves a file from "src" to "dest" where "dest" is either a destination filename or
destination directory.
See also: "rename".
nr-devices
nr-devices
This returns the number of whole block devices that were added. This is the same as the
number of devices that would be returned if you called "list-devices".
To find out the maximum number of devices that could be added, call "max-disks".
ntfs-3g-probe
ntfs-3g-probe true|false device
This command runs the ntfs-3g.probe(8) command which probes an NTFS "device" for
mountability. (Not all NTFS volumes can be mounted read-write, and some cannot be mounted
at all).
"rw" is a boolean flag. Set it to true if you want to test if the volume can be mounted
read-write. Set it to false if you want to test if the volume can be mounted read-only.
The return value is an integer which 0 if the operation would succeed, or some non-zero
value documented in the ntfs-3g.probe(8) manual page.
ntfsclone-in
ntfsclone-in (backupfile|-) device
Restore the "backupfile" (from a previous call to "ntfsclone-out") to "device",
overwriting any existing contents of this device.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
ntfsclone-out
ntfsclone-out device (backupfile|-) [metadataonly:true|false] [rescue:true|false] [ignorefscheck:true|false] [preservetimestamps:true|false] [force:true|false]
Stream the NTFS filesystem "device" to the local file "backupfile". The format used for
the backup file is a special format used by the ntfsclone(8) tool.
If the optional "metadataonly" flag is true, then only the metadata is saved, losing all
the user data (this is useful for diagnosing some filesystem problems).
The optional "rescue", "ignorefscheck", "preservetimestamps" and "force" flags have
precise meanings detailed in the ntfsclone(8) man page.
Use "ntfsclone-in" to restore the file back to a libguestfs device.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
ntfsfix
ntfsfix device [clearbadsectors:true|false]
This command repairs some fundamental NTFS inconsistencies, resets the NTFS journal file,
and schedules an NTFS consistency check for the first boot into Windows.
This is not an equivalent of Windows "chkdsk". It does not scan the filesystem for
inconsistencies.
The optional "clearbadsectors" flag clears the list of bad sectors. This is useful after
cloning a disk with bad sectors to a new disk.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
ntfsresize
ntfsresize-opts
ntfsresize device [size:N] [force:true|false]
This command resizes an NTFS filesystem, expanding or shrinking it to the size of the
underlying device.
The optional parameters are:
"size"
The new size (in bytes) of the filesystem. If omitted, the filesystem is resized to
fit the container (eg. partition).
"force"
If this option is true, then force the resize of the filesystem even if the filesystem
is marked as requiring a consistency check.
After the resize operation, the filesystem is always marked as requiring a consistency
check (for safety). You have to boot into Windows to perform this check and clear
this condition. If you don't set the "force" option then it is not possible to call
"ntfsresize" multiple times on a single filesystem without booting into Windows
between each resize.
See also ntfsresize(8).
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
ntfsresize-size
ntfsresize-size device size
This command is the same as "ntfsresize" except that it allows you to specify the new size
(in bytes) explicitly.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "ntfsresize" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
parse-environment
parse-environment
Parse the program's environment and set flags in the handle accordingly. For example if
"LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1" then the 'verbose' flag is set in the handle.
Most programs do not need to call this. It is done implicitly when you call "create".
See "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES" in guestfs(3) for a list of environment variables that can
affect libguestfs handles. See also "guestfs_create_flags" in guestfs(3), and "parse-
environment-list".
parse-environment-list
parse-environment-list 'environment ...'
Parse the list of strings in the argument "environment" and set flags in the handle
accordingly. For example if "LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1" is a string in the list, then the
'verbose' flag is set in the handle.
This is the same as "parse-environment" except that it parses an explicit list of strings
instead of the program's environment.
part-add
part-add device prlogex startsect endsect
This command adds a partition to "device". If there is no partition table on the device,
call "part-init" first.
The "prlogex" parameter is the type of partition. Normally you should pass "p" or
"primary" here, but MBR partition tables also support "l" (or "logical") and "e" (or
"extended") partition types.
"startsect" and "endsect" are the start and end of the partition in sectors. "endsect"
may be negative, which means it counts backwards from the end of the disk ("-1" is the
last sector).
Creating a partition which covers the whole disk is not so easy. Use "part-disk" to do
that.
part-del
part-del device partnum
This command deletes the partition numbered "partnum" on "device".
Note that in the case of MBR partitioning, deleting an extended partition also deletes any
logical partitions it contains.
part-disk
part-disk device parttype
This command is simply a combination of "part-init" followed by "part-add" to create a
single primary partition covering the whole disk.
"parttype" is the partition table type, usually "mbr" or "gpt", but other possible values
are described in "part-init".
part-get-bootable
part-get-bootable device partnum
This command returns true if the partition "partnum" on "device" has the bootable flag
set.
See also "part-set-bootable".
part-get-gpt-type
part-get-gpt-type device partnum
Return the type GUID of numbered GPT partition "partnum". For MBR partitions, return an
appropriate GUID corresponding to the MBR type. Behaviour is undefined for other partition
types.
part-get-mbr-id
part-get-mbr-id device partnum
Returns the MBR type byte (also known as the ID byte) from the numbered partition
"partnum".
Note that only MBR (old DOS-style) partitions have type bytes. You will get undefined
results for other partition table types (see "part-get-parttype").
part-get-parttype
part-get-parttype device
This command examines the partition table on "device" and returns the partition table type
(format) being used.
Common return values include: "msdos" (a DOS/Windows style MBR partition table), "gpt" (a
GPT/EFI-style partition table). Other values are possible, although unusual. See "part-
init" for a full list.
part-init
part-init device parttype
This creates an empty partition table on "device" of one of the partition types listed
below. Usually "parttype" should be either "msdos" or "gpt" (for large disks).
Initially there are no partitions. Following this, you should call "part-add" for each
partition required.
Possible values for "parttype" are:
efi
gpt Intel EFI / GPT partition table.
This is recommended for >= 2 TB partitions that will be accessed from Linux and Intel-
based Mac OS X. It also has limited backwards compatibility with the "mbr" format.
mbr
msdos
The standard PC "Master Boot Record" (MBR) format used by MS-DOS and Windows. This
partition type will only work for device sizes up to 2 TB. For large disks we
recommend using "gpt".
Other partition table types that may work but are not supported include:
aix AIX disk labels.
amiga
rdb Amiga "Rigid Disk Block" format.
bsd BSD disk labels.
dasd
DASD, used on IBM mainframes.
dvh MIPS/SGI volumes.
mac Old Mac partition format. Modern Macs use "gpt".
pc98
NEC PC-98 format, common in Japan apparently.
sun Sun disk labels.
part-list
part-list device
This command parses the partition table on "device" and returns the list of partitions
found.
The fields in the returned structure are:
part_num
Partition number, counting from 1.
part_start
Start of the partition in bytes. To get sectors you have to divide by the device's
sector size, see "blockdev-getss".
part_end
End of the partition in bytes.
part_size
Size of the partition in bytes.
part-set-bootable
part-set-bootable device partnum true|false
This sets the bootable flag on partition numbered "partnum" on device "device". Note that
partitions are numbered from 1.
The bootable flag is used by some operating systems (notably Windows) to determine which
partition to boot from. It is by no means universally recognized.
part-set-gpt-type
part-set-gpt-type device partnum guid
Set the type GUID of numbered GPT partition "partnum" to "guid". Return an error if the
partition table of "device" isn't GPT, or if "guid" is not a valid GUID.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table#Partition_type_GUIDs for a useful
list of type GUIDs.
part-set-mbr-id
part-set-mbr-id device partnum idbyte
Sets the MBR type byte (also known as the ID byte) of the numbered partition "partnum" to
"idbyte". Note that the type bytes quoted in most documentation are in fact hexadecimal
numbers, but usually documented without any leading "0x" which might be confusing.
Note that only MBR (old DOS-style) partitions have type bytes. You will get undefined
results for other partition table types (see "part-get-parttype").
part-set-name
part-set-name device partnum name
This sets the partition name on partition numbered "partnum" on device "device". Note
that partitions are numbered from 1.
The partition name can only be set on certain types of partition table. This works on
"gpt" but not on "mbr" partitions.
part-to-dev
part-to-dev partition
This function takes a partition name (eg. "/dev/sdb1") and removes the partition number,
returning the device name (eg. "/dev/sdb").
The named partition must exist, for example as a string returned from "list-partitions".
See also "part-to-partnum", "device-index".
part-to-partnum
part-to-partnum partition
This function takes a partition name (eg. "/dev/sdb1") and returns the partition number
(eg. 1).
The named partition must exist, for example as a string returned from "list-partitions".
See also "part-to-dev".
ping-daemon
ping-daemon
This is a test probe into the guestfs daemon running inside the hypervisor. Calling this
function checks that the daemon responds to the ping message, without affecting the daemon
or attached block device(s) in any other way.
pread
pread path count offset
This command lets you read part of a file. It reads "count" bytes of the file, starting
at "offset", from file "path".
This may read fewer bytes than requested. For further details see the pread(2) system
call.
See also "pwrite", "pread-device".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
pread-device
pread-device device count offset
This command lets you read part of a block device. It reads "count" bytes of "device",
starting at "offset".
This may read fewer bytes than requested. For further details see the pread(2) system
call.
See also "pread".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
pvchange-uuid
pvchange-uuid device
Generate a new random UUID for the physical volume "device".
pvchange-uuid-all
pvchange-uuid-all
Generate new random UUIDs for all physical volumes.
pvcreate
pvcreate device
This creates an LVM physical volume on the named "device", where "device" should usually
be a partition name such as "/dev/sda1".
pvremove
pvremove device
This wipes a physical volume "device" so that LVM will no longer recognise it.
The implementation uses the "pvremove" command which refuses to wipe physical volumes that
contain any volume groups, so you have to remove those first.
pvresize
pvresize device
This resizes (expands or shrinks) an existing LVM physical volume to match the new size of
the underlying device.
pvresize-size
pvresize-size device size
This command is the same as "pvresize" except that it allows you to specify the new size
(in bytes) explicitly.
pvs
pvs
List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent of the pvs(8) command.
This returns a list of just the device names that contain PVs (eg. "/dev/sda2").
See also "pvs-full".
pvs-full
pvs-full
List all the physical volumes detected. This is the equivalent of the pvs(8) command.
The "full" version includes all fields.
pvuuid
pvuuid device
This command returns the UUID of the LVM PV "device".
pwrite
pwrite path content offset
This command writes to part of a file. It writes the data buffer "content" to the file
"path" starting at offset "offset".
This command implements the pwrite(2) system call, and like that system call it may not
write the full data requested. The return value is the number of bytes that were actually
written to the file. This could even be 0, although short writes are unlikely for regular
files in ordinary circumstances.
See also "pread", "pwrite-device".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
pwrite-device
pwrite-device device content offset
This command writes to part of a device. It writes the data buffer "content" to "device"
starting at offset "offset".
This command implements the pwrite(2) system call, and like that system call it may not
write the full data requested (although short writes to disk devices and partitions are
probably impossible with standard Linux kernels).
See also "pwrite".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
read-file
read-file path
This calls returns the contents of the file "path" as a buffer.
Unlike "cat", this function can correctly handle files that contain embedded ASCII NUL
characters.
read-lines
read-lines path
Return the contents of the file named "path".
The file contents are returned as a list of lines. Trailing "LF" and "CRLF" character
sequences are not returned.
Note that this function cannot correctly handle binary files (specifically, files
containing "\0" character which is treated as end of string). For those you need to use
the "read-file" function and split the buffer into lines yourself.
readdir
readdir dir
This returns the list of directory entries in directory "dir".
All entries in the directory are returned, including "." and "..". The entries are not
sorted, but returned in the same order as the underlying filesystem.
Also this call returns basic file type information about each file. The "ftyp" field will
contain one of the following characters:
'b' Block special
'c' Char special
'd' Directory
'f' FIFO (named pipe)
'l' Symbolic link
'r' Regular file
's' Socket
'u' Unknown file type
'?' The readdir(3) call returned a "d_type" field with an unexpected value
This function is primarily intended for use by programs. To get a simple list of names,
use "ls". To get a printable directory for human consumption, use "ll".
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
readlink
readlink path
This command reads the target of a symbolic link.
readlinklist
readlinklist path 'names ...'
This call allows you to do a "readlink" operation on multiple files, where all files are
in the directory "path". "names" is the list of files from this directory.
On return you get a list of strings, with a one-to-one correspondence to the "names" list.
Each string is the value of the symbolic link.
If the readlink(2) operation fails on any name, then the corresponding result string is
the empty string "". However the whole operation is completed even if there were
readlink(2) errors, and so you can call this function with names where you don't know if
they are symbolic links already (albeit slightly less efficient).
This call is intended for programs that want to efficiently list a directory contents
without making many round-trips.
realpath
realpath path
Return the canonicalized absolute pathname of "path". The returned path has no ".", ".."
or symbolic link path elements.
remount
remount mountpoint [rw:true|false]
This call allows you to change the "rw" (readonly/read-write) flag on an already mounted
filesystem at "mountpoint", converting a readonly filesystem to be read-write, or vice-
versa.
Note that at the moment you must supply the "optional" "rw" parameter. In future we may
allow other flags to be adjusted.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
remove-drive
remove-drive label
This function is conceptually the opposite of "add-drive-opts". It removes the drive that
was previously added with label "label".
Note that in order to remove drives, you have to add them with labels (see the optional
"label" argument to "add-drive-opts"). If you didn't use a label, then they cannot be
removed.
You can call this function before or after launching the handle. If called after launch,
if the backend supports it, we try to hot unplug the drive: see "HOTPLUGGING" in
guestfs(3). The disk must not be in use (eg. mounted) when you do this. We try to detect
if the disk is in use and stop you from doing this.
removexattr
removexattr xattr path
This call removes the extended attribute named "xattr" of the file "path".
See also: "lremovexattr", attr(5).
rename
rename oldpath newpath
Rename a file to a new place on the same filesystem. This is the same as the Linux
rename(2) system call. In most cases you are better to use "mv" instead.
resize2fs
resize2fs device
This resizes an ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem to match the size of the underlying device.
See also "RESIZE2FS ERRORS" in guestfs(3).
resize2fs-M
resize2fs-M device
This command is the same as "resize2fs", but the filesystem is resized to its minimum
size. This works like the -M option to the "resize2fs" command.
To get the resulting size of the filesystem you should call "tune2fs-l" and read the
"Block size" and "Block count" values. These two numbers, multiplied together, give the
resulting size of the minimal filesystem in bytes.
See also "RESIZE2FS ERRORS" in guestfs(3).
resize2fs-size
resize2fs-size device size
This command is the same as "resize2fs" except that it allows you to specify the new size
(in bytes) explicitly.
See also "RESIZE2FS ERRORS" in guestfs(3).
rm
rm path
Remove the single file "path".
rm-f
rm-f path
Remove the file "path".
If the file doesn't exist, that error is ignored. (Other errors, eg. I/O errors or bad
paths, are not ignored)
This call cannot remove directories. Use "rmdir" to remove an empty directory, or "rm-rf"
to remove directories recursively.
rm-rf
rm-rf path
Remove the file or directory "path", recursively removing the contents if its a directory.
This is like the "rm -rf" shell command.
rmdir
rmdir path
Remove the single directory "path".
rmmountpoint
rmmountpoint exemptpath
This calls removes a mountpoint that was previously created with "mkmountpoint". See
"mkmountpoint" for full details.
rsync
rsync src dest [archive:true|false] [deletedest:true|false]
This call may be used to copy or synchronize two directories under the same libguestfs
handle. This uses the rsync(1) program which uses a fast algorithm that avoids copying
files unnecessarily.
"src" and "dest" are the source and destination directories. Files are copied from "src"
to "dest".
The optional arguments are:
"archive"
Turns on archive mode. This is the same as passing the --archive flag to "rsync".
"deletedest"
Delete files at the destination that do not exist at the source.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
rsync-in
rsync-in remote dest [archive:true|false] [deletedest:true|false]
This call may be used to copy or synchronize the filesystem on the host or on a remote
computer with the filesystem within libguestfs. This uses the rsync(1) program which uses
a fast algorithm that avoids copying files unnecessarily.
This call only works if the network is enabled. See "set-network" or the --network option
to various tools like guestfish(1).
Files are copied from the remote server and directory specified by "remote" to the
destination directory "dest".
The format of the remote server string is defined by rsync(1). Note that there is no way
to supply a password or passphrase so the target must be set up not to require one.
The optional arguments are the same as those of "rsync".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
rsync-out
rsync-out src remote [archive:true|false] [deletedest:true|false]
This call may be used to copy or synchronize the filesystem within libguestfs with a
filesystem on the host or on a remote computer. This uses the rsync(1) program which uses
a fast algorithm that avoids copying files unnecessarily.
This call only works if the network is enabled. See "set-network" or the --network option
to various tools like guestfish(1).
Files are copied from the source directory "src" to the remote server and directory
specified by "remote".
The format of the remote server string is defined by rsync(1). Note that there is no way
to supply a password or passphrase so the target must be set up not to require one.
The optional arguments are the same as those of "rsync".
Globbing does not happen on the "src" parameter. In programs which use the API directly
you have to expand wildcards yourself (see "glob-expand"). In guestfish you can use the
"glob" command (see "glob" in guestfish(1)), for example:
><fs> glob rsync-out /* rsync://remote/
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
scrub-device
scrub-device device
This command writes patterns over "device" to make data retrieval more difficult.
It is an interface to the scrub(1) program. See that manual page for more details.
scrub-file
scrub-file file
This command writes patterns over a file to make data retrieval more difficult.
The file is removed after scrubbing.
It is an interface to the scrub(1) program. See that manual page for more details.
scrub-freespace
scrub-freespace dir
This command creates the directory "dir" and then fills it with files until the filesystem
is full, and scrubs the files as for "scrub-file", and deletes them. The intention is to
scrub any free space on the partition containing "dir".
It is an interface to the scrub(1) program. See that manual page for more details.
set-append
append
set-append append
This function is used to add additional options to the guest kernel command line.
The default is "NULL" unless overridden by setting "LIBGUESTFS_APPEND" environment
variable.
Setting "append" to "NULL" means no additional options are passed (libguestfs always adds
a few of its own).
set-attach-method
attach-method
set-attach-method backend
Set the method that libguestfs uses to connect to the backend guestfsd daemon.
See "BACKEND" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "set-backend" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
set-autosync
autosync
set-autosync true|false
If "autosync" is true, this enables autosync. Libguestfs will make a best effort attempt
to make filesystems consistent and synchronized when the handle is closed (also if the
program exits without closing handles).
This is enabled by default (since libguestfs 1.5.24, previously it was disabled by
default).
set-backend
backend
set-backend backend
Set the method that libguestfs uses to connect to the backend guestfsd daemon.
This handle property was previously called the "attach method".
See "BACKEND" in guestfs(3).
set-cachedir
cachedir
set-cachedir cachedir
Set the directory used by the handle to store the appliance cache, when using a supermin
appliance. The appliance is cached and shared between all handles which have the same
effective user ID.
The environment variables "LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR" and "TMPDIR" control the default value: If
"LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR" is set, then that is the default. Else if "TMPDIR" is set, then
that is the default. Else "/var/tmp" is the default.
set-direct
direct
set-direct true|false
If the direct appliance mode flag is enabled, then stdin and stdout are passed directly
through to the appliance once it is launched.
One consequence of this is that log messages aren't caught by the library and handled by
"set-log-message-callback", but go straight to stdout.
You probably don't want to use this unless you know what you are doing.
The default is disabled.
set-e2attrs
set-e2attrs file attrs [clear:true|false]
This sets or clears the file attributes "attrs" associated with the inode "file".
"attrs" is a string of characters representing file attributes. See "get-e2attrs" for a
list of possible attributes. Not all attributes can be changed.
If optional boolean "clear" is not present or false, then the "attrs" listed are set in
the inode.
If "clear" is true, then the "attrs" listed are cleared in the inode.
In both cases, other attributes not present in the "attrs" string are left unchanged.
These attributes are only present when the file is located on an ext2/3/4 filesystem.
Using this call on other filesystem types will result in an error.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
set-e2generation
set-e2generation file generation
This sets the ext2 file generation of a file.
See "get-e2generation".
set-e2label
set-e2label device label
This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem label of the filesystem on "device" to "label".
Filesystem labels are limited to 16 characters.
You can use either "tune2fs-l" or "get-e2label" to return the existing label on a
filesystem.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "set-label" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
set-e2uuid
set-e2uuid device uuid
This sets the ext2/3/4 filesystem UUID of the filesystem on "device" to "uuid". The
format of the UUID and alternatives such as "clear", "random" and "time" are described in
the tune2fs(8) manpage.
You can use "vfs-uuid" to return the existing UUID of a filesystem.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "set-uuid" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
set-hv
hv
set-hv hv
Set the hypervisor binary that we will use. The hypervisor depends on the backend, but is
usually the location of the qemu/KVM hypervisor. For the uml backend, it is the location
of the "linux" or "vmlinux" binary.
The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the configure script.
You can also override this by setting the "LIBGUESTFS_HV" environment variable.
Note that you should call this function as early as possible after creating the handle.
This is because some pre-launch operations depend on testing qemu features (by running
"qemu -help"). If the qemu binary changes, we don't retest features, and so you might see
inconsistent results. Using the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_HV" is safest of all
since that picks the qemu binary at the same time as the handle is created.
set-label
set-label mountable label
Set the filesystem label on "mountable" to "label".
Only some filesystem types support labels, and libguestfs supports setting labels on only
a subset of these.
ext2, ext3, ext4
Labels are limited to 16 bytes.
NTFS
Labels are limited to 128 unicode characters.
XFS The label is limited to 12 bytes. The filesystem must not be mounted when trying to
set the label.
btrfs
The label is limited to 256 bytes and some characters are not allowed. Setting the
label on a btrfs subvolume will set the label on its parent filesystem. The
filesystem must not be mounted when trying to set the label.
To read the label on a filesystem, call "vfs-label".
set-libvirt-requested-credential
set-libvirt-requested-credential index cred
After requesting the "index"'th credential from the user, call this function to pass the
answer back to libvirt.
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
set-libvirt-supported-credentials
set-libvirt-supported-credentials 'creds ...'
Call this function before setting an event handler for "GUESTFS_EVENT_LIBVIRT_AUTH", to
supply the list of credential types that the program knows how to process.
The "creds" list must be a non-empty list of strings. Possible strings are:
"username"
"authname"
"language"
"cnonce"
"passphrase"
"echoprompt"
"noechoprompt"
"realm"
"external"
See libvirt documentation for the meaning of these credential types.
See "LIBVIRT AUTHENTICATION" in guestfs(3) for documentation and example code.
set-memsize
memsize
set-memsize memsize
This sets the memory size in megabytes allocated to the hypervisor. This only has any
effect if called before "launch".
You can also change this by setting the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE" before
the handle is created.
For more information on the architecture of libguestfs, see guestfs(3).
set-network
network
set-network true|false
If "network" is true, then the network is enabled in the libguestfs appliance. The
default is false.
This affects whether commands are able to access the network (see "RUNNING COMMANDS" in
guestfs(3)).
You must call this before calling "launch", otherwise it has no effect.
set-path
path
set-path searchpath
Set the path that libguestfs searches for kernel and initrd.img.
The default is "$libdir/guestfs" unless overridden by setting "LIBGUESTFS_PATH"
environment variable.
Setting "path" to "NULL" restores the default path.
set-pgroup
pgroup
set-pgroup true|false
If "pgroup" is true, child processes are placed into their own process group.
The practical upshot of this is that signals like "SIGINT" (from users pressing "^C")
won't be received by the child process.
The default for this flag is false, because usually you want "^C" to kill the subprocess.
Guestfish sets this flag to true when used interactively, so that "^C" can cancel long-
running commands gracefully (see "user-cancel").
set-program
program
set-program program
Set the program name. This is an informative string which the main program may optionally
set in the handle.
When the handle is created, the program name in the handle is set to the basename from
"argv[0]". If that was not possible, it is set to the empty string (but never "NULL").
set-qemu
qemu
set-qemu hv
Set the hypervisor binary (usually qemu) that we will use.
The default is chosen when the library was compiled by the configure script.
You can also override this by setting the "LIBGUESTFS_HV" environment variable.
Setting "hv" to "NULL" restores the default qemu binary.
Note that you should call this function as early as possible after creating the handle.
This is because some pre-launch operations depend on testing qemu features (by running
"qemu -help"). If the qemu binary changes, we don't retest features, and so you might see
inconsistent results. Using the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_HV" is safest of all
since that picks the qemu binary at the same time as the handle is created.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "set-hv" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
set-recovery-proc
recovery-proc
set-recovery-proc true|false
If this is called with the parameter "false" then "launch" does not create a recovery
process. The purpose of the recovery process is to stop runaway hypervisor processes in
the case where the main program aborts abruptly.
This only has any effect if called before "launch", and the default is true.
About the only time when you would want to disable this is if the main process will fork
itself into the background ("daemonize" itself). In this case the recovery process thinks
that the main program has disappeared and so kills the hypervisor, which is not very
helpful.
set-selinux
selinux
set-selinux true|false
This sets the selinux flag that is passed to the appliance at boot time. The default is
"selinux=0" (disabled).
Note that if SELinux is enabled, it is always in Permissive mode ("enforcing=0").
For more information on the architecture of libguestfs, see guestfs(3).
set-smp
smp
set-smp smp
Change the number of virtual CPUs assigned to the appliance. The default is 1.
Increasing this may improve performance, though often it has no effect.
This function must be called before "launch".
set-tmpdir
tmpdir
set-tmpdir tmpdir
Set the directory used by the handle to store temporary files.
The environment variables "LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR" and "TMPDIR" control the default value: If
"LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR" is set, then that is the default. Else if "TMPDIR" is set, then that
is the default. Else "/tmp" is the default.
set-trace
trace
set-trace true|false
If the command trace flag is set to 1, then libguestfs calls, parameters and return values
are traced.
If you want to trace C API calls into libguestfs (and other libraries) then possibly a
better way is to use the external ltrace(1) command.
Command traces are disabled unless the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_TRACE" is defined
and set to 1.
Trace messages are normally sent to "stderr", unless you register a callback to send them
somewhere else (see "set-event-callback").
set-uuid
set-uuid device uuid
Set the filesystem UIUD on "device" to "label".
Only some filesystem types support setting UUIDs.
To read the UUID on a filesystem, call "vfs-uuid".
set-verbose
verbose
set-verbose true|false
If "verbose" is true, this turns on verbose messages.
Verbose messages are disabled unless the environment variable "LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG" is
defined and set to 1.
Verbose messages are normally sent to "stderr", unless you register a callback to send
them somewhere else (see "set-event-callback").
setcon
setcon context
This sets the SELinux security context of the daemon to the string "context".
See the documentation about SELINUX in guestfs(3).
setxattr
setxattr xattr val vallen path
This call sets the extended attribute named "xattr" of the file "path" to the value "val"
(of length "vallen"). The value is arbitrary 8 bit data.
See also: "lsetxattr", attr(5).
sfdisk
sfdisk device cyls heads sectors 'lines ...'
This is a direct interface to the sfdisk(8) program for creating partitions on block
devices.
"device" should be a block device, for example "/dev/sda".
"cyls", "heads" and "sectors" are the number of cylinders, heads and sectors on the
device, which are passed directly to sfdisk as the -C, -H and -S parameters. If you pass
0 for any of these, then the corresponding parameter is omitted. Usually for 'large'
disks, you can just pass 0 for these, but for small (floppy-sized) disks, sfdisk (or
rather, the kernel) cannot work out the right geometry and you will need to tell it.
"lines" is a list of lines that we feed to "sfdisk". For more information refer to the
sfdisk(8) manpage.
To create a single partition occupying the whole disk, you would pass "lines" as a single
element list, when the single element being the string "," (comma).
See also: "sfdisk-l", "sfdisk-N", "part-init"
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "part-add" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
sfdiskM
sfdiskM device 'lines ...'
This is a simplified interface to the "sfdisk" command, where partition sizes are
specified in megabytes only (rounded to the nearest cylinder) and you don't need to
specify the cyls, heads and sectors parameters which were rarely if ever used anyway.
See also: "sfdisk", the sfdisk(8) manpage and "part-disk"
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "part-add" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
sfdisk-N
sfdisk-N device partnum cyls heads sectors line
This runs sfdisk(8) option to modify just the single partition "n" (note: "n" counts from
1).
For other parameters, see "sfdisk". You should usually pass 0 for the cyls/heads/sectors
parameters.
See also: "part-add"
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "part-add" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
sfdisk-disk-geometry
sfdisk-disk-geometry device
This displays the disk geometry of "device" read from the partition table. Especially in
the case where the underlying block device has been resized, this can be different from
the kernel's idea of the geometry (see "sfdisk-kernel-geometry").
The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to be parsed.
sfdisk-kernel-geometry
sfdisk-kernel-geometry device
This displays the kernel's idea of the geometry of "device".
The result is in human-readable format, and not designed to be parsed.
sfdisk-l
sfdisk-l device
This displays the partition table on "device", in the human-readable output of the
sfdisk(8) command. It is not intended to be parsed.
See also: "part-list"
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "part-list" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
sh
sh command
This call runs a command from the guest filesystem via the guest's "/bin/sh".
This is like "command", but passes the command to:
/bin/sh -c "command"
Depending on the guest's shell, this usually results in wildcards being expanded, shell
expressions being interpolated and so on.
All the provisos about "command" apply to this call.
sh-lines
sh-lines command
This is the same as "sh", but splits the result into a list of lines.
See also: "command-lines"
shutdown
shutdown
This is the opposite of "launch". It performs an orderly shutdown of the backend
process(es). If the autosync flag is set (which is the default) then the disk image is
synchronized.
If the subprocess exits with an error then this function will return an error, which
should not be ignored (it may indicate that the disk image could not be written out
properly).
It is safe to call this multiple times. Extra calls are ignored.
This call does not close or free up the handle. You still need to call "close"
afterwards.
"close" will call this if you don't do it explicitly, but note that any errors are ignored
in that case.
sleep
sleep secs
Sleep for "secs" seconds.
stat
stat path
Returns file information for the given "path".
This is the same as the stat(2) system call.
statvfs
statvfs path
Returns file system statistics for any mounted file system. "path" should be a file or
directory in the mounted file system (typically it is the mount point itself, but it
doesn't need to be).
This is the same as the statvfs(2) system call.
strings
strings path
This runs the strings(1) command on a file and returns the list of printable strings
found.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
strings-e
strings-e encoding path
This is like the "strings" command, but allows you to specify the encoding of strings that
are looked for in the source file "path".
Allowed encodings are:
s Single 7-bit-byte characters like ASCII and the ASCII-compatible parts of ISO-8859-X
(this is what "strings" uses).
S Single 8-bit-byte characters.
b 16-bit big endian strings such as those encoded in UTF-16BE or UCS-2BE.
l (lower case letter L)
16-bit little endian such as UTF-16LE and UCS-2LE. This is useful for examining
binaries in Windows guests.
B 32-bit big endian such as UCS-4BE.
L 32-bit little endian such as UCS-4LE.
The returned strings are transcoded to UTF-8.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
swapoff-device
swapoff-device device
This command disables the libguestfs appliance swap device or partition named "device".
See "swapon-device".
swapoff-file
swapoff-file file
This command disables the libguestfs appliance swap on file.
swapoff-label
swapoff-label label
This command disables the libguestfs appliance swap on labeled swap partition.
swapoff-uuid
swapoff-uuid uuid
This command disables the libguestfs appliance swap partition with the given UUID.
swapon-device
swapon-device device
This command enables the libguestfs appliance to use the swap device or partition named
"device". The increased memory is made available for all commands, for example those run
using "command" or "sh".
Note that you should not swap to existing guest swap partitions unless you know what you
are doing. They may contain hibernation information, or other information that the guest
doesn't want you to trash. You also risk leaking information about the host to the guest
this way. Instead, attach a new host device to the guest and swap on that.
swapon-file
swapon-file file
This command enables swap to a file. See "swapon-device" for other notes.
swapon-label
swapon-label label
This command enables swap to a labeled swap partition. See "swapon-device" for other
notes.
swapon-uuid
swapon-uuid uuid
This command enables swap to a swap partition with the given UUID. See "swapon-device"
for other notes.
sync
sync
This syncs the disk, so that any writes are flushed through to the underlying disk image.
You should always call this if you have modified a disk image, before closing the handle.
syslinux
syslinux device [directory:..]
Install the SYSLINUX bootloader on "device".
The device parameter must be either a whole disk formatted as a FAT filesystem, or a
partition formatted as a FAT filesystem. In the latter case, the partition should be
marked as "active" ("part-set-bootable") and a Master Boot Record must be installed (eg.
using "pwrite-device") on the first sector of the whole disk. The SYSLINUX package comes
with some suitable Master Boot Records. See the syslinux(1) man page for further
information.
The optional arguments are:
"directory"
Install SYSLINUX in the named subdirectory, instead of in the root directory of the
FAT filesystem.
Additional configuration can be supplied to SYSLINUX by placing a file called
"syslinux.cfg" on the FAT filesystem, either in the root directory, or under "directory"
if that optional argument is being used. For further information about the contents of
this file, see syslinux(1).
See also "extlinux".
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
tail
tail path
This command returns up to the last 10 lines of a file as a list of strings.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
tail-n
tail-n nrlines path
If the parameter "nrlines" is a positive number, this returns the last "nrlines" lines of
the file "path".
If the parameter "nrlines" is a negative number, this returns lines from the file "path",
starting with the "-nrlines"th line.
If the parameter "nrlines" is zero, this returns an empty list.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
tar-in
tar-in-opts
tar-in (tarfile|-) directory [compress:..]
This command uploads and unpacks local file "tarfile" into "directory".
The optional "compress" flag controls compression. If not given, then the input should be
an uncompressed tar file. Otherwise one of the following strings may be given to select
the compression type of the input file: "compress", "gzip", "bzip2", "xz", "lzop". (Note
that not all builds of libguestfs will support all of these compression types).
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
tar-out
tar-out-opts
tar-out directory (tarfile|-) [compress:..] [numericowner:true|false] [excludes:..]
This command packs the contents of "directory" and downloads it to local file "tarfile".
The optional "compress" flag controls compression. If not given, then the output will be
an uncompressed tar file. Otherwise one of the following strings may be given to select
the compression type of the output file: "compress", "gzip", "bzip2", "xz", "lzop". (Note
that not all builds of libguestfs will support all of these compression types).
The other optional arguments are:
"excludes"
A list of wildcards. Files are excluded if they match any of the wildcards.
"numericowner"
If set to true, the output tar file will contain UID/GID numbers instead of user/group
names.
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
tgz-in
tgz-in (tarball|-) directory
This command uploads and unpacks local file "tarball" (a gzip compressed tar file) into
"directory".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "tar-in" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
tgz-out
tgz-out directory (tarball|-)
This command packs the contents of "directory" and downloads it to local file "tarball".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "tar-out" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
touch
touch path
Touch acts like the touch(1) command. It can be used to update the timestamps on a file,
or, if the file does not exist, to create a new zero-length file.
This command only works on regular files, and will fail on other file types such as
directories, symbolic links, block special etc.
truncate
truncate path
This command truncates "path" to a zero-length file. The file must exist already.
truncate-size
truncate-size path size
This command truncates "path" to size "size" bytes. The file must exist already.
If the current file size is less than "size" then the file is extended to the required
size with zero bytes. This creates a sparse file (ie. disk blocks are not allocated for
the file until you write to it). To create a non-sparse file of zeroes, use "fallocate64"
instead.
tune2fs
tune2fs device [force:true|false] [maxmountcount:N] [mountcount:N] [errorbehavior:..] [group:N] [intervalbetweenchecks:N] [reservedblockspercentage:N] [lastmounteddirectory:..] [reservedblockscount:N] [user:N]
This call allows you to adjust various filesystem parameters of an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem called "device".
The optional parameters are:
"force"
Force tune2fs to complete the operation even in the face of errors. This is the same
as the tune2fs "-f" option.
"maxmountcount"
Set the number of mounts after which the filesystem is checked by e2fsck(8). If this
is 0 then the number of mounts is disregarded. This is the same as the tune2fs "-c"
option.
"mountcount"
Set the number of times the filesystem has been mounted. This is the same as the
tune2fs "-C" option.
"errorbehavior"
Change the behavior of the kernel code when errors are detected. Possible values
currently are: "continue", "remount-ro", "panic". In practice these options don't
really make any difference, particularly for write errors.
This is the same as the tune2fs "-e" option.
"group"
Set the group which can use reserved filesystem blocks. This is the same as the
tune2fs "-g" option except that it can only be specified as a number.
"intervalbetweenchecks"
Adjust the maximal time between two filesystem checks (in seconds). If the option is
passed as 0 then time-dependent checking is disabled.
This is the same as the tune2fs "-i" option.
"reservedblockspercentage"
Set the percentage of the filesystem which may only be allocated by privileged
processes. This is the same as the tune2fs "-m" option.
"lastmounteddirectory"
Set the last mounted directory. This is the same as the tune2fs "-M" option.
"reservedblockscount" Set the number of reserved filesystem blocks. This is the same as
the tune2fs "-r" option.
"user"
Set the user who can use the reserved filesystem blocks. This is the same as the
tune2fs "-u" option except that it can only be specified as a number.
To get the current values of filesystem parameters, see "tune2fs-l". For precise details
of how tune2fs works, see the tune2fs(8) man page.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
tune2fs-l
tune2fs-l device
This returns the contents of the ext2, ext3 or ext4 filesystem superblock on "device".
It is the same as running "tune2fs -l device". See tune2fs(8) manpage for more details.
The list of fields returned isn't clearly defined, and depends on both the version of
"tune2fs" that libguestfs was built against, and the filesystem itself.
txz-in
txz-in (tarball|-) directory
This command uploads and unpacks local file "tarball" (an xz compressed tar file) into
"directory".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "tar-in" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
txz-out
txz-out directory (tarball|-)
This command packs the contents of "directory" and downloads it to local file "tarball"
(as an xz compressed tar archive).
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "tar-out" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
umask
umask mask
This function sets the mask used for creating new files and device nodes to "mask & 0777".
Typical umask values would be 022 which creates new files with permissions like
"-rw-r--r--" or "-rwxr-xr-x", and 002 which creates new files with permissions like
"-rw-rw-r--" or "-rwxrwxr-x".
The default umask is 022. This is important because it means that directories and device
nodes will be created with 0644 or 0755 mode even if you specify 0777.
See also "get-umask", umask(2), "mknod", "mkdir".
This call returns the previous umask.
umount
unmount
umount-opts
umount pathordevice [force:true|false] [lazyunmount:true|false]
This unmounts the given filesystem. The filesystem may be specified either by its
mountpoint (path) or the device which contains the filesystem.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
umount-all
unmount-all
umount-all
This unmounts all mounted filesystems.
Some internal mounts are not unmounted by this call.
umount-local
umount-local [retry:true|false]
If libguestfs is exporting the filesystem on a local mountpoint, then this unmounts it.
See "MOUNT LOCAL" in guestfs(3) for full documentation.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
upload
upload (filename|-) remotefilename
Upload local file "filename" to "remotefilename" on the filesystem.
"filename" can also be a named pipe.
See also "download".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
upload-offset
upload-offset (filename|-) remotefilename offset
Upload local file "filename" to "remotefilename" on the filesystem.
"remotefilename" is overwritten starting at the byte "offset" specified. The intention is
to overwrite parts of existing files or devices, although if a non-existant file is
specified then it is created with a "hole" before "offset". The size of the data written
is implicit in the size of the source "filename".
Note that there is no limit on the amount of data that can be uploaded with this call,
unlike with "pwrite", and this call always writes the full amount unless an error occurs.
See also "upload", "pwrite".
Use "-" instead of a filename to read/write from stdin/stdout.
user-cancel
user-cancel
This function cancels the current upload or download operation.
Unlike most other libguestfs calls, this function is signal safe and thread safe. You can
call it from a signal handler or from another thread, without needing to do any locking.
The transfer that was in progress (if there is one) will stop shortly afterwards, and will
return an error. The errno (see "guestfs_last_errno") is set to "EINTR", so you can test
for this to find out if the operation was cancelled or failed because of another error.
No cleanup is performed: for example, if a file was being uploaded then after cancellation
there may be a partially uploaded file. It is the caller's responsibility to clean up if
necessary.
There are two common places that you might call "user-cancel":
In an interactive text-based program, you might call it from a "SIGINT" signal handler so
that pressing "^C" cancels the current operation. (You also need to call
"guestfs_set_pgroup" so that child processes don't receive the "^C" signal).
In a graphical program, when the main thread is displaying a progress bar with a cancel
button, wire up the cancel button to call this function.
utimens
utimens path atsecs atnsecs mtsecs mtnsecs
This command sets the timestamps of a file with nanosecond precision.
"atsecs, atnsecs" are the last access time (atime) in secs and nanoseconds from the epoch.
"mtsecs, mtnsecs" are the last modification time (mtime) in secs and nanoseconds from the
epoch.
If the *nsecs field contains the special value "-1" then the corresponding timestamp is
set to the current time. (The *secs field is ignored in this case).
If the *nsecs field contains the special value "-2" then the corresponding timestamp is
left unchanged. (The *secs field is ignored in this case).
utsname
utsname
This returns the kernel version of the appliance, where this is available. This
information is only useful for debugging. Nothing in the returned structure is defined by
the API.
version
version
Return the libguestfs version number that the program is linked against.
Note that because of dynamic linking this is not necessarily the version of libguestfs
that you compiled against. You can compile the program, and then at runtime dynamically
link against a completely different "libguestfs.so" library.
This call was added in version 1.0.58. In previous versions of libguestfs there was no
way to get the version number. From C code you can use dynamic linker functions to find
out if this symbol exists (if it doesn't, then it's an earlier version).
The call returns a structure with four elements. The first three ("major", "minor" and
"release") are numbers and correspond to the usual version triplet. The fourth element
("extra") is a string and is normally empty, but may be used for distro-specific
information.
To construct the original version string: "$major.$minor.$release$extra"
See also: "LIBGUESTFS VERSION NUMBERS" in guestfs(3).
Note: Don't use this call to test for availability of features. In enterprise
distributions we backport features from later versions into earlier versions, making this
an unreliable way to test for features. Use "available" or "feature-available" instead.
vfs-label
vfs-label mountable
This returns the label of the filesystem on "mountable".
If the filesystem is unlabeled, this returns the empty string.
To find a filesystem from the label, use "findfs-label".
vfs-type
vfs-type mountable
This command gets the filesystem type corresponding to the filesystem on "mountable".
For most filesystems, the result is the name of the Linux VFS module which would be used
to mount this filesystem if you mounted it without specifying the filesystem type. For
example a string such as "ext3" or "ntfs".
vfs-uuid
vfs-uuid mountable
This returns the filesystem UUID of the filesystem on "mountable".
If the filesystem does not have a UUID, this returns the empty string.
To find a filesystem from the UUID, use "findfs-uuid".
vg-activate
vg-activate true|false 'volgroups ...'
This command activates or (if "activate" is false) deactivates all logical volumes in the
listed volume groups "volgroups".
This command is the same as running "vgchange -a y|n volgroups..."
Note that if "volgroups" is an empty list then all volume groups are activated or
deactivated.
vg-activate-all
vg-activate-all true|false
This command activates or (if "activate" is false) deactivates all logical volumes in all
volume groups.
This command is the same as running "vgchange -a y|n"
vgchange-uuid
vgchange-uuid vg
Generate a new random UUID for the volume group "vg".
vgchange-uuid-all
vgchange-uuid-all
Generate new random UUIDs for all volume groups.
vgcreate
vgcreate volgroup 'physvols ...'
This creates an LVM volume group called "volgroup" from the non-empty list of physical
volumes "physvols".
vglvuuids
vglvuuids vgname
Given a VG called "vgname", this returns the UUIDs of all the logical volumes created in
this volume group.
You can use this along with "lvs" and "lvuuid" calls to associate logical volumes and
volume groups.
See also "vgpvuuids".
vgmeta
vgmeta vgname
"vgname" is an LVM volume group. This command examines the volume group and returns its
metadata.
Note that the metadata is an internal structure used by LVM, subject to change at any
time, and is provided for information only.
vgpvuuids
vgpvuuids vgname
Given a VG called "vgname", this returns the UUIDs of all the physical volumes that this
volume group resides on.
You can use this along with "pvs" and "pvuuid" calls to associate physical volumes and
volume groups.
See also "vglvuuids".
vgremove
vgremove vgname
Remove an LVM volume group "vgname", (for example "VG").
This also forcibly removes all logical volumes in the volume group (if any).
vgrename
vgrename volgroup newvolgroup
Rename a volume group "volgroup" with the new name "newvolgroup".
vgs
vgs
List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent of the vgs(8) command.
This returns a list of just the volume group names that were detected (eg. "VolGroup00").
See also "vgs-full".
vgs-full
vgs-full
List all the volumes groups detected. This is the equivalent of the vgs(8) command. The
"full" version includes all fields.
vgscan
vgscan
This rescans all block devices and rebuilds the list of LVM physical volumes, volume
groups and logical volumes.
vguuid
vguuid vgname
This command returns the UUID of the LVM VG named "vgname".
wc-c
wc-c path
This command counts the characters in a file, using the "wc -c" external command.
wc-l
wc-l path
This command counts the lines in a file, using the "wc -l" external command.
wc-w
wc-w path
This command counts the words in a file, using the "wc -w" external command.
wipefs
wipefs device
This command erases filesystem or RAID signatures from the specified "device" to make the
filesystem invisible to libblkid.
This does not erase the filesystem itself nor any other data from the "device".
Compare with "zero" which zeroes the first few blocks of a device.
write
write path content
This call creates a file called "path". The content of the file is the string "content"
(which can contain any 8 bit data).
See also "write-append".
write-append
write-append path content
This call appends "content" to the end of file "path". If "path" does not exist, then a
new file is created.
See also "write".
write-file
write-file path content size
This call creates a file called "path". The contents of the file is the string "content"
(which can contain any 8 bit data), with length "size".
As a special case, if "size" is 0 then the length is calculated using "strlen" (so in this
case the content cannot contain embedded ASCII NULs).
NB. Owing to a bug, writing content containing ASCII NUL characters does not work, even if
the length is specified.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "write" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
xfs-admin
xfs-admin device [extunwritten:true|false] [imgfile:true|false] [v2log:true|false] [projid32bit:true|false] [lazycounter:true|false] [label:..] [uuid:..]
Change the parameters of the XFS filesystem on "device".
Devices that are mounted cannot be modified. Administrators must unmount filesystems
before this call can modify parameters.
Some of the parameters of a mounted filesystem can be examined and modified using the
"xfs-info" and "xfs-growfs" calls.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
xfs-growfs
xfs-growfs path [datasec:true|false] [logsec:true|false] [rtsec:true|false] [datasize:N] [logsize:N] [rtsize:N] [rtextsize:N] [maxpct:N]
Grow the XFS filesystem mounted at "path".
The returned struct contains geometry information. Missing fields are returned as "-1"
(for numeric fields) or empty string.
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
xfs-info
xfs-info pathordevice
"pathordevice" is a mounted XFS filesystem or a device containing an XFS filesystem. This
command returns the geometry of the filesystem.
The returned struct contains geometry information. Missing fields are returned as "-1"
(for numeric fields) or empty string.
xfs-repair
xfs-repair device [forcelogzero:true|false] [nomodify:true|false] [noprefetch:true|false] [forcegeometry:true|false] [maxmem:N] [ihashsize:N] [bhashsize:N] [agstride:N] [logdev:..] [rtdev:..]
Repair corrupt or damaged XFS filesystem on "device".
The filesystem is specified using the "device" argument which should be the device name of
the disk partition or volume containing the filesystem. If given the name of a block
device, "xfs_repair" will attempt to find the raw device associated with the specified
block device and will use the raw device instead.
Regardless, the filesystem to be repaired must be unmounted, otherwise, the resulting
filesystem may be inconsistent or corrupt.
The returned status indicates whether filesystem corruption was detected (returns 1) or
was not detected (returns 0).
This command has one or more optional arguments. See "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS".
zegrep
zegrep regex path
This calls the external "zegrep" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zegrepi
zegrepi regex path
This calls the external "zegrep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zero
zero device
This command writes zeroes over the first few blocks of "device".
How many blocks are zeroed isn't specified (but it's not enough to securely wipe the
device). It should be sufficient to remove any partition tables, filesystem superblocks
and so on.
If blocks are already zero, then this command avoids writing zeroes. This prevents the
underlying device from becoming non-sparse or growing unnecessarily.
See also: "zero-device", "scrub-device", "is-zero-device"
zero-device
zero-device device
This command writes zeroes over the entire "device". Compare with "zero" which just
zeroes the first few blocks of a device.
If blocks are already zero, then this command avoids writing zeroes. This prevents the
underlying device from becoming non-sparse or growing unnecessarily.
zero-free-space
zero-free-space directory
Zero the free space in the filesystem mounted on "directory". The filesystem must be
mounted read-write.
The filesystem contents are not affected, but any free space in the filesystem is freed.
Free space is not "trimmed". You may want to call "fstrim" either as an alternative to
this, or after calling this, depending on your requirements.
zerofree
zerofree device
This runs the zerofree program on "device". This program claims to zero unused inodes and
disk blocks on an ext2/3 filesystem, thus making it possible to compress the filesystem
more effectively.
You should not run this program if the filesystem is mounted.
It is possible that using this program can damage the filesystem or data on the
filesystem.
zfgrep
zfgrep pattern path
This calls the external "zfgrep" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zfgrepi
zfgrepi pattern path
This calls the external "zfgrep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zfile
zfile meth path
This command runs "file" after first decompressing "path" using "method".
"method" must be one of "gzip", "compress" or "bzip2".
Since 1.0.63, use "file" instead which can now process compressed files.
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "file" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zgrep
zgrep regex path
This calls the external "zgrep" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
zgrepi
zgrepi regex path
This calls the external "zgrep -i" program and returns the matching lines.
Because of the message protocol, there is a transfer limit of somewhere between 2MB and
4MB. See "PROTOCOL LIMITS" in guestfs(3).
This function is deprecated. In new code, use the "grep" call instead.
Deprecated functions will not be removed from the API, but the fact that they are
deprecated indicates that there are problems with correct use of these functions.
EXIT STATUS
guestfish returns 0 if the commands completed without error, or 1 if there was an error.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
EDITOR
The "edit" command uses $EDITOR as the editor. If not set, it uses "vi".
FEBOOTSTRAP_KERNEL
FEBOOTSTRAP_MODULES
When using supermin ≥ 4.1.0, these have been renamed "SUPERMIN_KERNEL" and
"SUPERMIN_MODULES".
GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE
The "display" command uses $GUESTFISH_DISPLAY_IMAGE to display images. If not set, it
uses display(1).
GUESTFISH_PID
Used with the --remote option to specify the remote guestfish process to control. See
section "REMOTE CONTROL GUESTFISH OVER A SOCKET".
GUESTFISH_PS1
Set the command prompt. See "PROMPT".
HEXEDITOR
The "hexedit" command uses $HEXEDITOR as the external hex editor. If not specified,
the external hexedit(1) program is used.
HOME
If compiled with GNU readline support, various files in the home directory can be
used. See "FILES".
LIBGUESTFS_APPEND
Pass additional options to the guest kernel.
LIBGUESTFS_ATTACH_METHOD
This is the old way to set "LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND".
LIBGUESTFS_BACKEND
Choose the default way to create the appliance. See "guestfs_set_backend" in
guestfs(3).
LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR
The location where libguestfs will cache its appliance, when using a supermin
appliance. The appliance is cached and shared between all handles which have the same
effective user ID.
If "LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR" is not set, then "TMPDIR" is used. If "TMPDIR" is not set,
then "/var/tmp" is used.
See also "LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR", "set-cachedir".
LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG
Set "LIBGUESTFS_DEBUG=1" to enable verbose messages. This has the same effect as
using the -v option.
LIBGUESTFS_HV
Set the default hypervisor (usually qemu) binary that libguestfs uses. If not set,
then the qemu which was found at compile time by the configure script is used.
LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE
Set the memory allocated to the qemu process, in megabytes. For example:
LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE=700
LIBGUESTFS_PATH
Set the path that guestfish uses to search for kernel and initrd.img. See the
discussion of paths in guestfs(3).
LIBGUESTFS_QEMU
This is the old way to set "LIBGUESTFS_HV".
LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR
The location where libguestfs will store temporary files used by each handle.
If "LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR" is not set, then "TMPDIR" is used. If "TMPDIR" is not set,
then "/tmp" is used.
See also "LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR", "set-tmpdir".
LIBGUESTFS_TRACE
Set "LIBGUESTFS_TRACE=1" to enable command traces.
PAGER
The "more" command uses $PAGER as the pager. If not set, it uses "more".
PATH
Libguestfs and guestfish may run some external programs, and rely on $PATH being set
to a reasonable value. If using the libvirt backend, libvirt will not work at all
unless $PATH contains the path of qemu/KVM.
SUPERMIN_KERNEL
SUPERMIN_MODULES
These two environment variables allow the kernel that libguestfs uses in the appliance
to be selected. If $SUPERMIN_KERNEL is not set, then the most recent host kernel is
chosen. For more information about kernel selection, see supermin-helper(8). This
feature is only available in supermin / febootstrap ≥ 3.8.
TMPDIR
See "LIBGUESTFS_CACHEDIR", "LIBGUESTFS_TMPDIR".
FILES
$HOME/.libguestfs-tools.rc
/etc/libguestfs-tools.conf
This configuration file controls the default read-only or read-write mode (--ro or
--rw).
See libguestfs-tools.conf(5).
$HOME/.guestfish
If compiled with GNU readline support, then the command history is saved in this file.
$HOME/.inputrc
/etc/inputrc
If compiled with GNU readline support, then these files can be used to configure
readline. For further information, please see "INITIALIZATION FILE" in readline(3).
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:
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.
test1.img
test2.img (etc)
When using the -N or --new option, the prepared disk or filesystem will be created in
the file "test1.img" in the current directory. The second use of -N will use
"test2.img" and so on. Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten. You
can use a different filename by using the "filename=" prefix.
SEE ALSO
guestfs(3), http://libguestfs.org/, virt-alignment-scan(1), virt-builder(1), virt-cat(1),
virt-copy-in(1), virt-copy-out(1), virt-df(1), virt-edit(1), virt-filesystems(1),
virt-inspector(1), virt-list-filesystems(1), virt-list-partitions(1), virt-ls(1),
virt-make-fs(1), virt-rescue(1), virt-resize(1), virt-sparsify(1), virt-sysprep(1),
virt-tar(1), virt-tar-in(1), virt-tar-out(1), virt-win-reg(1), libguestfs-tools.conf(5),
display(1), hexedit(1), supermin-helper(8).
AUTHORS
Richard W.M. Jones ("rjones at redhat dot com")
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Red Hat Inc.
LICENSE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program;
if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
BUGS
To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
When reporting a bug, please supply:
• The version of libguestfs.
• Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)
• Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.
• Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output into the bug
report.