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author | rjones <rjones> | 2009-03-03 08:58:37 +0000 |
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committer | rjones <rjones> | 2009-03-03 08:58:37 +0000 |
commit | 28d760b1542da7ff83b18c4ca60c2d03f327c2f4 (patch) | |
tree | 28b49a8622a47cf24ad2af48dce554bcef8bb4d9 /README | |
download | libguestfs-28d760b1542da7ff83b18c4ca60c2d03f327c2f4.tar.gz libguestfs-28d760b1542da7ff83b18c4ca60c2d03f327c2f4.tar.xz libguestfs-28d760b1542da7ff83b18c4ca60c2d03f327c2f4.zip |
Build environment set up for libguestfs.
Diffstat (limited to 'README')
-rw-r--r-- | README | 175 |
1 files changed, 175 insertions, 0 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +libguestfs is a library for accessing and modifying guest disk images. +Amongst the things this is good for: making batch configuration +changes to guests, getting disk used/free statistics (see also: +virt-df), migrating between virtualization systems (see also: +virt-p2v), performing partial backups, performing partial guest +clones, cloning guests and changing registry/UUID/hostname info, and +much else besides. + +libguestfs uses Linux kernel and qemu code, and can access any type of +guest filesystem that Linux and qemu can, including but not limited +to: ext2/3/4, btrfs, FAT and NTFS, LVM, many different disk partition +schemes, qcow, qcow2, vmdk. + +libguestfs provides ways to enumerate guest storage (eg. partitions, +LVs, what filesystem is in each LV, etc.). It can also run commands +in the context of the guest. Also you can mount guest filesystems on +the host (requires root privs and NFS). + +libguestfs is a library that can be linked with C and C++ management +programs (or management programs written in other languages, if people +contribute the language bindings). You can also use it from shell +scripts or the command line. + +libguestfs was written by Richard W.M. Jones (rjones@redhat.com). +For discussion please use the fedora-virt mailing list: + + https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-virt + + +Requirements +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +- nfs-utils source, unpacked + http://download.sourceforge.net/nfs + +- Recent QEMU with vmchannel support + +- Compiled Linux kernels for 32 and/or 64 bit (see note below). + +- mkinitrd + +- cpio + +- XDR, rpcgen + +- If you are running a 64 bit or non-x86 machine, see note below. + +We don't support initramfs at the moment. Patches gratefully +received. + +Running ./configure will check you have all the requirements installed +on your machine. + + +Building +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Unpack nfs-utils source into a directory somewhere, then create a +symlink daemon/nfs-utils to where you unpacked it. For example: + + pushd daemon + tar zxf /path/to/nfs-utils-1.1.4.tar.gz + ln -s nfs-utils-1.1.4 nfs-utils + popd + +For nfs-utils 1.1.4, you may find that the patch +(nfs-utils-1.1.4-build.patch) helps. + +Then make the library and shell tools: + + ./configure + make + +Make the daemon and NFS server: + mkdir daemon/build + pushd daemon/build + ../configure + make + popd + +For 64 bit you'll probably want to build the 32 bit daemon and NFS +server too: + + mkdir daemon/build-32 + pushd daemon/build-32 + ../configure --enable-32bit + make + popd + +For complex cross-architecture environments, you may want to build +other versions of the daemon and NFS server as well. See the note +below. + +Finally run the tests: + + make check + +If everything works, you can install the library and tools by running +these commands as root: + + make install + + pushd daemon/build + make install + popd + # Repeat for each daemon/build* directory you made above. + + +Note on 64 bit and non-x86 architectures +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +The library runs the Linux kernel code in QEMU. It also runs a small +control daemon inside QEMU. It might also run an NFS server. It +might also run programs from the guest's disk/environment (if asked to). + +This leaves open the question of which QEMU do we run, eg. qemu (the +i386 emulator) or qemu-system-x86_64 or qemu-system-ppc64 or ...? + +Several factors influence the choice: + +(a) The host architecture. + +(b) The guest architecture. + +(c) What kernel(s) we find at runtime. + +(d) What compiler(s) we find at configure time. + +(e) In general, we would prefer to run a 32 bit kernel over a 64 bit +kernel, because that reduces the amount of system memory we have to +give to qemu significantly, and makes libguestfs smaller, faster and +use less memory. + +For example, if (a) the host is x86-64, then it might be running a +mixture of (b) i386 and x86-64 guests. Disk formats are stable, even +across 32 and 64 bit and endianness changes, so it doesn't really +matter what kernel we use if we just want to access files in the +guest. In the absence of any other factors, we would choose an i386 +kernel and run it in plain 'qemu', because that would use the least +amount of memory. + +But if we wanted to enable the feature of running a guest program in +an x86-64 guest, then we have to run an x86-64 kernel and +qemu-system-x86_64 (an i386 kernel can't run 64 bit programs). The +same applies if we didn't find a 32 bit kernel at runtime, or if we +couldn't run "gcc -m32" at configure time (because we can't compile +the daemon). + +SO: to enable maximum features on 64 bit architectures: + +(1) Ensure that "gcc -m32" can create usable binaries. + +(2) Provide 32 and 64 bit kernels binaries at runtime. + +If you have a really weird environment, eg. you want to run programs +inside PPC64 guests on your MIPS machine, then: + +(3) Provide gcc cross-compiler and glibc for each architecture, and +cross-compile the daemon and NFS server: + + mkdir daemon/build-ppc64 + pushd daemon/build-ppc64 + ../configure --host=ppc64-gnu-linux + make + popd + + +Copyright and license information +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc. + +The library is distributed under the LGPLv2+. The programs are +distributed under the GPLv2+. Please see the files COPYING and +COPYING.LIB for full license information. |