Manpages

NAME

guestfs-ruby - How to use libguestfs from Ruby

SYNOPSIS

require 'guestfs'
g = Guestfs::Guestfs.new()
g.add_drive_opts("disk.img",
:readonly => true, :format => "raw")
g.launch()

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents how to call libguestfs from the Ruby programming language. This page just documents the differences from the C API and gives some examples. If you are not familiar with using libguestfs, you also need to read guestfs(3).

EXCEPTIONS
Errors from libguestfs functions are mapped into the "Error" exception. This has a single parameter which is the error message (a string).

EXAMPLE 1: CREATE A DISK IMAGE

# Example showing how to create a disk image.
require 'guestfs'
output = "disk.img"
g = Guestfs::Guestfs.new()
# Create a raw-format sparse disk image, 512 MB in size.
g.disk_create (output, "raw", 512 * 1024 * 1024)
# Set the trace flag so that we can see each libguestfs call.
g.set_trace(1)
# Attach the disk image to libguestfs.
g.add_drive_opts(output, :format => "raw")
# Run the libguestfs back-end.
g.launch();
# Get the list of devices. Because we only added one drive
# above, we expect that this list should contain a single
# element.
devices = g.list_devices()
if devices.length != 1 then
raise "error: expected a single device from list-devices"
end
# Partition the disk as one single MBR partition.
g.part_disk(devices[0], "mbr")
# Get the list of partitions. We expect a single element, which
# is the partition we have just created.
partitions = g.list_partitions()
if partitions.length != 1 then
raise "error: expected a single partition from list-partitions"
end
# Create a filesystem on the partition.
g.mkfs("ext4", partitions[0])
# Now mount the filesystem so that we can add files.
g.mount(partitions[0], "/")
# Create some files and directories.
g.touch("/empty")
message = "Hello, world\n"
g.write("/hello", message)
g.mkdir("/foo")
# This one uploads the local file /etc/resolv.conf into
# the disk image.
g.upload("/etc/resolv.conf", "/foo/resolv.conf")
# Because we wrote to the disk and we want to detect write
# errors, call g.shutdown. You don't need to do this:
# g.close will do it implicitly.
g.shutdown()
# Note also that handles are automatically closed if they are
# reaped by the garbage collector. You only need to call close
# if you want to close the handle right away.
g.close()

EXAMPLE 2: INSPECT A VIRTUAL MACHINE DISK IMAGE

# Example showing how to inspect a virtual machine disk.
require 'guestfs'
if ARGV.length == 0
puts "usage: inspect_vm disk.img"
exit 1
end
disk = ARGV[0]
g = Guestfs::Guestfs.new()
# Attach the disk image read-only to libguestfs.
g.add_drive_opts(disk, :readonly => true)
# Run the libguestfs back-end.
g.launch()
# Ask libguestfs to inspect for operating systems.
roots = g.inspect_os()
if roots.length == 0
puts "inspect_vm: no operating systems found"
exit 1
end
for root in roots do
printf("Root device: %s\n", root)
# Print basic information about the operating system.
printf(" Product name: %s\n", g.inspect_get_product_name(root))
printf(" Version: %d.%d\n",
g.inspect_get_major_version(root),
g.inspect_get_minor_version(root))
printf(" Type: %s\n", g.inspect_get_type(root))
printf(" Distro: %s\n", g.inspect_get_distro(root))
# Mount up the disks, like guestfish -i.
#
# Sort keys by length, shortest first, so that we end up
# mounting the filesystems in the correct order.
mps = g.inspect_get_mountpoints(root)
mps = mps.sort {|a,b| a[0].length <=> b[0].length}
for mp in mps do
begin
g.mount_ro(mp[1], mp[0])
rescue Guestfs::Error => msg
printf("%s (ignored)\n", msg)
end
end
# If /etc/issue.net file exists, print up to 3 lines.
filename = "/etc/issue.net"
if g.is_file filename then
printf("--- %s ---\n", filename)
lines = g.head_n(3, filename)
for line in lines do
puts line
end
end
# Unmount everything.
g.umount_all()
end

SEE ALSO

guestfs(3), guestfs-examples(3), guestfs-erlang(3), guestfs-gobject(3), guestfs-golang(3), guestfs-java(3), guestfs-lua(3), guestfs-ocaml(3), guestfs-perl(3), guestfs-python(3), guestfs-recipes(1), http://libguestfs.org/.

AUTHORS

Richard W.M. Jones ("rjones at redhat dot com")

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2010-2023 Red Hat Inc.

LICENSE

This manual page contains examples which we hope you will use in your programs. The examples may be freely copied, modified and distributed for any purpose without any restrictions.

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: