guestfs-release-notes-1.18.1

guestfs-release-notes-1.18

NAME
RELEASE NOTES FOR LIBGUESTFS 1.18
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
LICENSE
BUGS

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NAME

guestfs−release−notes − libguestfs Release Notes

RELEASE NOTES FOR LIBGUESTFS 1.18

These release notes only cover the differences from the previous stable/dev branch split (1.16.0). For detailed changelogs, please see the git repository, or the ChangeLog file distributed in the tarball.

New features

virt tools

− virt−sysprep has been rewritten and expanded (thanks Wanlong Gao)
http://libguestfs.org/virt−sysprep.1.html
− virt−sparsify −−zero is a new option that zeroes the named
partition or filesystem
− virt−sparsify can now safely sparsify Linux swap partitions
− virt−sparsify fixed so it cleans up after ^C
http://libguestfs.org/virt−sparsify.1.html
− a new tool ‘libguestfs−make−fixed−appliance’ is provided to build
fixed appliances that can be copied to other machines that don’t
have febootstrap support
http://libguestfs.org/libguestfs−make−fixed−appliance.1.html
− virt−filesystems now displays the parents (containers) of MD
devices and volume groups
− virt−alignment−scan, run with no args, displays alignment information
for all libvirt domains
− virt−df and virt−alignment−scan will display information from all
guests even when a disk is inaccessible
− virt−rescue new −−scratch option to make scratch disks
https://rwmj.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/virt−rescue−scratch/#content
− virt−make−fs can now be used to create btrfs
− virt−edit preserves permissions, UID, GID and SELinux context
when editing files
− guestfish passes the close event over stdout and remote correctly
− guestfish new ‘−−pipe−error’ option lets you detect errors in pipe
commands
− guestfish globs now expand device names
− comma and colon characters in filenames now handled correctly by
all virt tools

inspection

− added support for Fedora 17+
− added support for FreeDOS
− added support for Buildroot and Cirros
− inspection is now compatible with Windows guests that have been
sysprepped (thanks Grant Williamson).

API

− broad support for btrfs added, including adding multiple devices,
fsck, snapshots (thanks Wanlong Gao)
− the new ‘mount−local’ API brings FUSE support directly into the
core libguestfs API
https://rwmj.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/tip−using−mount−local−api−from−c/#content
− new man page: guestfs−performance(1), which contains performance
tuning tips
http://libguestfs.org/guestfs−performance.1.html
− new man page: guestfs−faq(1), Frequently Asked Questions
http://libguestfs.org/guestfs−faq.1.html
− ENOTSUP (from guestfs_last_errno) is now returned for APIs that
are not supported

examples

− ‘copy_over’ example showing how to copy between two handles
− ‘display_icon’ program displays the icon associated with a guest
− ‘mount_local.c’ example shows how to use the mount−local API

Security

(no security problems were found or fixed in this release)

New APIs

btrfs−device−add: Add devices to a btrfs filesystem.
btrfs−device−delete: Remove devices from a btrfs filesystem.
btrfs−filesystem−sync: Sync a btrfs filesystem.
btrfs−filesystem−balance: Balance a btrfs filesystem.
btrfs−fsck: Check btrfs filesystem.
btrfs−set−seeding: Enable or disable seeding.
btrfs−subvolume−create: Create a btrfs snapshot.
btrfs−subvolume−delete: Delete a btrfs snapshot.
btrfs−subvolume−list: List btrfs snapshots and subvolumes.
btrfs−subvolume−set−default: Set default btrfs subvolume.
btrfs−subvolume−snapshot: Create a writable btrfs snapshot.
get−e2attrs: List ext2 file attributes of a file.
get−e2generation: Get ext2 file generation of a file.
isoinfo, isoinfo−device: Get information from the header of ISO files.
llz: List files with SELinux information.
lvcreate−free: Create an LVM logical volume in % remaining free space.
md−stat: Return underlying devices from an MD device.
mkfs−brtfs: Make btrfs filesystem, with all tunables.
mount−local, mount−local−run, umount−local: FUSE support in the API.
ntfsclone−in, ntfsclone−out: Save, restore NTFS from backup.
ntfsfix: Fix common errors and force Windows to check NTFS.
set−e2attrs: Set or clear ext2 file attributes of a file.
set−e2generation: Set ext2 file generation of a file.
set−label: Unified interface for setting filesystem label.
vgmeta: Get volume group metadata.
wipefs: Wipe filesystem signatures from a device.
zero−free−space: Zero free space in a filesystem.

Internals

− The debian/ subdirectory has been removed. We recommend you use
the official Debian packages made by Hilko Bengen.
http://people.debian.org/\~bengen/libguestfs/
http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=libguestfs
− O_CLOEXEC / SOCK_CLOEXEC is now used for almost all file
descriptors that the library opens.
− posix_fadvise is called when sequentially reading or writing large
files.
− close all file descriptors and remove all signal handlers in the
recovery process
− multiple gcc warnings and Coverity bugs have been fixed; many
strict−overflow bugs have also been fixed
− use ./configure −−enable−valgrind−daemon to use valgrind on the
daemon; many errors have been fixed
− use ./configure −−with−qemu−options to pass extra options to qemu
− the daemon now has a growable strings buffer type (DECLARE_STRINGSBUF)
− the <guestfs.h> header file works with C++ and we have a regression
test for this
− multiple APIs which should only be called in the CONFIG state now
give an error if they are not
− .gitignore fixed to use absolute paths
− gobject bindings have been expanded, including mapping libguestfs
events to gobject signals (thanks Matt Booth)
− gobject documentation is generated properly (thanks Matt Booth)
− gobject header files now live in a subdirectory
− CompareWithString test in the generator now works
− FUInt32, FUInt64 struct field types now use the correct XDR type
− OCaml tests are now run on bytecode and native code.
− java −Xlint:all is used, and all warnings have been fixed
− bmptopng, wrestool (etc) missing or failure no longer prints
warning messages
− ruby: Use RbConfig instead of Config.
− PYTHONPATH is set by the ./run script.
− appliance building is now thread−safe.
− appliance now uses ‘ip’ instead of ‘ifconfig’ and ‘netstat’
commands
− several fixes to make parallel builds work properly
− guestfish −−listen now cleans up properly
− the BUSY state has been removed
− gettextize has been removed, replaced by a simple Makefile.am
− gettext support now covers virt−resize, virt−sparsify and virt−sysprep
− better support for the arm architecture

Bugs fixed

− 822490 virt−ls error: “libguestfs: error: checksum: path: parameter cannot be NULL”
− 816839 data overflow error when debug progress −1
− 816098 virt−make−fs fails to make a btrfs filesystem because it doesn’t allocate enough space
− 811872 inspection fails on ubuntu 10.04 guest with encrypted swap
− 811650 guestfs_last_error not set when qemu fails early during launch
− 811649 libguestfs cannot open disk images which are symlinks to files that contain ’:’ (colon) character
− 811117 [RFE][virt−sysprep] net−hwaddr not removed from “ifcfg−*” files on rhel
− 811112 [RFE][virt−sysprep] hostname can not be changed on rhel system
− 809361 inspection doesn’t recognize Fedora 18 (grub2 + GPT)
− 807905 mkfs blocksize option breaks when creating btrfs
− 805070 virt−filesystems should show ‘parents’ of LV and RAID devices
− 804464 libguestfs cannot be built when LINGUAS is different then ja or uk
− 803664 libguestfs inspection fails on Windows XP: libguestfs: error: hivex: could not locate HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
− 803533 guestfish: write error
− 802389 event handlers for ‘close’ event doesn’t work in remote mode
− 802109 libguestfs uses putc on stderr, results in many individual 1 byte writes of debug messages
− 801640 [RFE] the error reported by resize2fs−M need to be more clear
− 801298 Possible null dereference and resource leaks
− 801273 Document for set−pgroup need to be updated
− 798196 virt−resize confuses format and output_format variables; using −−output−format sets the input format
− 797986 virt−resize on Windows XP in sysprep state causes “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” BSOD
− 796520 [RFE] Prevent user from running some appliance configure commands after appliance boot up
− 790721 multiprovider build error: RuntimeError: link: /tmp/.guestfs−0/kernel /tmp/.guestfs−0/kernel.10139: File exists
− 789960 guestfsd crash when try to mount non−exist disk
− 789504 virt−df (other tools?) should not give up if a guest disk is missing
− 788641 virt−edit doesn’t preserve file permissions
− 786215 libguestfs inspection does not recognize FreeDOS operating system
− 786188 libguestfs inspection does not recognize FreeDOS install CD
− 785668 aug−defnode: daemon crash
− 784647 Libguestfs uses deprecated net−tools
− 769304 virt−resize on RHEL 6 kernel fails to re−read the partition table
− 755729 Error message for resize2fs−M needs tweaking
− 701814 virt−win−reg fails on a libvirt guest that has no defined disk format: “format parameter is empty or contains disallowed characters”
− 679737 libguestfs: improve error message when zerofree is not available in the appliance
− 635971 glob mkfs ext2 /dev/vd[b−t]1 does not expand

SEE ALSO

guestfs−examples(1), guestfs−faq(1), guestfs−performance(1), guestfs−recipes(1), guestfs−testing(1), guestfs(3), guestfish(1), http://libguestfs.org/

AUTHOR

Richard W.M. Jones

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2009−2023 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:

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