NAME¶

debvm-run - Run a VM image created by debvm-create

SYNOPSIS¶

debvm-run [-g] [-i image] [-s sshport] [-- qemu options]

DESCRIPTION¶

debvm-run is essentially a thin wrapper around qemu for running a virtual machine image created by debvm-create or something compatible. The virtual machine image is expected to be a raw ext4 image with file system label debvm. The architecture of the machine is detected from the contained /bin/true. It must contain a symbolic link pointing to a kernel image at /vmlinuz or /vmlinux depending on the architecture and a symbolic link pointing to an initrd image at /initrd.img. Both are extracted and passed to qemu. A net interface configured for user mode is added automatically.

OPTIONS¶

-g, --graphical

By default, the option -nographic is passed to qemu and one interacts with the serial console of the machine. This configuration is skipped in the presence of this option.

-i image, --image=image

This option specifies the location of the virtual machine image file. By default rootfs.ext4 in the working directory is used.

-s sshport, --sshport=sshport

If given, qemu is configured to pass connections to 127.0.0.1:sshport to port 22 of the virtual machine.

-- qemu options

All options beyond a double dash are passed to qemu. This can be used to configure additional hardware components. One possible use of this method is passing -snapshot to avoid modifying the virtual machine image.

LIMITATIONS¶

Due to the way kernel and bootloader are being extracted before running qemu, one cannot upgrade a kernel and then just reboot. Attempting to do so, will still use the old kernel. Instead, qemu must be terminated and debvm-run should be launched again to pick up the new kernel. In order to avoid accidental reboots, one may pass -no-reboot to qemu.

SEE ALSO¶

    debvm-create(1) qemu(1)