New features¶

User-Mode Linux (UML) can be used as an alternative backend (ie. instead of KVM). This improves performance especially when using libguestfs inside a VM (eg. in the cloud). UML is supported as a first-class backend. See "USER-MODE LINUX BACKEND" in guestfs(3) for how to use this.

ARM (32 bit) and PPC64 are now fully supported.

Tools

virt-builder(1) is a new tool for building virtual machine images. It lets you rapidly and securely create guests and customize them.

New virt-sysprep(1) operations: Remove files in /tmp and /var/tmp. Remove RPM database files. Change root and user passwords. More log files are removed. New operations which are not enabled by default: Create random UUIDs for filesystems. Reset firewall rules. (Wanlong Gao)

virt-resize(1) and virt-sysprep can now use URIs to specify a remote disk.

Use "guestfish -N filename=type" to create a named disk image (instead of the default test1.img etc).

virt-sparsify(1) now tests if there is enough disk space to complete the operation, instead of possibly running out of space half way through.

virt-format(1) and virt-make-fs(1): new --label option for setting filesystem label.

virt-resize --no-sparse flag can be used to resize on to partitions and other targets that are not zeroed.

Language bindings

New bindings for the Go programming language.

API

Support for the systemd journal.

"guestfs_add_drive_opts" can now control the qemu caching mode through a new "cachemode" parameter. You can select improved performance for temporary drives, or safety.

"guestfs_set_label" now works for XFS and btrfs.

New GUESTFS_EVENT_WARNING event for warning messages.

Inspection

Better inspection of SUSE guests (Olaf Hering).

Better support for non-standard Windows %systemroot% (Matthew Booth).

Enhanced error reporting for Augeas errors.

Security¶

CVE-2013-2124

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=968306

A denial of service was possible when inspecting certain guests. The fix has been backported to 1.20 and 1.22 branches.

CVE-2013-4419

https://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2013-October/msg00031.html

Fix insecure temporary directory handling for remote guestfish. The fix has been backported to 1.20 and 1.22 branches.

New APIs¶

 add-drive-scratch: Add a temporary scratch drive
 aug-label
 aug-setm
 journal-open: Systemd journal support
 journal-close
 journal-next
 journal-skip
 journal-get
 journal-get-data-threshold
 journal-set-data-threshold
 remount: Allow rw flag to be adjusted on mounted filesystems
 set-uuid: Set UUID of filesystem

"is-file", "is-dir", "is-blockdev", "is-chardev", "is-fifo", "is-socket" APIs now have an extra "followsymlinks" flag.

"add-drive" has a new "cachemode" parameter.

Build changes¶

The following packages are required to build libguestfs 1.24:

Augeas ≥ 1.0.0

The following optional packages may be added to enhance functionality but are not required:

sd-journal

To read journal files from guests which use that.

url_mkcow

For UML backend.

curl

gpg

xz

For virt-builder.

golang ≥ 1.1.1

For Go language bindings.

Internals¶

New "make check-*" rules replace "make extra-tests". See "make help" and guestfs(3) for details.

Perl code can now be valgrinded.

Inspection code is now fuzz-tested.

"make" no longer recurses into the generator directory in every other directory. This reduces the overhead of builds considerably.

Additional tests for Augeas, hivex.

Add a launch timeout of 20 minutes waiting for the appliance to start up.

Add a timeout (4 hours) to all tests so we can catch the case where qemu or other components hang.

Use kvmclock and "-cpu host". This improves clock stability and overall performance.

"./configure --enable-packet-dump" mode is fixed.

"./configure --enable-valgrind-daemon" mode has been rewritten. It is now feasible for developers to keep this flag enabled at all times.

Backends have been refactored to be modular (although they are not actually loadable modules).

When enabled, the network now uses resolver configuration (ie. /etc/resolv.conf) from the host.

Bugs fixed¶

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1019889

libguestfs-tools.conf should have a man page

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1018149

valgrind errors in btrfs_subvolume_list

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1002032

mke2fs can't return the correct filesystem type when blockscount is less than 2048 for ext3

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1001876

Update "rsync-out" helpout for using wildcard

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1001875

Argument 'excludes' of tar-out does not work

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1000428

virt-format uses wrong partition type for vfat filesystems

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1000121

'sh' command before mount causes daemon to segfault

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/998513

guestfish does not work when you mix --remote and --add options

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/998482

guestfish remote prints "libguestfs: error: waitpid (qemu): No child processes"

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/995711

list-filesystems command fails if there are no block devices

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/994517

cache=none/O_DIRECT workaround doesn't work for images with backing files

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/989356

cap-get-file will return error if the file has not be set capabilities

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/986877

RFE: Implement set-uuid command

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/986875

RFE: Implement set-label for xfs

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/985269

Can't set acl value for a specified user with 'acl-set-file'

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/983218

libguestfs double free when kernel link fails during launch

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981715

Make xfs filesystem failed with specified blocksize, gives "unknown option -b" error

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981683

"hivex-commit" should fail with a relative path

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981663

disk-format "qemu-img info: JSON parse error" when target file does not exist

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/978302

mke2fs-J should give a meaningful error when specified type is anything except 'ext{2,3,4}'

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975797

Specifying virtio interface ('iface' parameter) breaks the direct backend - libguestfs hangs

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975753

"virt-resize --expand" and "virt-resize --resize" outputs error message for Win2008 32bit OS

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975412

inspection: Augeas expressions are broken with augeas >= 0.10

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/974904

virt-resize --expand fails on Ubuntu Cloud Image

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/974489

Regression: Fedora inspection broken by change from guestfs_exists to guestfs_is_file

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/972775

txz-out command produces a bzip2-compressed file (should be xz-compressed)

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/969845

upload to a directory occasionally hangs instead of failing

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/968875

virt-sysprep should support URL-type arguments

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/624334

blockdev-setbsz succeeds, but does not affect blockdev-getbsz