diff --git a/examples/guestfs-faq.pod b/examples/guestfs-faq.pod index 9704d53c9..ec4940986 100644 --- a/examples/guestfs-faq.pod +++ b/examples/guestfs-faq.pod @@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ us (see previous section). =head2 supermin-helper: ext2: parent directory not found +[This issue is fixed permanently in libguestfs E 1.26.] + If you see any of these errors on Debian/Ubuntu, you need to run the following command: @@ -437,83 +439,33 @@ policy. =head2 Libguestfs has a really long list of dependencies! -That's because it does a lot of things. - -Libguestfs -- I -- satisfies the -following conditions: +The base library doesn't depend on very much, but there are three +causes of the long list of other dependencies: =over 4 =item 1. -The Fedora package is full featured, that is, it supports every -possible feature of libguestfs (every filesystem, every filesystem -tool, etc.) - -A common request is to split up libguestfs into separate feature areas -so you could, say, install XFS support and NTFS support separately. -This is not possible right now. +Libguestfs has to be able to read and edit many different disk +formats. For example, XFS support requires XFS tools. =item 2. -The download size of the libguestfs package is relatively small -(ie. not ten's of megabytes as it would be if it included a complete, -"statically linked" appliance). +There are language bindings for many different languages, all +requiring their own development tools. All language bindings (except +C) are optional. =item 3. -The Fedora package automatically updates itself if there is a security -update. It doesn't include a huge static blob that has to be rebuilt -and users have to re-download if there is an update. - -=item 4. - -Able to be installed without needing direct network access. This is -important when using closed networks, privately mirrored repositories -or RHN Satellite. - -=item 5. - -The Fedora package can be tested during the build. +There are some optional library features which can be disabled. =back -If you want to drop any one of those conditions, then you can package -libguestfs differently and make it have fewer dependencies, fewer -features or a faster start up time: - -=over 4 - -=item 1. (full featured) - -Take C in the source, and comment out any -features you don't actually care about. For example if you never -anticipate editing a Windows guest, remove all the ntfs-related -packages. You can get away with fewer dependencies. - -=item 2. (download size) / 3. (updates) - -Use L to build a compressed -appliance. Bundle this with your package and set C<$LIBGUESTFS_PATH> -to point to it. Users will have to download this large appliance, but -no dependencies are needed, and L is not used. - -=item 4. (network access) - -Reconstruct and cache the appliance once during package install. The -Debian packaging currently works like this, but requires network -access during package install. - -=item 5. (tests) - -Don't run any tests during the build. The build will be much -faster, but also less likely to work correctly. - -Note that running the tests in C is probably a good idea, -since those are sanity tests. Also you should do S> -to ensure libguestfs is basically working. - -=back +Since libguestfs E 1.26 it is possible to split up the appliance +dependencies (item 1 in the list above) and thus have (eg) +C as a separate subpackage for processing XFS disk +images. We encourage downstream packagers to start splitting the base +libguestfs package into smaller subpackages. =head2 Errors during launch on Fedora E 18, RHEL E 7