FAQ: virt-sparsify and raw sparse output.

This commit is contained in:
Richard W.M. Jones
2012-08-18 22:27:17 +01:00
parent d67e6ea75d
commit cd1627e804
2 changed files with 32 additions and 0 deletions

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@@ -405,6 +405,25 @@ C<$TMPDIR/.guestfs-E<lt>UIDE<gt>> is used instead.
It is safe to delete this directory when you are not using libguestfs.
=head2 virt-sparsify seems to make the image grow to the
full size of the virtual disk
If the input to L<virt-sparsify(1)> is raw, then the output will be
raw sparse. Make sure you are measuring the output with a tool which
understands sparseness such as C<du-sh>. It can make a huge difference:
$ ls -lh test1.img
-rw-rw-r--. 1 rjones rjones 100M Aug 8 08:08 test1.img
$ du -sh test1.img
3.6M test1.img
(Compare the apparent size B<100M> vs the actual size B<3.6M>)
If all this confuses you, use a non-sparse output by specifying the
I<--convert> option, eg:
virt-sparsify --convert qcow2 disk.raw disk.qcow2
=head1 USING LIBGUESTFS IN YOUR OWN PROGRAMS
=head2 The API has hundreds of methods, where do I start?

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@@ -25,6 +25,19 @@ Virt-sparsify can operate on any disk image, not just ones from
virtual machines. If a virtual machine has more than one attached
disk, you must sparsify each one separately.
=head2 IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SPARSE OUTPUT IMAGES
If the input is raw, then the default output is raw sparse. B<You
must check the output size using a tool that understands sparseness>
such as C<du -sh>. It can make a huge difference:
$ ls -lh test1.img
-rw-rw-r--. 1 rjones rjones 100M Aug 8 08:08 test1.img
$ du -sh test1.img
3.6M test1.img
(Compare the apparent size B<100M> vs the actual size B<3.6M>)
=head2 IMPORTANT LIMITATIONS
=over 4