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993140219c
Move the "FIXED APPLIANCE" section from libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance(1) to the "INTERNALS" section of guestfs(3), so it's more visible and less hidden in the documentation of a rarely-used tool. Also slightly improve it. Expand the FAQ question about libguestfs without supermin, mentioning the build options needed and pointing to the aforementioned new section.
155 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
155 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
=head1 NAME
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance - Make a "fixed appliance" for libguestfs
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=head1 SYNOPSIS
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance [--options] OUTPUTDIR
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance [--options] --xz
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=head1 DESCRIPTION
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance lets you make a pre-built binary
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appliance for libguestfs.
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B<Note that ordinary users should not need to run this tool>.
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Some reasons why you I<might> want to use this include:
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=over 4
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=item *
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You want to make a self-contained libguestfs appliance that can be
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copied to another machine or platform that doesn't support
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L<supermin(1)>.
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=item *
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You have multiple users on the same machine and want to avoid the
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storage duplication and start-up overhead of having multiple cached
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copies of the appliance.
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=item *
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You want to have very predictable performance from libguestfs (see
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L<guestfs-performance(1)>).
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=back
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For deeper understanding of why you might need this tool, read
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L<guestfs(3)/FIXED APPLIANCE>.
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Instead of running this tool, you can download fixed appliances from
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L<http://libguestfs.org/download/binaries/appliance/>. These
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appliances were made using this tool.
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There are two ways to use this tool.
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=over 4
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=item *
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Specify an output directory, for example:
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance /usr/local/lib/guestfs/appliance
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The output directory is created if it does not exist. Four files are
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created in this directory:
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<OUTPUTDIR>/kernel
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<OUTPUTDIR>/initrd
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<OUTPUTDIR>/root
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<OUTPUTDIR>/README.fixed
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Note that C<I<OUTPUTDIR>/root> is a sparse file, so take care when
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copying it.
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You can then run libguestfs (possibly after copying this directory to
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another machine) by setting the environment variable LIBGUESTFS_PATH
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to C<OUTPUTDIR>.
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=item *
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The alternative method is to use the I<--xz> option to create a
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compressed tarball:
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance --xz
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This creates a tarball in the I<current> directory called:
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appliance-<VERSION>.tar.xz
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(where C<VERSION> is the version of libguestfs). The tarball contains
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the four files:
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appliance/kernel
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appliance/initrd
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appliance/root
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appliance/README.fixed
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Note that C<appliance/root> is a sparse file, so take care when
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copying it.
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=back
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=head1 OPTIONS
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=over 4
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=item B<--help>
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Display short usage information and exit.
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=item B<-V>
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=item B<--version>
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Display the version number and exit.
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=item B<--xz>
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Instead of creating the appliance in an output directory, create a
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compressed tarball of the appliance in the current directory called
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F<appliance-I<VERSION>.tar.xz> where C<VERSION> is the version of
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libguestfs.
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Using I<--xz> can take some time. If working normally, the tool is
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completely silent when it is running.
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=back
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=head1 LICENSING
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The fixed appliance is a complete Linux binary distro. If you
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distribute it, you may need to distribute corresponding source files
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to remain in legal compliance with the licenses of the software in the
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appliance (such as the GNU General Public License).
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=head1 EXIT STATUS
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libguestfs-make-fixed-appliance returns I<0> if the appliance was
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built without errors.
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=head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
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For the full list of environment variables which may affect
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libguestfs, please see the L<guestfs(3)> manual page.
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=head1 SEE ALSO
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L<guestfs(3)>,
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L<supermin(1)>,
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L<xz(1)>,
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L<http://libguestfs.org/>,
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L<http://qemu.org/>.
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=head1 AUTHORS
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Richard W.M. Jones (C<rjones at redhat dot com>)
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=head1 COPYRIGHT
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Copyright (C) 2009-2015 Red Hat Inc.
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