Command parameters:
@table @var
-@item filename
- is a disk image filename
-
-@item --object @var{objectdef}
-is a QEMU user creatable object definition. See the @code{qemu(1)} manual
-page for a description of the object properties. The most common object
-type is a @code{secret}, which is used to supply passwords and/or encryption
-keys.
-
-@item --image-opts
-
-Indicates that the source @var{filename} parameter is to be interpreted as a
-full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
-exclusive with the @var{-f} parameter.
-
-@item --target-image-opts
-
-Indicates that the @var{output_filename} parameter(s) are to be interpreted as
-a full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
-exclusive with the @var{-O} parameters. It is currently required to also use
-the @var{-n} parameter to skip image creation. This restriction may be relaxed
-in a future release.
+@item filename
+is a disk image filename
@item fmt
is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below
for a description of the supported disk formats.
-@item --backing-chain
-will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer
-below for further description.
-
@item size
is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K}
(kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M)
is the destination disk image filename
@item output_fmt
- is the destination format
+is the destination format
+
@item options
is a comma separated list of format specific options in a
name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported
by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.
+
@item snapshot_param
is param used for internal snapshot, format is
'snapshot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME]' or '[ID_OR_NAME]'
+
@item snapshot_id_or_name
is deprecated, use snapshot_param instead
+@end table
+
+@table @option
+
+@item --object @var{objectdef}
+is a QEMU user creatable object definition. See the @code{qemu(1)} manual
+page for a description of the object properties. The most common object
+type is a @code{secret}, which is used to supply passwords and/or encryption
+keys.
+
+@item --image-opts
+Indicates that the source @var{filename} parameter is to be interpreted as a
+full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
+exclusive with the @var{-f} parameter.
+
+@item --target-image-opts
+Indicates that the @var{output_filename} parameter(s) are to be interpreted as
+a full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
+exclusive with the @var{-O} parameters. It is currently required to also use
+the @var{-n} parameter to skip image creation. This restriction may be relaxed
+in a future release.
+
+@item --force-share (-U)
+If specified, @code{qemu-img} will open the image in shared mode, allowing
+other QEMU processes to open it in write mode. For example, this can be used to
+get the image information (with 'info' subcommand) when the image is used by a
+running guest. Note that this could produce inconsistent results because of
+concurrent metadata changes, etc. This option is only allowed when opening
+images in read-only mode.
+
+@item --backing-chain
+will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer
+below for further description.
+
@item -c
indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)
+
@item -h
with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats
+
@item -p
display progress bar (compare, convert and rebase commands only).
If the @var{-p} option is not used for a command that supports it, the
progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} or
@code{SIGINFO} signal.
+
@item -q
Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar
in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used.
+
@item -S @var{size}
indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros
for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded
down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like
@code{k} for kilobytes.
+
@item -t @var{cache}
specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See
the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
values.
+
@item -T @var{src_cache}
specifies the cache mode that should be used with the source file(s). See
the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
values.
+
@end table
Parameters to snapshot subcommand:
this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the
@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
Note that a given backing file will be opened to check that it is valid. Use
the @code{-u} option to enable unsafe backing file mode, which means that the
image will be created even if the associated backing file cannot be opened. A
layer, the backing file into which the changes will be committed may be
specified as @var{base} (which has to be part of @var{filename}'s backing
chain). If @var{base} is not specified, the immediate backing file of the top
-image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. For reasons of consistency,
-explicitly specifying @var{base} will always imply @code{-d} (since emptying an
-image after committing to an indirect backing file would lead to different data
-being read from the image due to content in the intermediate backing chain
-overruling the commit target).
+image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. Note that after a commit operation
+all images between @var{base} and the top image will be invalid and may return
+garbage data when read. For this reason, @code{-b} implies @code{-d} (so that
+the top image stays valid).
@item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2}
@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
however the path, image format, etc may differ.
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{output_filename}.
+
If the @code{-n} option is specified, the target volume creation will be
skipped. This is useful for formats such as @code{rbd} if the target
volume has already been created with site specific options that cannot
string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist
independently of any backing file).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
@var{cache} specifies the cache mode to be used for @var{filename}, whereas
@var{src_cache} specifies the cache mode for reading backing files.
At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since
@code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information.
-@item resize [--preallocation=@var{prealloc}] @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
+@item resize [--shrink] [--preallocation=@var{prealloc}] @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}.
partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition
sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss!
+When shrinking images, the @code{--shrink} option must be given. This informs
+qemu-img that the user acknowledges all loss of data beyond the truncated
+image's end.
+
After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and
partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the
device.
projects / qemu.git / blobdiff