virt-make-fs(1) Virtualization Support virt-make-fs(1)
NAME
virt-make-fs - Make a filesystem from a tar archive or files
SYNOPSIS
virt-make-fs [--options] input.tar output.img
virt-make-fs [--options] input.tar.gz output.img
virt-make-fs [--options] directory output.img
DESCRIPTION
Virt-make-fs is a command line tool for creating a filesystem from a tar archive or some files in a directory. It is similar to tools like
mkisofs(1), genisoimage(1) and mksquashfs(1). Unlike those tools, it can create common filesystem types like ext2/3 or NTFS, which can be
useful if you want to attach these filesystems to existing virtual machines (eg. to import large amounts of read-only data to a VM).
To create blank disks, use virt-format(1). To create complex layouts, use guestfish(1).
Basic usage is:
virt-make-fs input output.img
where "input" is either a directory containing files that you want to add, or a tar archive (either uncompressed tar or gzip-compressed
tar); and "output.img" is a disk image. The input type is detected automatically. The output disk image defaults to a raw ext2 sparse
image unless you specify extra flags (see "OPTIONS" below).
FILESYSTEM TYPE
The default filesystem type is "ext2". Just about any filesystem type that libguestfs supports can be used (but not read-only formats like
ISO9660). Here are some of the more common choices:
ext3
Note that ext3 filesystems contain a journal, typically 1-32 MB in size. If you are not going to use the filesystem in a way that
requires the journal, then this is just wasted overhead.
ntfs or vfat
Useful if exporting data to a Windows guest.
minix
Lower overhead than "ext2", but certain limitations on filename length and total filesystem size.
EXAMPLE
virt-make-fs --type=minix input minixfs.img
TO PARTITION OR NOT TO PARTITION
Optionally virt-make-fs can add a partition table to the output disk.
Adding a partition can make the disk image more compatible with certain virtualized operating systems which don't expect to see a
filesystem directly located on a block device (Linux doesn't care and will happily handle both types).
On the other hand, if you have a partition table then the output image is no longer a straight filesystem. For example you cannot run
fsck(8) directly on a partitioned disk image. (However libguestfs tools such as guestfish(1) and virt-resize(1) can still be used).
EXAMPLE
Add an MBR partition:
virt-make-fs --partition -- input disk.img
If the output disk image could be terabyte-sized or larger, it's better to use an EFI/GPT-compatible partition table:
virt-make-fs --partition=gpt --size=+4T --format=qcow2 input disk.img
EXTRA SPACE
Unlike formats such as tar and squashfs, a filesystem does not "just fit" the files that it contains, but might have extra space.
Depending on how you are going to use the output, you might think this extra space is wasted and want to minimize it, or you might want to
leave space so that more files can be added later. Virt-make-fs defaults to minimizing the extra space, but you can use the --size flag to
leave space in the filesystem if you want it.
An alternative way to leave extra space but not make the output image any bigger is to use an alternative disk image format (instead of the
default "raw" format). Using --format=qcow2 will use the native QEmu/KVM qcow2 image format (check your hypervisor supports this before
using it). This allows you to choose a large --size but the extra space won't actually be allocated in the image until you try to store
something in it.
Don't forget that you can also use local commands including resize2fs(8) and virt-resize(1) to resize existing filesystems, or rerun virt-
make-fs to build another image from scratch.
EXAMPLE
virt-make-fs --format=qcow2 --size=+200M input output.img
OPTIONS
--help
Display brief help.
--version
Display version number and exit.
--debug
Enable debugging information.
--floppy
Create a virtual floppy disk.
Currently this preselects the size (1440K), partition type (MBR) and filesystem type (VFAT). In future it may also choose the
geometry.
--size=<N>
--size=+<N>
-s <N>
-s +<N>
Use the --size (or -s) option to choose the size of the output image.
If this option is not given, then the output image will be just large enough to contain all the files, with not much wasted space.
To choose a fixed size output disk, specify an absolute number followed by b/K/M/G/T/P/E to mean bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes,
Gigabytes, Terabytes, Petabytes or Exabytes. This must be large enough to contain all the input files, else you will get an error.
To leave extra space, specify "+" (plus sign) and a number followed by b/K/M/G/T/P/E to mean bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes,
Terabytes, Petabytes or Exabytes. For example: --size=+200M means enough space for the input files, and (approximately) an extra 200
MB free space.
Note that virt-make-fs estimates free space, and therefore will not produce filesystems containing precisely the free space requested.
(It is much more expensive and time-consuming to produce a filesystem which has precisely the desired free space).
--format=<fmt>
-F <fmt>
Choose the output disk image format.
The default is "raw" (raw sparse disk image).
For other choices, see the qemu-img(1) manpage. The only other choice that would really make sense here is "qcow2".
--type=<fs>
-t <fs>
Choose the output filesystem type.
The default is "ext2".
Any filesystem which is supported read-write by libguestfs can be used here.
--label=<LABEL>
Set the filesystem label.
--partition
--partition=<parttype>
If specified, this flag adds an MBR partition table to the output disk image.
You can change the partition table type, eg. --partition=gpt for large disks.
Note that if you just use a lonesome --partition, the Perl option parser might consider the next parameter to be the partition type.
For example:
virt-make-fs --partition input.tar output.img
would cause virt-make-fs to think you wanted to use a partition type of "input.tar" which is completely wrong. To avoid this, use --
(a double dash) between options and the input and output arguments:
virt-make-fs --partition -- input.tar output.img
For MBR, virt-make-fs sets the partition type byte automatically.
SHELL QUOTING
Libvirt guest names can contain arbitrary characters, some of which have meaning to the shell such as "#" and space. You may need to quote
or escape these characters on the command line. See the shell manual page sh(1) for details.
SEE ALSO
guestfish(1), virt-format(1), virt-resize(1), virt-tar-in(1), mkisofs(1), genisoimage(1), mksquashfs(1), mke2fs(8), resize2fs(8),
guestfs(3), Sys::Guestfs(3), http://libguestfs.org/.
AUTHOR
Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Red Hat Inc.
LICENSE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
BUGS
To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
When reporting a bug, please supply:
o The version of libguestfs.
o Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)
o Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.
o Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output into the bug report.
libguestfs-1.22.6 2013-08-24 virt-make-fs(1)