libguestfs
 | |
| Developer(s) | Richard Jones |
|---|---|
| Initial release | April 4, 2009[1] |
| Stable release | 1.40
/ February 8, 2019[2] |
| Written in | C; utilities in OCaml Perl, et al. |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Type | Virtualization |
| License | LGPL, GPL |
| Website | libguestfs |
libguestfs is a
platform virtualization. The tools can be used for viewing and editing virtual machines (VMs) managed by libvirt and files inside VMs, scripting changes to VMs, creating VMs, and much else besides.[3]
It was created because of security issues, when virtual disk images are mounted directly on the host system.[4]
libguestfs can access nearly any type of file system including: all known types of Linux filesystem (
GlusterFS, Ceph
, Sheepdog, and much more. libguestfs does not require root permissions.
The functionality is available through a shell called guestfish. There is a rescue shell called virt-rescue for fixing unbootable virtual machines. Multiple tools are available modeled after ordinary Unix commands, such as virt-cat and virt-tar.[5]
libguestfs is also an
Haskell, Erlang, Lua, Golang and C#. It can be used from shell scripts or in the command line. Using the FUSE module guest filesystems can be mounted on the host with the guestmount command.[6]
libguestfs is implemented using the Kernel-based Virtual Machine for the Linux kernel.[7]
