1virt-tar(1) Virtualization Support virt-tar(1)
2
6 virt-tar - Extract or upload files to a virtual machine
7
9 virt-tar [--options] -x domname directory tarball
10 virt-tar [--options] -u domname tarball directory
12 virt-tar [--options] disk.img [disk.img ...] -x directory tarball
14 virt-tar [--options] disk.img [disk.img ...] -u tarball directory
16
18 This tool is obsolete. Use virt-copy-in(1), virt-copy-out(1),
19 virt-tar-in(1), virt-tar-out(1) as replacements.
20
22 Download "/home" from the VM into a local tarball:
23 virt-tar -x domname /home home.tar
25 virt-tar -zx domname /home home.tar.gz
27 Upload a local tarball and unpack it inside "/tmp" in the VM:
29 virt-tar -u domname uploadstuff.tar /tmp
31 virt-tar -zu domname uploadstuff.tar.gz /tmp
33
35 You must not use "virt-tar" with the -u option (upload) on live virtual
36 machines. If you do this, you risk disk corruption in the VM.
37 "virt-tar" tries to stop you from doing this, but doesn't catch all
38 cases.
39 You can use -x (extract) on live virtual machines, but you might get
41 inconsistent results or errors if there is filesystem activity inside
42 the VM. If the live VM is synched and quiescent, then "virt-tar" will
43 usually work, but the only way to guarantee consistent results is if
44 the virtual machine is shut down.
45
47 "virt-tar" is a general purpose archive tool for downloading and
48 uploading parts of a guest filesystem. There are many possibilities:
49 making backups, uploading data files, snooping on guest activity,
50 fixing or customizing guests, etc.
51 If you want to just view a single file, use virt-cat(1). If you just
53 want to edit a single file, use virt-edit(1). For more complex cases
54 you should look at the guestfish(1) tool.
55 There are two modes of operation: -x (eXtract) downloads a directory
57 and its contents (recursively) from the virtual machine into a local
58 tarball. -u uploads from a local tarball, unpacking it into a
59 directory inside the virtual machine. You cannot use these two options
60 together.
61 In addition, you may need to use the -z (gZip) option to enable
63 compression. When uploading, you have to specify -z if the upload file
64 is compressed because virt-tar won't detect this on its own.
65 "virt-tar" can only handle tar (optionally gzipped) format tarballs.
67 For example it cannot do PKZip files or bzip2 compression. If you want
68 that then you'll have to rebuild the tarballs yourself. (This is a
69 limitation of the libguestfs(3) API).
70
72 --help
73 Display brief help.
74 --version
76 Display version number and exit.
77 -c URI
79 --connect URI
80 If using libvirt, connect to the given URI. If omitted, then we
81 connect to the default libvirt hypervisor.
82 If you specify guest block devices directly, then libvirt is not
84 used at all.
85 --format raw
87 Specify the format of disk images given on the command line. If
88 this is omitted then the format is autodetected from the content of
89 the disk image.
90 If disk images are requested from libvirt, then this program asks
92 libvirt for this information. In this case, the value of the
93 format parameter is ignored.
94 If working with untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should
96 ensure the format is always specified.
97 -x
99 --extract
100 --download
101 -u
102 --upload
103 Use -x to extract (download) a directory from a virtual machine to
104 a local tarball.
105 Use -u to upload and unpack from a local tarball into a virtual
107 machine. Please read the "WARNING" section above before using this
108 option.
109 You must specify exactly one of these options.
111 -z
113 --gzip
114 Specify that the input or output tarball is gzip-compressed.
115
117 Libvirt guest names can contain arbitrary characters, some of which
118 have meaning to the shell such as "#" and space. You may need to quote
119 or escape these characters on the command line. See the shell manual
120 page sh(1) for details.
121
123 guestfs(3), guestfish(1), virt-cat(1), virt-edit(1), virt-copy-in(1),
124 virt-copy-out(1), virt-tar-in(1), virt-tar-out(1), Sys::Guestfs(3),
125 Sys::Guestfs::Lib(3), Sys::Virt(3), http://libguestfs.org/.
126
128 Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/
129
131 Copyright (C) 2009 Red Hat Inc.
132
134 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
135 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
136 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
137 option) any later version.
138 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
140 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
141 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
142 General Public License for more details.
143 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
145 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
146 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
147
149 To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link:
150 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
151 To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link:
153 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools
154 When reporting a bug, please supply:
156 · The version of libguestfs.
158 · Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from
160 source, etc)
161 · Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.
163 · Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output
165 into the bug report.
166libguestfs-1.20.11 2013-08-27 virt-tar(1)