Various fedora template improvements

[mirror_lxc.git] / doc / lxc-execute.sgml.in

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lxc: linux Container library

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Authors:
Daniel Lezcano <dlezcano at fr.ibm.com>

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<refentry>

  <docinfo><date>@LXC_GENERATE_DATE@</date></docinfo>

  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>lxc-execute</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  </refmeta>

  <refnamediv>
    <refname>lxc-execute</refname>

    <refpurpose>
      run an application inside a container.
    </refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>

  <refsynopsisdiv>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>lxc-execute <replaceable>-n name</replaceable>
	<optional>-f config_file</optional> <optional>-s KEY=VAL
	</optional>
	<optional>--</optional>
	<replaceable>command</replaceable></command>
    </cmdsynopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>

    <para>
      <command>lxc-execute</command> runs the specified
      <replaceable>command</replaceable> inside the container
      specified by <replaceable>name</replaceable>.
    </para>
    <para>
      It will setup the container
      according to the configuration previously defined with the
      lxc-create command or with the configuration file parameter.
      If no configuration is
      defined, the default isolation is used.
    </para>
    <para>
      This command is mainly used when you want to quickly launch an
      application in an isolated environment.
    </para>
    <para>
      <command>lxc-execute</command> command will run the
      specified command into the container via an intermediate
      process, <command>lxc-init</command>.
      This lxc-init after launching  the specified command,
      will wait for its end and all other reparented processes.
      (that allows to support daemons in the container).
      In other words, in the
      container, <command>lxc-init</command> has the pid 1 and the
      first process of the application has the pid 2.
     </para>
     <para>
      The above <command>lxc-init</command> is designed to forward received
      signals to the started command.
      So <command>lxc-kill</command> (1) sent signal is received
      by the user specified command (pid 2 in the container).
     </para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1>
    <title>Options</title>
    <variablelist>

      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <option>-f, --rcfile <replaceable>config_file</replaceable></option>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Specify the configuration file to configure the virtualization
	    and isolation functionalities for the container.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	   This configuration file if present will be used even if there is
	   already a configuration file present in the previously created
	   container (via lxc-create).
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <option>-s, --define <replaceable>KEY=VAL</replaceable></option>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Assign value <replaceable>VAL</replaceable> to configuration
	    variable <replaceable>KEY</replaceable>. This overrides any
	    assignment done in <replaceable>config_file</replaceable>.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><option>--</option></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Signal the end of options and disables further option
	    processing. Any arguments after the -- are treated as
	    arguments.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    This option is useful when you want to execute, with the
	    command <command>lxc-execute</command>, a command line
	    with its own options.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </refsect1>

  &commonoptions;

  <refsect1>
    <title>Diagnostic</title>

    <variablelist>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>The container is busy</term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
	    The specified container is already running an
	    application. You should stop it before reuse this
	    container or create a new one.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>   

    </variablelist>

  </refsect1>

  &seealso;

  <refsect1>
    <title>Author</title>
    <para>Daniel Lezcano <email>daniel.lezcano@free.fr</email></para>
  </refsect1>

</refentry>

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