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1@example
2@c man begin SYNOPSIS
3usage: qemu-img command [command options]
4@c man end
5@end example
6
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7@c man begin DESCRIPTION
8qemu-img allows you to create, convert and modify images offline. It can handle
9all image formats supported by QEMU.
10
11@b{Warning:} Never use qemu-img to modify images in use by a running virtual
12machine or any other process; this may destroy the image. Also, be aware that
13querying an image that is being modified by another process may encounter
14inconsistent state.
15@c man end
16
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17@c man begin OPTIONS
18
19The following commands are supported:
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20
21@include qemu-img-cmds.texi
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22
23Command parameters:
24@table @var
25@item filename
26 is a disk image filename
5fafdf24 27@item fmt
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28is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below
29for a description of the supported disk formats.
acd935ef 30
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31@item --backing-chain
32will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer
33below for further description.
34
5fafdf24 35@item size
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36is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K}
37(kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M)
38and T (terabyte, 1024G) are supported. @code{b} is ignored.
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39
40@item output_filename
5fafdf24 41is the destination disk image filename
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42
43@item output_fmt
44 is the destination format
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45@item options
46is a comma separated list of format specific options in a
47name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported
3e032364 48by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.
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49@item snapshot_param
50is param used for internal snapshot, format is
51'snapshot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME]' or '[ID_OR_NAME]'
52@item snapshot_id_or_name
53is deprecated, use snapshot_param instead
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54
55@item -c
56indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)
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57@item -h
58with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats
aaf55b47 59@item -p
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60display progress bar (compare, convert and rebase commands only).
61If the @var{-p} option is not used for a command that supports it, the
62progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} signal.
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63@item -q
64Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar
65in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used.
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66@item -S @var{size}
67indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros
68for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded
69down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like
70@code{k} for kilobytes.
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71@item -t @var{cache}
72specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See
73the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
74values.
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75@item -T @var{src_cache}
76in contrast specifies the cache mode that should be used with the source
77file(s).
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78@end table
79
80Parameters to snapshot subcommand:
81
82@table @option
83
84@item snapshot
85is the name of the snapshot to create, apply or delete
86@item -a
87applies a snapshot (revert disk to saved state)
88@item -c
89creates a snapshot
90@item -d
91deletes a snapshot
92@item -l
93lists all snapshots in the given image
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94@end table
95
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96Parameters to compare subcommand:
97
98@table @option
99
100@item -f
101First image format
102@item -F
103Second image format
104@item -s
105Strict mode - fail on on different image size or sector allocation
106@end table
107
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108Parameters to convert subcommand:
109
110@table @option
111
112@item -n
113Skip the creation of the target volume
114@end table
115
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116Command description:
117
118@table @option
40055951 119@item check [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [-r [leaks | all]] [-T @var{src_cache}] @var{filename}
e6184690 120
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121Perform a consistency check on the disk image @var{filename}. The command can
122output in the format @var{ofmt} which is either @code{human} or @code{json}.
e6184690 123
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124If @code{-r} is specified, qemu-img tries to repair any inconsistencies found
125during the check. @code{-r leaks} repairs only cluster leaks, whereas
126@code{-r all} fixes all kinds of errors, with a higher risk of choosing the
0546b8c2 127wrong fix or hiding corruption that has already occurred.
4534ff54 128
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129Only the formats @code{qcow2}, @code{qed} and @code{vdi} support
130consistency checks.
131
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132In case the image does not have any inconsistencies, check exits with @code{0}.
133Other exit codes indicate the kind of inconsistency found or if another error
134occurred. The following table summarizes all exit codes of the check subcommand:
135
136@table @option
137
138@item 0
139Check completed, the image is (now) consistent
140@item 1
141Check not completed because of internal errors
142@item 2
143Check completed, image is corrupted
144@item 3
145Check completed, image has leaked clusters, but is not corrupted
146@item 63
147Checks are not supported by the image format
148
149@end table
150
151If @code{-r} is specified, exit codes representing the image state refer to the
152state after (the attempt at) repairing it. That is, a successful @code{-r all}
153will yield the exit code 0, independently of the image state before.
154
8063d0fe 155@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
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156
157Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format
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158@var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options}
159that enable additional features of this format.
acd935ef 160
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161If the option @var{backing_file} is specified, then the image will record
162only the differences from @var{backing_file}. No size needs to be specified in
163this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the
164@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).
acd935ef 165
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166The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o},
167it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case.
168
3763f26f 169@item commit [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] @var{filename}
acd935ef 170
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171Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image or backing file.
172If the backing file is smaller than the snapshot, then the backing file will be
173resized to be the same size as the snapshot. If the snapshot is smaller than
174the backing file, the backing file will not be truncated. If you want the
175backing file to match the size of the smaller snapshot, you can safely truncate
176it yourself once the commit operation successfully completes.
acd935ef 177
40055951 178@item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2}
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179
180Check if two images have the same content. You can compare images with
181different format or settings.
182
183The format is probed unless you specify it by @var{-f} (used for
184@var{filename1}) and/or @var{-F} (used for @var{filename2}) option.
185
186By default, images with different size are considered identical if the larger
187image contains only unallocated and/or zeroed sectors in the area after the end
188of the other image. In addition, if any sector is not allocated in one image
189and contains only zero bytes in the second one, it is evaluated as equal. You
190can use Strict mode by specifying the @var{-s} option. When compare runs in
191Strict mode, it fails in case image size differs or a sector is allocated in
192one image and is not allocated in the second one.
193
194By default, compare prints out a result message. This message displays
195information that both images are same or the position of the first different
196byte. In addition, result message can report different image size in case
197Strict mode is used.
198
199Compare exits with @code{0} in case the images are equal and with @code{1}
200in case the images differ. Other exit codes mean an error occurred during
201execution and standard error output should contain an error message.
202The following table sumarizes all exit codes of the compare subcommand:
203
204@table @option
205
206@item 0
207Images are identical
208@item 1
209Images differ
210@item 2
211Error on opening an image
212@item 3
213Error on checking a sector allocation
214@item 4
215Error on reading data
216
217@end table
218
40055951 219@item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_id_or_name}] [-l @var{snapshot_param}] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename}
acd935ef 220
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221Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_param}(@var{snapshot_id_or_name} is deprecated)
222to disk image @var{output_filename} using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}
eff44266 223option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option).
acd935ef 224
8063d0fe 225Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The
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226compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is
227rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data.
228
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229Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a
230growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors
231are detected and suppressed from the destination image.
232
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233@var{sparse_size} indicates the consecutive number of bytes (defaults to 4k)
234that must contain only zeros for qemu-img to create a sparse image during
235conversion. If @var{sparse_size} is 0, the source will not be scanned for
236unallocated or zero sectors, and the destination image will always be
237fully allocated.
238
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239You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be
240created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the
241@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
242however the path, image format, etc may differ.
243
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244If the @code{-n} option is specified, the target volume creation will be
245skipped. This is useful for formats such as @code{rbd} if the target
246volume has already been created with site specific options that cannot
247be supplied through qemu-img.
248
e5357560 249@item info [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [--backing-chain] @var{filename}
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250
251Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in
252particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different
19d36792 253from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image,
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254they are displayed too. The command can output in the format @var{ofmt}
255which is either @code{human} or @code{json}.
d2c639d6 256
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257If a disk image has a backing file chain, information about each disk image in
258the chain can be recursively enumerated by using the option @code{--backing-chain}.
259
260For instance, if you have an image chain like:
261
262@example
263base.qcow2 <- snap1.qcow2 <- snap2.qcow2
264@end example
265
266To enumerate information about each disk image in the above chain, starting from top to base, do:
267
268@example
269qemu-img info --backing-chain snap2.qcow2
270@end example
271
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272@item map [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] @var{filename}
273
274Dump the metadata of image @var{filename} and its backing file chain.
275In particular, this commands dumps the allocation state of every sector
276of @var{filename}, together with the topmost file that allocates it in
277the backing file chain.
278
279Two option formats are possible. The default format (@code{human})
280only dumps known-nonzero areas of the file. Known-zero parts of the
281file are omitted altogether, and likewise for parts that are not allocated
282throughout the chain. @command{qemu-img} output will identify a file
283from where the data can be read, and the offset in the file. Each line
284will include four fields, the first three of which are hexadecimal
285numbers. For example the first line of:
286@example
287Offset Length Mapped to File
2880 0x20000 0x50000 /tmp/overlay.qcow2
2890x100000 0x10000 0x95380000 /tmp/backing.qcow2
290@end example
291@noindent
292means that 0x20000 (131072) bytes starting at offset 0 in the image are
293available in /tmp/overlay.qcow2 (opened in @code{raw} format) starting
294at offset 0x50000 (327680). Data that is compressed, encrypted, or
295otherwise not available in raw format will cause an error if @code{human}
296format is in use. Note that file names can include newlines, thus it is
297not safe to parse this output format in scripts.
298
299The alternative format @code{json} will return an array of dictionaries
300in JSON format. It will include similar information in
301the @code{start}, @code{length}, @code{offset} fields;
302it will also include other more specific information:
303@itemize @minus
304@item
305whether the sectors contain actual data or not (boolean field @code{data};
306if false, the sectors are either unallocated or stored as optimized
307all-zero clusters);
308
309@item
310whether the data is known to read as zero (boolean field @code{zero});
311
312@item
313in order to make the output shorter, the target file is expressed as
314a @code{depth}; for example, a depth of 2 refers to the backing file
315of the backing file of @var{filename}.
316@end itemize
317
318In JSON format, the @code{offset} field is optional; it is absent in
319cases where @code{human} format would omit the entry or exit with an error.
320If @code{data} is false and the @code{offset} field is present, the
321corresponding sectors in the file are not yet in use, but they are
322preallocated.
323
324For more information, consult @file{include/block/block.h} in QEMU's
325source code.
326
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327@item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename}
328
329List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}.
ae6b0ed6 330
40055951 331@item rebase [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-p] [-u] -b @var{backing_file} [-F @var{backing_fmt}] @var{filename}
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332
333Changes the backing file of an image. Only the formats @code{qcow2} and
334@code{qed} support changing the backing file.
335
336The backing file is changed to @var{backing_file} and (if the image format of
337@var{filename} supports this) the backing file format is changed to
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338@var{backing_fmt}. If @var{backing_file} is specified as ``'' (the empty
339string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist
340independently of any backing file).
e6184690 341
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342@var{cache} specifies the cache mode to be used for @var{filename}, whereas
343@var{src_cache} specifies the cache mode for reading the new backing file.
344
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345There are two different modes in which @code{rebase} can operate:
346@table @option
347@item Safe mode
348This is the default mode and performs a real rebase operation. The new backing
349file may differ from the old one and qemu-img rebase will take care of keeping
350the guest-visible content of @var{filename} unchanged.
351
352In order to achieve this, any clusters that differ between @var{backing_file}
353and the old backing file of @var{filename} are merged into @var{filename}
354before actually changing the backing file.
355
356Note that the safe mode is an expensive operation, comparable to converting
357an image. It only works if the old backing file still exists.
358
359@item Unsafe mode
360qemu-img uses the unsafe mode if @code{-u} is specified. In this mode, only the
361backing file name and format of @var{filename} is changed without any checks
362on the file contents. The user must take care of specifying the correct new
363backing file, or the guest-visible content of the image will be corrupted.
364
365This mode is useful for renaming or moving the backing file to somewhere else.
366It can be used without an accessible old backing file, i.e. you can use it to
367fix an image whose backing file has already been moved/renamed.
368@end table
369
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370You can use @code{rebase} to perform a ``diff'' operation on two
371disk images. This can be useful when you have copied or cloned
372a guest, and you want to get back to a thin image on top of a
373template or base image.
374
375Say that @code{base.img} has been cloned as @code{modified.img} by
376copying it, and that the @code{modified.img} guest has run so there
377are now some changes compared to @code{base.img}. To construct a thin
378image called @code{diff.qcow2} that contains just the differences, do:
379
380@example
381qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b modified.img diff.qcow2
382qemu-img rebase -b base.img diff.qcow2
383@end example
384
385At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since
386@code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information.
387
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388@item resize @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
389
390Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}.
391
392Before using this command to shrink a disk image, you MUST use file system and
393partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition
394sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss!
395
396After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and
397partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the
398device.
6f176b48 399
bd39e6ed 400@item amend [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] -o @var{options} @var{filename}
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401
402Amends the image format specific @var{options} for the image file
403@var{filename}. Not all file formats support this operation.
acd935ef 404@end table
d3067b02 405@c man end
acd935ef 406
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407@ignore
408@c man begin NOTES
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409Supported image file formats:
410
411@table @option
412@item raw
413
414Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of
415being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your
416file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on
417Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve
418space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the
419image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux.
420
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421@item qcow2
422QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller
423images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example
424on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and
425support of multiple VM snapshots.
8063d0fe 426
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427Supported options:
428@table @code
d3067b02 429@item compat
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430Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the
431traditional image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10.
d3067b02 432@code{compat=1.1} enables image format extensions that only QEMU 1.1 and
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433newer understand (this is the default). Amongst others, this includes zero
434clusters, which allow efficient copy-on-read for sparse images.
d3067b02 435
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436@item backing_file
437File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)
438@item backing_fmt
439Image format of the base image
440@item encryption
136cd19d 441If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted with 128-bit AES-CBC.
3e032364 442
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443The use of encryption in qcow and qcow2 images is considered to be flawed by
444modern cryptography standards, suffering from a number of design problems:
445
446@itemize @minus
447@item The AES-CBC cipher is used with predictable initialization vectors based
448on the sector number. This makes it vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks
449which can reveal the existence of encrypted data.
450@item The user passphrase is directly used as the encryption key. A poorly
451chosen or short passphrase will compromise the security of the encryption.
452@item In the event of the passphrase being compromised there is no way to
453change the passphrase to protect data in any qcow images. The files must
454be cloned, using a different encryption passphrase in the new file. The
455original file must then be securely erased using a program like shred,
456though even this is ineffective with many modern storage technologies.
457@end itemize
458
459Use of qcow / qcow2 encryption is thus strongly discouraged. Users are
460recommended to use an alternative encryption technology such as the
461Linux dm-crypt / LUKS system.
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462
463@item cluster_size
464Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster
465sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes generally
466provide better performance.
467
468@item preallocation
469Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated
470metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs
471to grow.
472
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473@item lazy_refcounts
474If this option is set to @code{on}, reference count updates are postponed with
475the goal of avoiding metadata I/O and improving performance. This is
476particularly interesting with @option{cache=writethrough} which doesn't batch
477metadata updates. The tradeoff is that after a host crash, the reference count
478tables must be rebuilt, i.e. on the next open an (automatic) @code{qemu-img
479check -r all} is required, which may take some time.
3e032364 480
d3067b02 481This option can only be enabled if @code{compat=1.1} is specified.
f085800e 482
4ab15590 483@item nocow
bc3a7f90 484If this option is set to @code{on}, it will turn off COW of the file. It's only
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485valid on btrfs, no effect on other file systems.
486
487Btrfs has low performance when hosting a VM image file, even more when the guest
488on the VM also using btrfs as file system. Turning off COW is a way to mitigate
489this bad performance. Generally there are two ways to turn off COW on btrfs:
490a) Disable it by mounting with nodatacow, then all newly created files will be
491NOCOW. b) For an empty file, add the NOCOW file attribute. That's what this option
492does.
493
494Note: this option is only valid to new or empty files. If there is an existing
495file which is COW and has data blocks already, it couldn't be changed to NOCOW
496by setting @code{nocow=on}. One can issue @code{lsattr filename} to check if
bc3a7f90 497the NOCOW flag is set or not (Capital 'C' is NOCOW flag).
4ab15590 498
f085800e 499@end table
3e032364 500
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501@item Other
502QEMU also supports various other image file formats for compatibility with
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503older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), VHDX,
504qcow1 and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}.
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505For a more detailed description of these formats, see the QEMU Emulation User
506Documentation.
3e032364 507
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508The main purpose of the block drivers for these formats is image conversion.
509For running VMs, it is recommended to convert the disk images to either raw or
510qcow2 in order to achieve good performance.
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511@end table
512
513
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514@c man end
515
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516@setfilename qemu-img
517@settitle QEMU disk image utility
518
519@c man begin SEEALSO
520The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux
521user mode emulator invocation.
522@c man end
523
524@c man begin AUTHOR
525Fabrice Bellard
526@c man end
527
528@end ignore