is a comma separated list of format specific options in a
name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported
by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.
-
+@item snapshot_param
+is param used for internal snapshot, format is
+'snapshot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME]' or '[ID_OR_NAME]'
+@item snapshot_id_or_name
+is deprecated, use snapshot_param instead
@item -c
indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)
@item -h
with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats
@item -p
-display progress bar (convert and rebase commands only)
+display progress bar (compare, convert and rebase commands only).
+If the @var{-p} option is not used for a command that supports it, the
+progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} signal.
@item -q
Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar
in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used.
@item commit [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] @var{filename}
-Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image.
+Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image or backing file.
+If the backing file is smaller than the snapshot, then the backing file will be
+resized to be the same size as the snapshot. If the snapshot is smaller than
+the backing file, the backing file will not be truncated. If you want the
+backing file to match the size of the smaller snapshot, you can safely truncate
+it yourself once the commit operation successfully completes.
@item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2}
@end table
-@item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_name}] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename}
+@item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{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}
-Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_name} to disk image @var{output_filename}
-using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}
+Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_param}(@var{snapshot_id_or_name} is deprecated)
+to disk image @var{output_filename} using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}
option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option).
Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The
growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors
are detected and suppressed from the destination image.
+@var{sparse_size} indicates the consecutive number of bytes (defaults to 4k)
+that must contain only zeros for qemu-img to create a sparse image during
+conversion. If @var{sparse_size} is 0, the source will not be scanned for
+unallocated or zero sectors, and the destination image will always be
+fully allocated.
+
You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be
created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the
@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and
partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the
device.
+
+@item amend [-f @var{fmt}] -o @var{options} @var{filename}
+
+Amends the image format specific @var{options} for the image file
+@var{filename}. Not all file formats support this operation.
@end table
@c man end
Supported options:
@table @code
@item compat
-Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the traditional
-image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10 (this is the default).
+Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the
+traditional image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10.
@code{compat=1.1} enables image format extensions that only QEMU 1.1 and
-newer understand. Amongst others, this includes zero clusters, which allow
-efficient copy-on-read for sparse images.
+newer understand (this is the default). Amongst others, this includes zero
+clusters, which allow efficient copy-on-read for sparse images.
@item backing_file
File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand)
@item backing_fmt
Image format of the base image
@item encryption
-If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted.
+If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted with 128-bit AES-CBC.
+
+The use of encryption in qcow and qcow2 images is considered to be flawed by
+modern cryptography standards, suffering from a number of design problems:
+
+@itemize @minus
+@item The AES-CBC cipher is used with predictable initialization vectors based
+on the sector number. This makes it vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks
+which can reveal the existence of encrypted data.
+@item The user passphrase is directly used as the encryption key. A poorly
+chosen or short passphrase will compromise the security of the encryption.
+@item In the event of the passphrase being compromised there is no way to
+change the passphrase to protect data in any qcow images. The files must
+be cloned, using a different encryption passphrase in the new file. The
+original file must then be securely erased using a program like shred,
+though even this is ineffective with many modern storage technologies.
+@end itemize
-Encryption uses the AES format which is very secure (128 bit keys). Use
-a long password (16 characters) to get maximum protection.
+Use of qcow / qcow2 encryption is thus strongly discouraged. Users are
+recommended to use an alternative encryption technology such as the
+Linux dm-crypt / LUKS system.
@item cluster_size
Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster
@item Other
QEMU also supports various other image file formats for compatibility with
-older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), qcow1
-and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}.
+older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), VHDX,
+qcow1 and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}.
For a more detailed description of these formats, see the QEMU Emulation User
Documentation.
projects / mirror_qemu.git / blobdiff