state after (the attempt at) repairing it. That is, a successful @code{-r all}
will yield the exit code 0, independently of the image state before.
-@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-b @var{backing_file}] [-F @var{backing_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
+@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-b @var{backing_file}] [-F @var{backing_fmt}] [-u] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format
@var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options}
this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the
@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
+Note that a given backing file will be opened to check that it is valid. Use
+the @code{-u} option to enable unsafe backing file mode, which means that the
+image will be created even if the associated backing file cannot be opened. A
+matching backing file must be created or additional options be used to make the
+backing file specification valid when you want to use an image created this
+way.
+
The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o},
it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case.
layer, the backing file into which the changes will be committed may be
specified as @var{base} (which has to be part of @var{filename}'s backing
chain). If @var{base} is not specified, the immediate backing file of the top
-image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. For reasons of consistency,
-explicitly specifying @var{base} will always imply @code{-d} (since emptying an
-image after committing to an indirect backing file would lead to different data
-being read from the image due to content in the intermediate backing chain
-overruling the commit target).
+image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. Note that after a commit operation
+all images between @var{base} and the top image will be invalid and may return
+garbage data when read. For this reason, @code{-b} implies @code{-d} (so that
+the top image stays valid).
@item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2}
@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
however the path, image format, etc may differ.
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{output_filename}.
+
If the @code{-n} option is specified, the target volume creation will be
skipped. This is useful for formats such as @code{rbd} if the target
volume has already been created with site specific options that cannot
string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist
independently of any backing file).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
@var{cache} specifies the cache mode to be used for @var{filename}, whereas
@var{src_cache} specifies the cache mode for reading backing files.
At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since
@code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information.
-@item resize [--preallocation=@var{prealloc}] @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
+@item resize [--shrink] [--preallocation=@var{prealloc}] @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}.
partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition
sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss!
+When shrinking images, the @code{--shrink} option must be given. This informs
+qemu-img that the user acknowledges all loss of data beyond the truncated
+image's end.
+
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.