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< title > Libvir the Linux virtualization API< / title >
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< h1 align = "center" > Libvir the Linux virtualization API< / h1 >
< h1 > Note: this is the flat content of the < a href = "index.html" > web site< / a > < / h1 >
< h1 style = "text-align: center" > libvir< / h1 >
< p > Libvir is a C toolkit to interract with the virtualization capabilities
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of recent versions of Linux (and other OSes). It is free software available
under the
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< a href = "http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.html" > GNU Lesser
General Public License< / a > . Virtualization of the Linux Operating System
means the ability to run multiple instances of Operating Systems concurently
on a single hardware system where the basic resources are driven by a Linux
instance. The library aim at providing long term stable C API primarily for
the < a href = "http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/index.html" > Xen
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paravirtualization< / a > mechanism but should be able to integrate other
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virtualization mechanisms.< / p >
< h2 > < a name = "Introducti" > Introduction< / a > < / h2 >
< p > < / p >
< h2 > < a name = "FAQ" > FAQ< / a > < / h2 >
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< p > Table of Contents:< / p >
< ul >
< li > < a href = "FAQ.html#License" > License(s)< / a > < / li >
< li > < a href = "FAQ.html#Installati" > Installation< / a > < / li >
< li > < a href = "FAQ.html#Compilatio" > Compilation< / a > < / li >
< li > < a href = "FAQ.html#Developer" > Developer corner< / a > < / li >
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< h3 > < a name = "License" > License< / a > (s)< / h3 >
< ol >
< li > < em > Licensing Terms for libvir< / em >
< p > libvir is released under the < a
href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.html">GNU Lesser General Public License< / a > , see the file COPYING.LIB in the distribution for the precise wording. The only library that libvir depends upon is the Xen store access
library which is also licenced under the LGPL.< / p >
< / li >
< li > < em > Can I embed libvir in a proprietary application ?< / em >
< p > Yes. The LGPL allows you to embed libvir into a proprietary application.
It would be graceful to send-back bug fixes and improvements as patches
for possible incorporation in the main development tree. It will decrease
your maintainance costs anyway if you do so.< / p >
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< h3 > < a name = "Installati" > Installation< / a > < / h3 >
< ol >
< li > < em > Where can I get libvir< / em > ?
< p > The original distribution comes from < a
href="ftp://libvir.org/pub/libvir/">ftp://libvir.org/pub/libvir/< / a > .< / p >
< / li >
< li > < em > I can't install the libvir/libvir-devel RPM packages due to failed
dependencies< / em >
< p > The most generic solution is to re-fetch the latest src.rpm , and
rebuild it locally with< / p >
< p > < code > rpm --rebuild libvir-xxx.src.rpm< / code > .< / p >
< p > If everything goes well it will generate two binary rpm packages (one
providing the shared libs and xmllint, and the other one, the -devel
package, providing includes, static libraries and scripts needed to build
applications with libvir that you can install locally.< / p >
< / li >
< / ol >
< h3 > < a name = "Compilatio" > Compilation< / a > < / h3 >
< ol >
< li > < em > What is the process to compile libvir ?< / em >
< p > As most UNIX libraries libvir follows the "standard":< / p >
< p > < code > gunzip -c libvir-xxx.tar.gz | tar xvf -< / code > < / p >
< p > < code > cd libvir-xxxx< / code > < / p >
< p > < code > ./configure --help< / code > < / p >
< p > to see the options, then the compilation/installation proper< / p >
< p > < code > ./configure [possible options]< / code > < / p >
< p > < code > make< / code > < / p >
< p > < code > make install< / code > < / p >
< p > At that point you may have to rerun ldconfig or a similar utility to
update your list of installed shared libs.< / p >
< / li >
< li > < em > What other libraries are needed to compile/install libvir ?< / em >
< p > Libvir requires libxenstore, which is usually provided by the xen
packages as well as xen with its public headers.< / p >
< / li >
< li > < em > I use the CVS version and there is no configure script< / em >
< p > The configure script (and other Makefiles) are generated. Use the
autogen.sh script to regenerate the configure script and Makefiles,
like:< / p >
< p > < code > ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --disable-shared< / code > < / p >
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< / ol >
< h3 > < a name = "Developer" > Developer< / a > corner< / h3 >
< ol >
< li > < em > Troubles compiling or linking programs using libvir< / em >
< p > To simplify the process of reusing the library, libvir comes with
pkgconfig support, which can be used directly from autoconf support
or via the pkg-config command line tool, like:< / p >
< p > < code > pkg-config libvir --libs< / code > < / p >
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< h2 > < a name = "Reporting" > Reporting bugs and getting help< / a > < / h2 >
< p > There is a mailing-list < a
href="mailto:libvir-list@redhat.com">libvir-list@redhat.com< / a > for libvir, with an < a
href="https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/">on-line archive< / a > . Please subscribe to this list before posting by visiting the < a
href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libvir-list">associated Web< / a > page and
follow the instructions. Patches with explanations and provided as attachments
are really appreciated and will be discussed on the mailing list.< / p >
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< p > We expect to use < a href = "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/" > Red Hat Bugzilla< / a >
to track bugs for libvir, though there isn't yet a libvir software module.< / p >
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