<term><option>-p</option></term>
<term><option>--property=</option></term>
- <listitem><para>When showing
- machine properties, limit the
- output to certain properties as
- specified by the argument. If not
- specified, all set properties are
- shown. The argument should be a
- property name, such as
- <literal>Name</literal>. If
- specified more than once, all
- properties with the specified names
- are shown.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>When showing machine
+ or image properties, limit the output
+ to certain properties as specified by
+ the argument. If not specified, all
+ set properties are shown. The argument
+ should be a property name, such as
+ <literal>Name</literal>. If specified
+ more than once, all properties with
+ the specified names are
+ shown.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><option>-a</option></term>
<term><option>--all</option></term>
- <listitem><para>When showing
- machine properties, show all
- properties regardless of whether they are
- set or not.</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>When showing machine
+ or image properties, show all
+ properties regardless of whether they
+ are set or not.</para>
+
+ <para>When listing VM or container
+ images, do not suppress images
+ beginning in a dot character
+ (<literal>.</literal>).</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
<xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-pager" />
</variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Commands</title>
<para>The following commands are understood:</para>
- <variablelist>
+ <refsect2><title>Machine Commands</title><variablelist>
+
<varlistentry>
<term><command>list</command></term>
<listitem><para>List currently running
- virtual machines and containers.
- </para></listitem>
+ (online) virtual machines and
+ containers. To enumerate container
+ images that can be started,
+ use <command>list-images</command>
+ (see below).</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
output.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>start</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Start a container as a
+ system service, using
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
+ This starts
+ <filename>systemd-nspawn@.service</filename>,
+ instantiated for the specified machine
+ name, similar to the effect of
+ <command>systemctl start</command> on
+ the service
+ name. <command>systemd-nspawn</command>
+ looks for a container image by the
+ specified name in
+ <filename>/var/lib/container</filename>
+ and runs it. Use
+ <command>list-images</command> (see
+ below), for listing available
+ container images to start.</para>
+
+ <para>Note that
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-machined.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ also interfaces with a variety of
+ other container and VM managers,
+ <command>systemd-nspawn</command> is
+ just one implementation of it. Most of
+ the commands available in
+ <command>machinectl</command> may be
+ used on containers or VMs controlled
+ by other managers, not just
+ <command>systemd-nspawn</command>. Starting
+ VMs and container images on those
+ managers requires manager-specific
+ tools.</para>
+
+ <para>To interactively start a
+ container on the command line with
+ full access to the container's
+ console, please invoke
+ <command>systemd-nspawn</command>
+ directly. To stop a running container
+ use <command>machinectl
+ poweroff</command>, see
+ below.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term><command>login</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable></term>
- <listitem><para>Open a terminal login
+ <listitem><para>Open an interactive terminal login
session to a container. This will
create a TTY connection to a specific
container and asks for the execution of a
getty on it. Note that this is only
supported for containers running
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
- as init system.</para></listitem>
+ as init system.</para>
+
+ <para>This command will open a full
+ login prompt on the container, which
+ then asks for username and
+ password. Use
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-run</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+ with the <option>--machine=</option>
+ switch to invoke a single command,
+ either interactively or in the
+ background within a local
+ container.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><command>reboot</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
-
- <listitem><para>Reboot one or more
- containers. This will trigger a reboot
- by sending SIGINT to the container's
- init process, which is roughly
- equivalent to pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on
- a non-containerized system, and is
- compatible with containers running any
- init system.</para></listitem>
+ <term><command>enable</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+ <term><command>disable</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Enable or disable a
+ container as a system service to start
+ at system boot, using
+ <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
+ This enables or disables
+ <filename>systemd-nspawn@.service</filename>,
+ instantiated for the specified machine
+ name, similar to the effect of
+ <command>systemctl enable</command> or
+ <command>systemctl disable</command>
+ on the service name.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
not work on containers that do not run
a
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>-compatible
- init system, such as
- sysvinit.</para></listitem>
+ init system, such as sysvinit. Use
+ <command>terminate</command> (see
+ below) to immediately terminate a
+ container or VM, without cleanly
+ shutting it down.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>reboot</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Reboot one or more
+ containers. This will trigger a reboot
+ by sending SIGINT to the container's
+ init process, which is roughly
+ equivalent to pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on
+ a non-containerized system, and is
+ compatible with containers running any
+ system manager.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>terminate</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Immediately terminates
+ a virtual machine or container,
+ without cleanly shutting it down. This
+ kills all processes of the virtual
+ machine or container and deallocates
+ all resources attached to that
+ instance. Use
+ <command>poweroff</command> to issue a
+ clean shutdown request.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
the signal to send.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><command>terminate</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
-
- <listitem><para>Terminates a virtual
- machine or container. This kills all
- processes of the virtual machine or
- container and deallocates all
- resources attached to that
- instance.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
<term><command>bind</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable> <replaceable>PATH</replaceable> [<replaceable>PATH</replaceable>]</term>
omitted the same as the source path is
used.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ </variablelist></refsect2>
- </variablelist>
+ <refsect2><title>Image Commands</title><variablelist>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>list-images</command></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Show a list of locally
+ installed container and VM
+ images. This enumerates all raw disk
+ images and container directories and
+ subvolumes in
+ <filename>/var/lib/container/</filename>. Use
+ <command>start</command> (see above)
+ to run a container off one of the
+ listed images. Note that by default
+ containers whose name begins with a
+ dot (<literal>.</literal>) are not
+ shown. To show these too, specify
+ <option>--all</option>. Note that a
+ special image <literal>.host</literal>
+ always implicitly exists and refers to
+ the image the host itself is booted
+ from.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>image-status</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Show terse status
+ information about one or more
+ container or VM images. This function
+ is intended to generate human-readable
+ output. Use
+ <command>show-image</command> (see
+ below) to generate computer-parsable
+ output instead.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>show-image</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Show properties of one
+ or more registered virtual machine or
+ container images, or the manager
+ itself. If no argument is specified,
+ properties of the manager will be
+ shown. If an NAME is specified,
+ properties of this virtual machine or
+ container image are shown. By default,
+ empty properties are suppressed. Use
+ <option>--all</option> to show those
+ too. To select specific properties to
+ show, use
+ <option>--property=</option>. This
+ command is intended to be used
+ whenever computer-parsable output is
+ required. Use
+ <command>image-status</command> if you
+ are looking for formatted
+ human-readable
+ output.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>clone</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Clones a container or
+ disk image. The arguments specify the
+ name of the image to clone and the
+ name of the newly cloned image. Note
+ that plain directory container images
+ are cloned into subvolume images with
+ this command. Note that cloning a
+ container or VM image is optimized for
+ btrfs file systems, and might not be
+ efficient on others, due to file
+ system limitations.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>rename</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable></term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Renames a container or
+ disk image. The arguments specify the
+ name of the image to rename and the
+ new name of the
+ image.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>read-only</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable> [<replaceable>BOOL</replaceable>]</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Marks or (unmarks) a
+ container or disk image
+ read-only. Takes a VM or container
+ image name, followed by a boolean as
+ arguments. If the boolean is omitted,
+ positive is implied, i.e. the image is
+ marked read-only.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><command>remove</command> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable>...</term>
+
+ <listitem><para>Removes one or more
+ container or disk images. The special
+ image <literal>.host</literal>, which
+ refers to the host's own directory
+ tree may not be
+ removed.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+
+ </variablelist></refsect2>
</refsect1>
~ianmdlvl / elogind.git / commitdiff