| .\" $Header: /home/paul/qemu/svnmerge/qemu-cvs/qemu/qemu-mkcow.1,v 1.1 2004-03-26 22:42:54 bellard Exp $ |
| .\" |
| .\" transcript compatibility for postscript use. |
| .\" |
| .\" synopsis: .P! <file.ps> |
| .\" |
| .de P! |
| .fl |
| \!!1 setgray |
| .fl |
| \\&.\" |
| .fl |
| \!!0 setgray |
| .fl \" force out current output buffer |
| \!!save /psv exch def currentpoint translate 0 0 moveto |
| \!!/showpage{}def |
| .fl \" prolog |
| .sy sed -e 's/^/!/' \\$1\" bring in postscript file |
| \!!psv restore |
| . |
| .de pF |
| .ie \\*(f1 .ds f1 \\n(.f |
| .el .ie \\*(f2 .ds f2 \\n(.f |
| .el .ie \\*(f3 .ds f3 \\n(.f |
| .el .ie \\*(f4 .ds f4 \\n(.f |
| .el .tm ? font overflow |
| .ft \\$1 |
| .. |
| .de fP |
| .ie !\\*(f4 \{\ |
| . ft \\*(f4 |
| . ds f4\" |
| ' br \} |
| .el .ie !\\*(f3 \{\ |
| . ft \\*(f3 |
| . ds f3\" |
| ' br \} |
| .el .ie !\\*(f2 \{\ |
| . ft \\*(f2 |
| . ds f2\" |
| ' br \} |
| .el .ie !\\*(f1 \{\ |
| . ft \\*(f1 |
| . ds f1\" |
| ' br \} |
| .el .tm ? font underflow |
| .. |
| .ds f1\" |
| .ds f2\" |
| .ds f3\" |
| .ds f4\" |
| '\" t |
| .ta 8n 16n 24n 32n 40n 48n 56n 64n 72n |
| .TH "QEMU" "8" |
| .SH "NAME" |
| qemu-mkcow \(em create a copy-on-write file for qemu |
| .SH "SYNOPSIS" |
| .PP |
| \fBqemu-mkcow\fR [\fB-h\fP] [\fB-f \fImaster_disk_image\fR\fP] [\fIcow_image\fR] [\fB\fIcow_size\fR\fP] |
| .SH "DESCRIPTION" |
| .PP |
| The \fBqemu-mkcow\fR command creates a |
| persistent copy-on-write file for \fBqemu\fR. |
| |
| .PP |
| \fBqemu\fR can be used in a "copy-on-write" mode, |
| where changes made by \fBqemu\fR do not actually |
| change the disk image file. One way is to invoke |
| \fBqemu\fR with -snapshot: these changes |
| are stored in a temporary file, which is discarded when |
| \fBqemu\fR exits. |
| |
| .PP |
| \fBqemu-mkcow\fR creates an explicit copy-on-write |
| file where changes are to be stored: this way, changes made |
| inside \fBqemu\fR will still be there next time you |
| run it, although the master disk image isn't ever changed. |
| |
| .PP |
| The usual method is to create the master image, then create a |
| copy-on-write file using \fBqemu-mkcow\fR with |
| \fB-f\fP. The filename of the master image is stored |
| inside the generated copy-on-write file: it must not be modified |
| after this is run! |
| |
| .PP |
| If no master file is specified, the effect is that of a |
| blank master of size \fIcow_size\fR. |
| |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| .PP |
| qemu(1), qemu-fast(1). |
| .SH "AUTHOR" |
| .PP |
| This manual page was written by Paul Russell prussell@debian.org for |
| the \fBDebian\fP system (but may be used by others). Permission is |
| granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under |
| the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 any |
| later version published by the Free Software Foundation. |
| |
| .PP |
| On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public |
| License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL. |
| |
| .\" created by instant / docbook-to-man, Fri 12 Mar 2004, 05:58 |
