virt-manager/man/virt-convert.pod
Cole Robinson 0b4a72fd77 virt-convert: Reimplement it
We totally break CLI compat here, but the previous tool wasn't sustainable.
Instead, repurpose the tool as strictly converting external formats
like ovf/vmx to native libvirt XML, and launch the guest.

So we drop vmx/virt-image output, and virt-image input, and a slew of
command line options. I don't think anyone was depending on this in a
scripted fashion, so in practice I don't think anyone will care.

Add much more comprehensive unit tests while we are at it.
2014-02-07 21:16:09 -05:00

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=pod
=head1 NAME
virt-convert - convert ovf/vmx to native libvirt guests
=head1 SYNOPSIS
B<virt-convert> INPUT.vmx|INPUT.ovf|INPUT-DIR|INPUT.zip [OPTIONS]
=head1 DESCRIPTION
B<virt-convert> is a command line tool for converting VMX of OVF virtual
machines to native libvirt XML. Disk format conversion can also be done
at the same time.
The simplest invocation is simply: virt-convert INPUT. INPUT might be
a .vmx or .ovf file, a directory containing a .vmx or .ovf file (and
likely 1 or more disk images), or an appliance archive like .zip, .tar.gz,
or .ova. virt-convert will try to do the right thing in each case.
By default, the virt-convert will convert all encountered disk images
to 'raw' format, sending the output to a new directory location. So the
original disk images are _not_ altered in place.
=head1 OPTIONS
=over 4
=item -h, --help
Show the help message and exit
=item --version
Show program's version number and exit
=item --connect=URI
Connect to a non-default hypervisor. See L<virt-install(1)> for details
=back
=head2 Conversion Options
=over 2
=item -i/--input-format FORMAT
Input format. This should be auto-detected, but can be forced if necessary. Currently C<vmx> and C<ovf> are supported.
=item -D/--disk-format DISK-FORMAT
Output disk format. The default is 'raw', so any encountered disk images will be converted to 'raw' format using L<qemu-img(1)>. Pass C<none> if no conversion should be performed: in this case the images will just be copied to the specified --destination.
=item --destination DIRECTORY
The directory to send converted/copied disk images. If not specified, the hypervisor default is used, typically /var/lib/libvirt/images.
=back
=head2 Miscellaneous Options
=over 2
=item --noautoconsole
Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. The default behaviour
is to launch L<virt-viewer(1)> to display the graphical console, or to run the
C<virsh> C<console> command to display the text console. Use of this parameter
will disable this behaviour.
=item --print-xml
Print the generated libvirt XML, but do not perform any disk conversions or
install/start the guest. This option implies --dry-run.
=item --dry-run
Proceed through the conversion process, but don't convert disks or actually
write any converted files.
=item -q, --quiet
Avoid verbose output.
=item -d, --debug
Print debugging information
=back
=head1 EXAMPLES
Run a fedora18 OVA archive:
# virt-convert fedora18.ova
Run an extracted zip archive containing a centos6 .vmx and .vmdk file, converting the images to qcow2 format
# virt-convert centos6/ --disk-format qcow2
Convert the specified .vmx file. Any references disk images must be in the same directory. Don't change the disk format. Move the disk images to /tmp
# virt-convert foo.vmx --disk-format none --destination /tmp
=head1 BUGS
Please see http://virt-manager.org/page/BugReporting
=head1 COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) Red Hat, Inc, and various contributors.
This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms
of the GNU General Public License C<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<virt-install(1)>, the project website C<http://virt-manager.org>
=cut