--- name: "guestfs-release-notes-1.24" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "libguestfs" version: "1.60.1-2" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/guestfs-release-notes-1.24" --- # guestfs-release-notes-1.24(1) libguestfs Release Notes ## NAME guestfs-release-notes - libguestfs Release Notes ## RELEASE NOTES FOR LIBGUESTFS 1.24 These release notes only cover the differences from the previous stable/dev branch split (1.22.0). For detailed changelogs, please see the git repository, or the ChangeLog file distributed in the tarball. ### New features User-Mode Linux (UML) can be used as an alternative backend (ie. instead of KVM). This improves performance especially when using libguestfs inside a VM (eg. in the cloud). UML is supported as a first-class backend. See "USER-MODE LINUX BACKEND" in [**guestfs**(3)](/guestfs/3.md) for how to use this. ARM (32 bit) and PPC64 are now fully supported. *Tools* [**virt-builder**(1)](/virt-builder/1.md) is a new tool for building virtual machine images. It lets you rapidly and securely create guests and customize them. New [**virt-sysprep**(1)](/virt-sysprep/1.md) operations: Remove files in */tmp* and */var/tmp*. Remove RPM database files. Change root and user passwords. More log files are removed. New operations which are not enabled by default: Create random UUIDs for filesystems. Reset firewall rules. (Wanlong Gao) [**virt-resize**(1)](/virt-resize/1.md) and virt-sysprep can now use URIs to specify a remote disk. Use `"guestfish -N filename=type"` to create a named disk image (instead of the default *test1.img* etc). [**virt-sparsify**(1)](/virt-sparsify/1.md) now tests if there is enough disk space to complete the operation, instead of possibly running out of space half way through. [**virt-format**(1)](/virt-format/1.md) and [**virt-make-fs**(1)](/virt-make-fs/1.md): new *--label* option for setting filesystem label. virt-resize *--no-sparse* flag can be used to resize on to partitions and other targets that are not zeroed. *Language bindings* New bindings for the Go programming language. *API* Support for the systemd journal. `"guestfs_add_drive_opts"` can now control the qemu caching mode through a new `"cachemode"` parameter. You can select improved performance for temporary drives, or safety. `"guestfs_set_label"` now works for XFS and btrfs. New GUESTFS\_EVENT\_WARNING event for warning messages. *Inspection* Better inspection of SUSE guests (Olaf Hering). Better support for non-standard Windows `%systemroot`% (Matthew Booth). Enhanced error reporting for Augeas errors. ### Security - CVE-2013-2124 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show\_bug.cgi?id=968306 A denial of service was possible when inspecting certain guests. The fix has been backported to 1.20 and 1.22 branches. - CVE-2013-4419 https://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2013-October/msg00031.html Fix insecure temporary directory handling for remote guestfish. The fix has been backported to 1.20 and 1.22 branches. ### New APIs ``` add-drive-scratch: Add a temporary scratch drive aug-label aug-setm journal-open: Systemd journal support journal-close journal-next journal-skip journal-get journal-get-data-threshold journal-set-data-threshold remount: Allow rw flag to be adjusted on mounted filesystems set-uuid: Set UUID of filesystem ``` `"is-file"`, `"is-dir"`, `"is-blockdev"`, `"is-chardev"`, `"is-fifo"`, `"is-socket"` APIs now have an extra `"followsymlinks"` flag. `"add-drive"` has a new `"cachemode"` parameter. ### Build changes The following packages are required to build libguestfs 1.24: - Augeas ≥ 1.0.0 The following optional packages may be added to enhance functionality but are not required: - sd-journal To read journal files from guests which use that. - url\_mkcow For UML backend. - curl - gpg - xz For virt-builder. - golang ≥ 1.1.1 For Go language bindings. ### Internals New `"make check-*"` rules replace `"make extra-tests"`. See `"make` `help"` and [**guestfs**(3)](/guestfs/3.md) for details. Perl code can now be valgrinded. Inspection code is now fuzz-tested. `"make"` no longer recurses into the generator directory in every other directory. This reduces the overhead of builds considerably. Additional tests for Augeas, hivex. Add a launch timeout of 20 minutes waiting for the appliance to start up. Add a timeout (4 hours) to all tests so we can catch the case where qemu or other components hang. Use kvmclock and `"-cpu host"`. This improves clock stability and overall performance. `"./configure --enable-packet-dump"` mode is fixed. `"./configure --enable-valgrind-daemon"` mode has been rewritten. It is now feasible for developers to keep this flag enabled at all times. Backends have been refactored to be modular (although they are not actually loadable modules). When enabled, the network now uses resolver configuration (ie. /etc/resolv.conf) from the host. ### Bugs fixed - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1019889 libguestfs-tools.conf should have a man page - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1018149 valgrind errors in btrfs\_subvolume\_list - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1002032 mke2fs can't return the correct filesystem type when blockscount is less than 2048 for ext3 - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1001876 Update "rsync-out" helpout for using wildcard - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1001875 Argument 'excludes' of tar-out does not work - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1000428 virt-format uses wrong partition type for vfat filesystems - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1000121 'sh' command before mount causes daemon to segfault - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/998513 guestfish does not work when you mix --remote and --add options - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/998482 guestfish remote prints "libguestfs: error: waitpid (qemu): No child processes" - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/995711 list-filesystems command fails if there are no block devices - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/994517 cache=none/O\_DIRECT workaround doesn't work for images with backing files - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/989356 cap-get-file will return error if the file has not be set capabilities - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/986877 RFE: Implement set-uuid command - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/986875 RFE: Implement set-label for xfs - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/985269 Can't set acl value for a specified user with 'acl-set-file' - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/983218 libguestfs double free when kernel link fails during launch - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981715 Make xfs filesystem failed with specified blocksize, gives "unknown option -b" error - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981683 "hivex-commit" should fail with a relative path - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/981663 disk-format "qemu-img info: JSON parse error" when target file does not exist - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/978302 mke2fs-J should give a meaningful error when specified type is anything except 'ext{2,3,4}' - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975797 Specifying virtio interface ('iface' parameter) breaks the direct backend - libguestfs hangs - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975753 "virt-resize --expand" and "virt-resize --resize" outputs error message for Win2008 32bit OS - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/975412 inspection: Augeas expressions are broken with augeas \>= 0.10 - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/974904 virt-resize --expand fails on Ubuntu Cloud Image - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/974489 Regression: Fedora inspection broken by change from guestfs\_exists to guestfs\_is\_file - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/972775 txz-out command produces a bzip2-compressed file (should be xz-compressed) - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/969845 upload to a directory occasionally hangs instead of failing - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/968875 virt-sysprep should support URL-type arguments - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/624334 blockdev-setbsz succeeds, but does not affect blockdev-getbsz ## SEE ALSO **guestfs-examples**(1), [**guestfs-faq**(1)](/guestfs-faq/1.md), [**guestfs-performance**(1)](/guestfs-performance/1.md), [**guestfs-recipes**(1)](/guestfs-recipes/1.md), [**guestfs-testing**(1)](/guestfs-testing/1.md), [**guestfs**(3)](/guestfs/3.md), [**guestfish**(1)](/guestfish/1.md), http://libguestfs.org/ ## AUTHOR Richard W.M. Jones ## COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2009-2025 Red Hat Inc. ## LICENSE This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. ## BUGS To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter\_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools When reporting a bug, please supply: - • The version of libguestfs. - • Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc) - • Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it. - • Run [**libguestfs-test-tool**(1)](/libguestfs-test-tool/1.md) and paste the **complete, unedited** output into the bug report.