---
name: "sbuild-qemu-boot"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "sbuild-qemu"
version: "0.89.3+deb13u4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sbuild-qemu-boot"
---

# sbuild-qemu-boot(1)

Boot a VM using a QEMU image

## NAME

sbuild-qemu-boot - Boot a VM using a QEMU image

## SYNOPSIS

**sbuild-qemu-boot** \[**-h**\] \[**--read-write**\] \[**--snapshot**\] \[**--shared-dir**\] \[**--arch=ARCH**\] \[**--ram-size=MiB**\] \[**--cpus=CPUs**\] \[**--ssh-port=PORT**\] \[**--noexec**\] IMAGE

## DESCRIPTION

**sbuild-qemu-boot** boots a QEMU VM using **IMAGE** into a console. The image is in read-only mode by default, as the goal is to support experimentation.

The architecture is auto-guessed by stripping any file suffix and then splitting the image name on dashes \`\`-'', and finally by looking for a Debian architecture name. *sid-amd64.img*, *amd64-temporary.image* or even just *amd64* would all be assumed to be amd64 images, but not *amd64.rebuild-tests.img*. If this guesses wrong, use the **--arch** option.

Note that you might need to invoke [stty(1)](/stty/1.md) within the VM to match your host terminal's settings.

## OPTIONS

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show this help message and exit.

- **--read-write**

  Write changes back to the image, instead of using the image in read-only mode.

- **--snapshot**

  Create a snapshot of the image before changing it. Useful for reproducibility purposes. Ignored if the image is not booted in read-write mode, which is the default.

- **--shared-dir**

  Share this directory on the host with the guest. This will only work when the image was created with [sbuild-qemu-create(1)](/sbuild-qemu-create/1.md).

- **--arch**=ARCH

  Architecture to use (instead of attempting to auto-guess).

- **--ram-size**=MiB

  VM memory size in MB. Default: 2048

- **--cpus**=CPUs

  VM CPU count. Default: 2

- **--ssh-port**=PORT

  Forward local port PORT to port 22 within the guest. Package **openssh-server** must be installed within the guest for this to be useful.

- **--boot**=auto,bios,efi,ieee1275,none

  How to boot the image. Default is BIOS on amd64 and i386, EFI on arm64 and armhf, and IEEE1275 on ppc64el.

- **--noexec**

  Don't actually do anything. Just print the command string that would be executed, and then exit.

## EXAMPLES

**$ sbuild-qemu-boot --shared-dir /tmp/foo unstable-autopkgtest-amd64.img**

This will update the image **unstable-autopkgtest-amd64.img** in the current directory. If no such file exists there, then  **$IMAGEDIR/unstable-autopkgtest-amd64.img** is tried.

## ENVIRONMENT

If **$IMAGEDIR** is unset, then *~/.cache/sbuild* is used.

## COPYRIGHT

```
Copyright © 2020-2022 Christian Kastner <ckk@debian.org>
```

## SEE ALSO

[**sbuild**(1)](/sbuild/1.md), [**sbuild-qemu**(1)](/sbuild-qemu/1.md), [**sbuild-qemu-create**(1)](/sbuild-qemu-create/1.md).