[Libguestfs] libguestfs on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (was: Re: appliance VM won't start, can't find /init, but /init is in the image.)

David, Better late than never ... I have fixed all the problems with the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS build, and libguestfs works and passes the testsuite. There were several problems stopping this. As you diagnosed, 'apt-cache depends --recurse' is simply broken in this version of Ubuntu. I first tried to backport the newer version, but it has far too many dependencies that would also have to be updated. Instead I pushed a workaround into febootstrap: http://git.annexia.org/?p=febootstrap.git;a=commitdiff;h=e4c7daf8bcdcf094... http://git.annexia.org/?p=febootstrap.git;a=commitdiff;h=72101b100aa33b0b... http://git.annexia.org/?p=febootstrap.git;a=commitdiff;h=3ac623701e5fe5ce... Also, as you were very close to diagnosing, there were a few problems with the appliance init script. This version of Ubuntu does not create a /sys directory, so mounting /sys failed, and that caused a cascade of other failures. The fix is simple: http://git.annexia.org/?p=libguestfs.git;a=commitdiff;h=5b012024c49672cc6... Ubuntu has an old version of gettext, so you need to apply a patch to po/Makefile.in.in (patch not upstream, attached). udev is too old. Even with fixed udev rules for creating virtio-serial ports, the symlinks aren't being created. Instead of trying to work out why this was, I just hacked the daemon to look for the port directly (patch not upstream, attached). Those were the code changes. I also had to manually backport and build the following packages from oneiric: - hivex_1.2.7-1build1 [not strictly required] - qemu-kvm_0.14.1+noroms-0ubuntu3 - vgabios_0.6c-2ubuntu3 I also had to install linux-image-2.6.38-10-server from lucid-updates, and fix the broken permissions, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/759725 . With all that lot, it works and passes the test suite. I'm going to put some proper instructions and sources and binaries on the website later. Rich. -- Richard Jones, Virtualization Group, Red Hat http://people.redhat.com/~rjones virt-df lists disk usage of guests without needing to install any software inside the virtual machine. Supports Linux and Windows. http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/virt-df/