org.freedesktop.import1(5) — Linux manual page

NAME | INTRODUCTION | THE MANAGER OBJECT | THE TRANSFER OBJECT | EXAMPLES | VERSIONING | HISTORY | SEE ALSO | NOTES | COLOPHON

ORG.FREE...P.IMPORT1(5)  org.freedesktop.import1  ORG.FREE...P.IMPORT1(5)

NAME         top

       org.freedesktop.import1 - The D-Bus interface of systemd-importd

INTRODUCTION         top

       systemd-importd.service(8) is a system service which may be used
       to import, export and download disk images. These images can be
       used by tools such as systemd-nspawn(1) to run local containers.
       The service is used as the backend for importctl pull-raw,
       importctl pull-tar and related commands. This page describes the
       D-Bus interface.

       Note that systemd-importd.service(8) is mostly a small companion
       service for systemd-machined.service(8). Many operations to
       manipulate local container and VM images are hence available via
       the systemd-machined D-Bus API, c.f.  org.freedesktop.machine1(5).

THE MANAGER OBJECT         top

       The service exposes the following interfaces on the Manager object
       on the bus:

           node /org/freedesktop/import1 {
             interface org.freedesktop.import1.Manager {
               methods:
                 ImportTar(in  h fd,
                           in  s local_name,
                           in  b force,
                           in  b read_only,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 ImportTarEx(in  h fd,
                             in  s local_name,
                             in  s class,
                             in  t flags,
                             out u transfer_id,
                             out o transfer_path);
                 ImportRaw(in  h fd,
                           in  s local_name,
                           in  b force,
                           in  b read_only,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 ImportRawEx(in  h fd,
                             in  s local_name,
                             in  s class,
                             in  t flags,
                             out u transfer_id,
                             out o transfer_path);
                 ImportFileSystem(in  h fd,
                                  in  s local_name,
                                  in  b force,
                                  in  b read_only,
                                  out u transfer_id,
                                  out o transfer_path);
                 ImportFileSystemEx(in  h fd,
                                    in  s local_name,
                                    in  s class,
                                    in  t flags,
                                    out u transfer_id,
                                    out o transfer_path);
                 ExportTar(in  s local_name,
                           in  h fd,
                           in  s format,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 ExportTarEx(in  s local_name,
                             in  s class,
                             in  h fd,
                             in  s format,
                             in  t flags,
                             out u transfer_id,
                             out o transfer_path);
                 ExportRaw(in  s local_name,
                           in  h fd,
                           in  s format,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 ExportRawEx(in  s local_name,
                             in  s class,
                             in  h fd,
                             in  s format,
                             in  t flags,
                             out u transfer_id,
                             out o transfer_path);
                 PullTar(in  s url,
                         in  s local_name,
                         in  s verify_mode,
                         in  b force,
                         out u transfer_id,
                         out o transfer_path);
                 PullTarEx(in  s url,
                           in  s local_name,
                           in  s class,
                           in  s verify_mode,
                           in  t flags,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 PullRaw(in  s url,
                         in  s local_name,
                         in  s verify_mode,
                         in  b force,
                         out u transfer_id,
                         out o transfer_path);
                 PullRawEx(in  s url,
                           in  s local_name,
                           in  s class,
                           in  s verify_mode,
                           in  t flags,
                           out u transfer_id,
                           out o transfer_path);
                 ListTransfers(out a(usssdo) transfers);
                 ListTransfersEx(in  s class,
                                 in  t flags,
                                 out a(ussssdo) transfers);
                 CancelTransfer(in  u transfer_id);
                 ListImages(in  s class,
                            in  t flags,
                            out a(ssssbtttttt) images);
               signals:
                 TransferNew(u transfer_id,
                             o transfer_path);
                 TransferRemoved(u transfer_id,
                                 o transfer_path,
                                 s result);
             };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer { ... };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable { ... };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties { ... };
           };

   Methods
       ImportTar()/ImportTarEx() and ImportRaw()/ImportRawEx() import a
       disk image and place it into the image directory. The first
       argument should be a file descriptor (opened for reading)
       referring to the tar or raw file to import. It should reference a
       file on disk, a pipe or a socket. When ImportTar()/ImportTarEx()
       is used the file descriptor should refer to a tar file, optionally
       compressed with gzip(1), bzip2(1), or xz(1).  systemd-importd will
       detect the used compression scheme (if any) automatically. When
       ImportRaw()/ImportRawEx() is used the file descriptor should refer
       to a raw or qcow2 disk image containing an MBR or GPT disk label,
       also optionally compressed with gzip, bzip2 or xz. In either case,
       if the file is specified as a file descriptor on disk, progress
       information is generated for the import operation (as in that case
       we know the total size on disk). If a socket or pipe is specified,
       progress information is not available. The file descriptor
       argument is followed by a local name for the image. This should be
       a name suitable as a hostname and will be used to name the
       imported image below /var/lib/machines/. A tar import is placed as
       a directory tree or a btrfs(8) subvolume below the image directory
       under the specified name with no suffix appended. A raw import is
       placed as a file in the image directory with the .raw suffix
       appended. In case of ImportTar()/ImportRaw(), if the force
       argument is true, any pre-existing image with the same name is
       removed before starting the operation. Otherwise, the operation
       fails if an image with the same name already exists. The read_only
       argument controls whether to create a writable or read-only image.
       In case of ImportTarEx()/ImportRawEx() these boolean flags are
       provided via a 64bit flags parameter instead, with bit 0 mapping
       to the force parameter, and bit 1 mapping to read_only. The class
       parameter specifies the image class, and takes one of "machine",
       "portable", "sysext", "confext". All four methods return
       immediately after starting the import, with the import transfer
       ongoing. They return a pair of transfer identifier and object
       path, which may be used to retrieve progress information about the
       transfer or to cancel it. The transfer identifier is a simple
       numeric identifier, the object path references an
       org.freedesktop.import1.Transfer object, see below. Listen for a
       TransferRemoved() signal for the transfer ID in order to detect
       when a transfer is complete. The returned transfer object is
       useful to determine the current progress or log output of the
       ongoing import operation.

       ExportTar()/ExportTarEx() and ExportRaw()/ExportRaw() implement
       the reverse operation, and may be used to export a system image in
       order to place it in a tar or raw image. They take the machine
       name to export as their first parameter, followed by a file
       descriptor (opened for writing) where the tar or raw file will be
       written. It may either reference a file on disk or a pipe/socket.
       The third argument specifies in which compression format to write
       the image. It takes one of "uncompressed", "xz", "bzip2" or
       "gzip", depending on which compression scheme is required. The
       image written to the specified file descriptor will be a tar file
       in case of ExportTar()/ExportTarEx() or a raw disk image in case
       of ExportRaw()/ExportRawEx(). Note that currently raw disk images
       may not be exported as tar files, and vice versa. This restriction
       might be lifted eventually. The method returns a transfer
       identifier and object path for cancelling or tracking the export
       operation, similarly to ImportTar()/ImportTarEx() or
       ImportRaw()/ImportRawEx() as described above.
       ExportTarEx()/ExportRawEx() expect the image class as additional
       parameter, as well as a 64bit flags parameter that currently must
       be specified as zero.

       PullTar()/PullTarEx() and PullRaw()/PullRawEx() may be used to
       download, verify and import a system image from a URL. They take a
       URL argument which should point to a tar or raw file on the
       "http://" or "https://" protocols, possibly compressed with xz,
       bzip2 or gzip. The second argument is a local name for the image.
       It should be suitable as a hostname, similarly to the matching
       argument of the ImportTar()/ImportTarEx() and
       ImportRaw()/ImportRawEx() methods above. The third argument
       indicates the verification mode for the image. It may be one of
       "no", "checksum", "signature".  "no" turns off any kind of
       verification of the image; "checksum" looks for a SHA256SUM file
       next to the downloaded image and verifies any SHA256 hash value in
       that file against the image; "signature" does the same but also
       tries to authenticate the SHA256SUM file via gpg(8) first. In case
       of PullTar()/PullRaw() the last argument indicates whether to
       replace a possibly pre-existing image with the same local name (if
       "true"), or whether to fail (if "false"). In case of
       PullTarEx()/PullRawEx() the last argument is a 64bit flags
       parameter, where bit 0 controls the "force" flag, bit 1 is a
       "read_only" flag that controls whether the created image shall be
       marked read-only, and bit 2 is a "keep_download" flag that
       indicates whether a pristine, read-only copy of the downloaded
       image shell be kept, in addition for the local copy of the image.
       The ..._Ex() variants also expect an image class string (as
       above). Like the import and export calls above, these calls return
       a pair of transfer identifier and object path for the ongoing
       download.

       ImportFileSystem()/ImportFileSystemEx() are similar to
       ImportTar()/ImportTarEx() but import a directory tree. The first
       argument must refer to a directory file descriptor for the source
       hierarchy to import.

       ListTransfers()/ListTransfersEx() return a list of ongoing import,
       export or download operations as created with the six calls
       described above. They return an array of structures which consist
       of the numeric transfer identifier, a string indicating the
       operation (one of "import-tar", "import-raw", "export-tar",
       "export-raw", "pull-tar" or "pull-raw"), a string describing the
       remote file (in case of download operations this is the source
       URL, in case of import/export operations this is a short string
       describing the file descriptor passed in), a string with the local
       machine image name, the image class (only in case of
       ListTransfersEx(); one of "machine", "portable", "sysext",
       "confext"), a progress value between 0.0 (for 0%) and 1.0 (for
       100%), as well as the transfer object path.

       CancelTransfer() may be used to cancel an ongoing import, export
       or download operation. Simply specify the transfer identifier to
       cancel the ongoing operation.

       ListImages() returns a list of currently installed images. It
       takes a image class string and a flags parameter. The image class
       is either the empty string or specifies one of the four image
       classes, by which it will then filter. The flags parameter must be
       zero at this time. It returns an array of items, each describing
       one image. The item fields are in order: the image class, the
       local image name, the image type, the image path, the read-only
       flag, the creation and modification times (in microseconds since
       the UNIX epoch), as well as the current disk usage in bytes (both
       overall, and exclusive), as well as any size limit in bytes set on
       the image (both overall and exclusive).

   Signals
       The TransferNew() signal is generated each time a new transfer is
       started with the import, export or download calls described above.
       It carries the transfer ID and object path that have just been
       created.

       The TransferRemoved() signal is sent each time a transfer
       finishes, is canceled or fails. It also carries the transfer ID
       and object path, followed by a string indicating the result of the
       operation, which is one of "done" (on success), "canceled" or
       "failed".

THE TRANSFER OBJECT         top

           node /org/freedesktop/import1/transfer/_1 {
             interface org.freedesktop.import1.Transfer {
               methods:
                 Cancel();
               signals:
                 LogMessage(u priority,
                            s line);
                 ProgressUpdate(d progress);
               properties:
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
                 readonly u Id = ...;
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
                 readonly s Local = '...';
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
                 readonly s Remote = '...';
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
                 readonly s Type = '...';
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("const")
                 readonly s Verify = '...';
                 @org.freedesktop.DBus.Property.EmitsChangedSignal("false")
                 readonly d Progress = ...;
             };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Peer { ... };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable { ... };
             interface org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties { ... };
           };

   Methods
       The Cancel() method may be used to cancel the transfer. It takes
       no parameters. This method is pretty much equivalent to the
       CancelTransfer() method on the Manager interface (see above), but
       is exposed on the Transfer object itself instead of taking a
       transfer ID.

   Properties
       The Id property exposes the numeric transfer ID of the transfer
       object.

       The Local, Remote and Type properties expose the local container
       name of this transfer, the remote source (in case of download: the
       URL, in case of import/export: a string describing the file
       descriptor passed in), and the type of operation (see the
       Manager's ListTransfer() method above for an explanation of the
       possible values).

       The Verify property exposes the selected verification setting and
       is only defined for download operations (see above).

       The Progress property exposes the current progress of the transfer
       as a value between 0.0 and 1.0. To show a progress bar on screen
       we recommend to query this value in regular intervals, for example
       every 500 ms or so.

   Signals
       The LogMessage() signal is emitted for log messages generated by a
       transfer. It carries a pair of syslog log level integer and log
       string.

       The ProgressUpdate() signal is emitted in regular intervals when
       new download progress information is available for a transfer. It
       carries a double precision floating pointer number between 0.0 and
       1.0 indicating the transfer progress.

EXAMPLES         top

       Example 1. Introspect org.freedesktop.import1.Manager on the bus

           $ gdbus introspect --system \
             --dest org.freedesktop.import1 \
             --object-path /org/freedesktop/import1

       Example 2. Introspect org.freedesktop.import1.Transfer on the bus

           $ gdbus introspect --system \
             --dest org.freedesktop.import1 \
             --object-path /org/freedesktop/import1/transfer/_1

VERSIONING         top

       These D-Bus interfaces follow the usual interface versioning
       guidelines[1].

HISTORY         top

   The Manager Object
       ImportTarEx(), ImportRawEx(), ImportFileSystemEx(), ExportTarEx(),
       ExportRawEx(), PullTarEx(), PullRawEx(), ListTransfersEx(),
       ListImages() were added in version 256.

   Transfer Objects
       ProgressUpdate() was added in version 256.

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd(1), systemd-importd.service(8), importctl(1)

NOTES         top

        1. the usual interface versioning guidelines
           https://0pointer.de/blog/projects/versioning-dbus.html

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
       manager) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩.  If you have a
       bug report for this manual page, see
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2025-02-02.  (At that
       time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2025-02-02.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

systemd 258~devel                                 ORG.FREE...P.IMPORT1(5)

Pages that refer to this page: systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)systemd-importd.service(8)