Commit

The commit subcommand can be used to convert VM state into a new disk image. This can be useful when performing an initial 'provisioning' step (e.g., to install a new kernel) before tests start. Using commit, the user would:

  1. Create a VM with the desired initial backend image
  2. Do the installation/configuration required before testing can start
  3. Stop the VM and commit the VM state as a new backend image
  4. Run all tests using the 'provisioned' image

This can save significant time if the provisioning processes is slow.

Usage

transient commit [-h] [--verbose] [--vmstore VMSTORE] [--image-backend IMAGE_BACKEND]
                 vm-name backend-name

  • vm-name: The name of the VM to use as the new disk backend

  • backend-name: The name of the new backend image to create

  • --vmstore VMSTORE: Search the provided VMSTORE for the given vm-name

  • --image-backend BACKEND: Store the new backend image in the provided BACKEND path

Examples

Commit a VM image as a new backend

$ transient start test-vm
Finished preparation. Starting virtual machine
alpine38:~$ touch my-modifications
alpine38:~$ exit
logout
Connection to 127.0.0.1 closed.
$ transient commit test-vm my-new-backend
Converting vm image to new backend image 'my-new-backend'
    (100.00/100%)
$ transient image ls
 NAME                     VIRT SIZE   REAL SIZE
 centos/7:2004.01         40.00 GiB    1.05 GiB
 generic/alpine38:v3.0.2  32.00 GiB   99.69 MiB
 my-new-backend           32.00 GiB  215.89 MiB
 alpine_rel3              20.00 GiB  131.44 MiB
$ transient run my-new-backend --ssh-command ls -- -enable-kvm -smp 2 -m 2G
Finished preparation. Starting virtual machine
my-modifications
$