Features

libblockdev is a C library supporting GObject introspection for manipulation of block devices. It has a plugin-based architecture where each technology (like LVM, Btrfs, MD RAID, Swap,...) is implemented in a separate plugin, possibly with multiple implementations (e.g. using LVM CLI or the new LVM DBus API). Every plugin is also usable as a standalone shared library.

partitions

supported technologies:
	MBR, GPT, partition manipulation on partitionable devices
functions:	mklabel create_part resize_part remove_part

filesystems

supported technologies:
	DONE: ext2, ext3, ext4, xfs, vfat, ntfs
functions:	make_FSTYPE resize_FSTYPE check_FSTYPE repair_FSTYPE change_label_FSTYPE wipefs mount unmount generic_resize freeze unfreeze

LVM

supported technologies:
	"plain LVM", LVM Thin Provisioning
TODO:	read-only locking and default config
functions:	get_global_config set_global_config get_possible_pe_sizes is_supported_pe_size get_max_lv_size round_size_to_pe get_lv_physical_size get_thpool_padding is_valid_thpool_metadata_size is_valid_thpool_chunk_size pvcreate pvresize pvremove pvmove pvscan pvinfo pvs vgcreate vgextend vgremove vgactivate vgdeactivate vgreduce vginfo vgs lvorigin lvcreate lvremove lvresize lvactivate lvdeactivate lvsnapshotcreate lvsnapshotmerge lvinfo lvs thpoolcreate thlvcreate thlvpoolname thsnapshotcreate cache_get_default_md_size cache_get_mode_str cache_get_mode_from_str cache_create_pool cache_attach cache_detach cache_create_cached_lv cache_pool_name cache_stats data_lv_name metadata_lv_name thpool_convert cache_pool_convert

BTRFS

supported technologies:
	btrfs as both filesystem and multi-device volume, subvolumes, snapshots
functions:	create_volume add_device remove_device list_devices create_subvolume delete_subvolume list_subvolumes get_default_subvolume set_default_subvolume create_snapshot filesystem_info mkfs resize check repair change_label

SWAP

supported technologies:
	swap partitions/LVs, swap files
functions:	mkswap swapon swapoff swapstatus

MDRAID

supported technologies:
	all RAID levels supported by the MD RAID
functions:	get_superblock_size create destroy activate deactivate run nominate denominate add remove examine canonicalize_uuid get_md_uuid detail node_from_name name_from_node

CRYPTO/LUKS

supported technologies:
	LUKS1 and LUKS2 encrypted devices, TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt devices (open/close only)
functions:	generate_backup_passphrase device_is_luks luks_uuid luks_status luks_format luks_open luks_close luks_add_key luks_remove_key luks_change_key luks_resize luks_suspend luks_resume luks_header_backup luks_header_restore luks_kill_slot luks_info integrity_info escrow_device tc_open tc_close

MULTIPATH

supported technologies:
	just very basic functionality
functions:	flush_mpaths device_is_mpath_member get_mpath_members set_friendly_names

LOOP

supported technologies:
	basic operations with loop devices
functions:	get_backing_file get_loop_name loop_setup loop_teardown

DEVICE MAPPER

supported technologies:
	basic operations with raw device mapper and DM RAID sets
functions:	create_linear remove node_from_name name_from_node map_exists get_member_raid_sets activate_raid_set deactivate_raid_set get_raid_set_type

s390

supported technologies:
	DASD, zFCP
functions:	s390_dasd_format s390_dasd_needs_format s390_dasd_online s390_dasd_is_ldl s390_dasd_is_fba s390_sanitize_dev_input s390_zfcp_sanitize_wwpn_input s390_zfcp_sanitize_lun_input s390_zfcp_online s390_zfcp_scsi_offline s390_zfcp_offline

KBD (Kernel Block Devices)

supported technologies:
	bcache, zram
functions:	bcache_create bcache_destroy bcache_attach bcache_detach bcache_status bcache_set_mode bcache_get_mode bcache_get_backing_device bcache_get_cache_device zram_create_devices zram_destroy_devices zram_get_stats

NVDIMM

supported technologies:
	namespaces
functions:	namespace_enable namespace_disable namespace_info namespace_reconfigure list_namespaces

VDO

Standalone VDO plugin is deprecated since 2.24 and will be removed in upcoming 3.0. Deduplication and compression support is now provided by LVM VDO volumes and pools with support for these added in 2.23.

functions:	info create remove change_write_policy enable_compression disable_compression enable_deduplication disable_deduplication activate deactivate start stop grow_logical grow_physical get_statistics

utils

Library (not a plugin) providing utility functions usable for multiple plugins and any third-party code.

functions:	exec_and_report_error exec_and_capture_output size_human_readable size_from_spec init_logging version_cmp check_util_version

source-git / libblockdev

Source Code

Files