Use libguestfs instead of kpartx

[Guilhem Lettron]

Vmbuilder use kpartx to manipulate image, but another one exist : libguestfs. There is no need to be root (to mount etc).

Maybe we can thinking of using it.

Main problem : there isn't official port on ubuntu. A good idea will be to package it for ubuntu.

[Alex Karasulu (akarasulu)]

Very good idea. It would be nice to have all the libguestfs tools available like virt-rescue. It's a shame this does not exist on ubuntu.

[Alex Karasulu (akarasulu)]

FYI I tried to build libguestfs on oneiric and it was problematic in configuring the build. After building the make bombed with unknown structures in header files. I think libguestfs is very RHEL/Fedora specific but with a little work it might be possible to port this over to Ubuntu. It's worth the effort IMHO.

[Guilhem Lettron (guilhem-fr)]

libguestfs has been port to precise : http://packages.ubuntu.com/fr/precise/libguestfs0

Maybe I can port it to oneiric with dpkg-source. But I don't now if I have enough time :/

[Richard W.M. Jones (rich-annexia)]

We don't have a maintainer for libguestfs in Ubuntu, but are looking for someone to help out.

I worked out all of the bugs in 12.04 and wrote about it in this thread:
https://www.redhat.com/archives/libguestfs/2012-April/thread.html#00028