RHBA-2010:0282 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated python-virtinst package that fixes bugs and adds enhancements is
now available.

Description

python-virtinst is a module that helps build and install libvirt based
virtual machines.

This updated package addresses the following issues:

• When installing a KVM Windows guest with virt-install, QEMU would not

immediately recognise the installation. An error message would appear,
despite a successful installation. A minor delay has been added to allow
the correct information to be gathered, and the incorrect error message
no longer appears. (BZ#498237)

• An unsupported --prompt option was listed in the --help output for

virt-image. When virt-image --prompt was run, an error message would
print. The --prompt option has been removed from the --help output.
(BZ#503721)

• cow, qcow and qcow2 were not listed in the virt-convert format

whitelist, although they were supported. An unknown disk format error
would print for each format when virt-convert was run from a VMware
virtual machine to a virt-image. cow, qcow and qcow2 are now listed.
BZ#506927)

• virt-install would fail when re-installing a virtual system using an

.img file that had been moved or deleted, instead of re-creating the
guest image. The error was found to be spurious characters in the image
paths ('/'). Code has been corrected in python-virtinst to prevent this
error. (BZ#511925)

• By default, virtual disks are not opened with O_DIRECT. This meant

data would sometimes be cached twice: once inside the virtual machine,
and once outside. Users had to manually add
<driver name='qemu' cache='none'/> to the virtual machine definition
to prevent double caching. The default cache mode of QEMU and KVM guests
is now set to "none", which prevents inconsistent disc states.
(BZ#512072)

• The --disk option of virt-install was not compatible with the --prompt

option, and caused error messages to print when they were used together.
The interaction between these two options has been adjusted, and --disk
can now be used with --prompt successfully. (BZ#516129)

• When --wait is specified as 0, virt-install should begin the installation

process and exit the console. However, a syntax error in the code caused
virt-install --wait to perform as if it was not specified, and the console
must be closed manually. The syntax error has now been corrected, and if

• -wait=0, the installation process will begin and close the console.

(BZ#517081)

• When running virt-install --prompt --nographics, if the disk size was

too big for the available diskspace, a badly formatted error message would
print. The error message syntax has been corrected, and the user prompt
now appears on a new line beneath the message. (BZ#523767)

• virt-install reported that the installation was still in progress after

the installation was complete and the guest machine was being rebooted.
The post installation error catching and reporting has been improved. The
guest state is now reported accurately. (BZ#545837)

• An os dictionary entry has been backported into this release. Users no

longer need to use virtio26 to enable virtio support for guests. This
entry can be selected in virt-manager or via virt-install --os-variant.
(BZ#547380)

• libvirt was, at times, unable to start guest systems when installing

under a minor load, and the install would fail. There were memory problems
if another process was writing to disk simultaneously, and virt-install
was misreading nonsparse disk images. This fix modifies the libvirt
timeout manager to better cope with shared I/O conditions an adds the
0_DSYNC flag to python-virtinst to manage nonsparse disk reading.
(BZ#558855)

• Previously, a patch was added to virtinst to avoid non-sparse volume

creation, because libvirt did not drop the pool lock while allocating.
However, the libvirt version in this release does not have this issue.
The patch has been removed and virt-install no longer ignores

• -nonsparse when creating an image inside libvirt's storage pool.

(BZ#569339)

Users are advised to upgrade to this updated python-virtinst package which
resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 503721 - virt-image don't support --prompt options
• BZ - 506927 - virt-convert don't support qcow, qcow2, 'cow', these three disk formats.
• BZ - 511925 - virt-install fails on creation of disk image after previous creation/deletion
• BZ - 512072 - Default caching behavior of KVM VM's
• BZ - 516129 - --disk option gets confused about DISKOPTS when invoked together with --prompt.
• BZ - 523767 - Badly formatted error message in virt-install
• BZ - 545837 - [RHEL 5.5] virt-install reports installation still in progress even though it's done.
• BZ - 547380 - virtinst: Add rhel5.4+ os dictionary entry
• BZ - 558855 - /distribution/virt/install fails with libvirtError: internal error unable to start guest: char device redirected to /dev/pts/1
• BZ - 569339 - virt-install ignores --nonsparse when creating an image inside libvirt's storage pool

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)