qemantra

qemantra is a tool to manage QEMU/KVM virtual machines.

• qemantra
  • Features
  • Dependencies
  • Installation
  • Config
  • Usage
    • Create
    • Run
    • List
    • Rename
    • Edit
  • UEFI
  • Similar Projects
  • Contribution

Features

• Use QEMU without a graphical interface.
• Single static binary, no dependencies.
• No fuss, run VM’s with a single command.

Who is it for ?

qemantra is

• A opionated tool.
• A simple tool for simple uses. It is for the casual virtualizer.
• Will probably never support highly complex features.

qemantra is not

• A complex VM management tool.
• A performant or efficient tool.
• A production/enterprise tool.

Dependencies

• qemu-system-* binaries.

Mostly packaged with qemu-full on Arch/Debian.

• ovmf (Optional): for UEFI. See here.

Debian

sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 qemu-system-sparc qemu-system-ppc qemu-system-arm

sudo apt install qemu-full

Arch

sudo pacman -S qemu-system-x86 qemu-system-arm

sudo pacman -S qemu-full

Installation

• You can download a binary from the releases section on GitHub.

If you have the Go compiler installed, you can install using this command.

go install github.com/pspiagicw/qemantra@latest

If you use gox, you can also run.

gox install github.com/pspiagicw/qemantra@latest

If can also clone the repo and compile it manually.

git clone https://github.com/pspiagicw/qemantra
cd qemantra
go build .

# Or
groom build

Config

• You will need a config to get started.
• You can create a config at /home/<username>/.config/qemantra/config.toml
• It should have the following content, change it accordingly

imageDir = "~/.local/share/qemantra/images"
machineDir = "~/.local/share/qemantra/machines"

Usage

create

• You can create virtual machines using the qemantra create command.

1qemantra create

• This will start a interactive prompt to ask details about the VM.

You will need to enter

• A valid name
• A valid CPU core Count
• A valid RAM size

Attaching a disk is optional.

If a disk is requested, you will need to provide

• A disk name
• A disk format
• A disk size

run

• You can run machines using qemantra run
• Running the virtual machine uses QEMU to run the machine using the given details.

1qemantra run [FLAGS]

Flags

--boot

This allows to select a different boot option.

The different boot options available are

• iso This boots the ISO.
• menu This enables the menu, interactively choose the disk to boot.

--external

Provide a external disk to attach. This would be attached in addition to the existing disk (if present).

--kvm

Enable or disable KVM. By default kvm is enabled. To disable use -kvm false.

Features such as SMP depend on KVM.

--iso

Provide ISO disk to attach.

--uefi

Provide a OVMF file to use as UEFI bios.

list

You can list machines using qemantra list.

1qemantra list 

rename

You can use the qemantra rename command to rename any previously created machine.

1qemantra rename 

edit

• You can use the qemantra edit command to edit any previously created machine.
• It would show prompts to change the details of any given VM.
• Shows current settings in brackets.

Edit is different from rename. For changing the name, see rename.

1qemantra [GLOBAL] edit [OPTIONS]

UEFI

• UEFI support is not natively bundled with QEMU, you need to install a external package using your package manager.
• You will need to install ovmf package.
• When running a virtual machine, point to the appropriate (.fd) file.
• In most systems, this would be installed in /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd

Similar Projects

• libvirt (GUI and CLI)
• VBoxManage (CLI for VirtualBox).
• Quickemu (CLI, written in Bash)

Contribution

Star the project on GitHub if you like it!

Anyone is free to contribute to the project, either by raising a issue or opening a PR.