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nbdkit-captive(1) NBDKIT nbdkit-captive(1) NAME nbdkit-captive - run nbdkit under another process and have it reliably cleaned up SYNOPSIS nbdkit PLUGIN [...] [-e|--exportname EXPORTNAME] \ --name NAME \ --run 'COMMAND ARGS ...' nbdkit --exit-with-parent PLUGIN [...] DESCRIPTION You can run nbdkit under another process and have nbdkit reliably clean up. There are two techniques depending on whether you want nbdkit to start the other process ("CAPTIVE NBDKIT"), or if you want the other process to start nbdkit ("EXIT WITH PARENT"). Another way is to have nbdkit exit after the last client connection (nbdkit-exitlast-filter(1)) or after an event (nbdkit-exitwhen-filter(1)). CAPTIVE NBDKIT You can run nbdkit as a "captive process", using the --run option. This means that nbdkit runs as long as (for example) qemu(1) or guestfish(1) is running. When those exit, nbdkit is killed. Some examples should make this clear. To run nbdkit captive under qemu: nbdkit file disk.img --run 'qemu -drive file="$uri",if=virtio' On the qemu command line, $uri is substituted automatically with the right NBD path so it can connect to nbdkit. When qemu exits, nbdkit is killed and cleaned up automatically. Running nbdkit captive under guestfish: nbdkit file disk.img --run 'guestfish --format=raw -a "$uri" -i' When guestfish exits, nbdkit is killed. Running nbdkit captive under nbdsh for unit testing: nbdkit memory 1 --run 'nbdsh -u "$uri" -c "print(h.pread(1, 0))"' Running an fio benchmark: nbdkit -f null 1G --run 'export uri; fio fio.git/examples/nbd.fio' The following shell variables are available in the --run argument (local to the run script unless you use "export"): $uri $nbd A URI that refers to the nbdkit port or socket in the preferred form documented by the NBD project. As this variable may contain a bare "?" for Unix sockets, it is safest to use $uri within double quotes to avoid unintentional globbing. For plugins that support distinct data based on export names, the -e option to nbdkit controls which export name will be set in the URI. In nbdkit 1.22 $nbd tried to guess if you were using qemu or guestfish and expanded differently. Since NBD URIs are now widely supported this magic is no longer necessary. In nbdkit 1.24 both variables expand to the same URI. See also "NBD URIs and endpoints" in nbdkit(1). $port If "", the port number that nbdkit is listening on. $unixsocket If "", the Unix domain socket that nbdkit is listening on. $exportname The export name (which may be "") that the process should use when connecting to nbdkit, as set by the -e (--exportname) command line option of nbdkit. This only matters to plugins that differentiate what they serve based on the export name requested by the client. $tls Corresponds to the --tls option passed to nbdkit. If --tls=off this is not set. If --tls=on this is set to "1". If --tls=require this is set to "2". $tls_certificates If --tls-certificates was passed to nbdkit, the value is copied here. It is usually the directory containing PKI certificates. Note that the path might not be an absolute path, or even valid. $tls_psk If --tls-psk was passed to nbdkit, the value is copied here. It is usually the filename of a TLS Pre-Shared Keys (PSK) file. Note that the filename might not be an absolute path, or even valid. --run implies --foreground. It is not possible, and probably not desirable, to have nbdkit fork into the background when using --run. Copying data in and out of plugins with captive nbdkit Captive nbdkit + qemu-img(1) can be used to copy data into and out of nbdkit plugins. For example nbdkit-example1-plugin(1) contains an embedded disk image. To copy it out: nbdkit example1 --run 'qemu-img convert "$uri" disk.img' If the source suffers from temporary network failures nbdkit-retry-filter(1) or nbdkit-retry-request-filter(1) may help. To overwrite a file inside an uncompressed tar file (the file being overwritten must be the same size), use nbdkit-tar-filter(1) like this: nbdkit file data.tar --filter=tar tar-entry=disk.img \ --run 'qemu-img convert -n disk.img "$uri"' EXIT WITH PARENT The --exit-with-parent option is almost the opposite of "CAPTIVE NBDKIT" described in the previous section. Running nbdkit with this option, for example from a script: nbdkit --exit-with-parent plugin ... & means that nbdkit will exit automatically if the parent program exits for any reason. This can be used to avoid complicated cleanups or orphaned nbdkit processes. --exit-with-parent is incompatible with forking into the background (because when we fork into the background we lose track of the parent process). Therefore -f / --foreground is implied. If the parent application is multithreaded, then (in the Linux implementation) if the parent thread exits, that will cause nbdkit to exit. Thus in multithreaded applications you usually want to run "nbdkit --exit-with-parent" only from the main thread (unless you actually want nbdkit to exit with the thread, but that may not work reliably on all operating systems). To exit when an unrelated process exits, use nbdkit-exitwhen-filter(1) "exit-when-process-exits" feature. Support for --exit-with-parent This is currently implemented using a non-POSIX feature available in Linux 2.1.57, FreeBSD 11.2 and macOS. It won't work on other operating systems (patches welcome to make it work). To test if the current binary supports this feature the most backwards compatible way is: nbdkit --exit-with-parent --version && echo "supported" In nbdkit 1.34, "nbdkit --dump-config" prints either "exit_with_parent=yes" or "exit_with_parent=no" but earlier versions did not have this. nbdkit --name The --name=NAME option is useful with captive nbdkit instances, as it allows you to give a name to each instance. This appears in error and debug messages, making it possible to distinguish between nbdkit instances in log files. SEE ALSO nbdkit(1), nbdkit-exitlast-filter(1), nbdkit-exitwhen-filter(1), prctl(2) (on Linux), procctl(2) (on FreeBSD). AUTHORS Eric Blake Richard W.M. Jones Pino Toscano COPYRIGHT Copyright Red Hat LICENSE Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: • Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. • Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. • Neither the name of Red Hat nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY RED HAT AND CONTRIBUTORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL RED HAT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. nbdkit-1.46.0 2026-03-04 nbdkit-captive(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CAPTIVE NBDKIT | EXIT WITH PARENT | SEE ALSO | AUTHORS | COPYRIGHT | LICENSE
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