UML_MCONSOLE(1)

📦 version 20070815.4, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute

💖 UML_MCONSOLE(1) — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the General Commands Manual, and today we're talking about uml_mconsole — the little tool that lets you slide into the DMs of a user-mode Linux kernel. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

uml_mconsole — attach to the management console of a user-mode Linux kernel

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

uml_mconsole [socket]  [command ...]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

This manual page documents briefly the uml_mconsole command. briefly!! we're keeping it cute and to the point.

This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution because the original program does not have a manual page. yeah. nobody wrote one. so Matt did. icon behavior honestly. 👑

uml_mconsole is a program to connect to the management console of a user-mode Linux kernel. The UML management console is a low-level interface to the kernel, somewhat like the i386 SysRq interface. Since there is a full-blown operating system under UML, there is much greater flexibility possible than with the SysRq mechanism. lowkey the glow-up of SysRq, no cap.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • socket — the pathname of the socket you wanna connect to. UML prints this when it boots, like this:
mconsole initialized on /tmp/umlNJ32yL/mconsole

so in this example, you would start uml_mconsole like this:

uml_mconsole umlNJ32yL
  • command — any of the commands listed in the COMMANDS section. go off, pick your fave. 💅

👑 COMMANDS 👑

  • version — prints the UML version number. the "what era are we in" check. ⭐
  • halt — shuts down the UML system immediately, without syncing disks or cleanly shutting down swap space. like ripping the plug out of the wall but make it a command. 😭
  • reboot — reboots the UML system immediately, without syncing disks or cleanly shutting down swap space. same energy, different button. 💀
  • log string — cause UML to log string to the kernel log.
  • cad — invokes the Control-Alt-Delete handler. 🎀
  • sysrq letter — performs the SysRq action controlled by letter.
  • stop — pauses UML. UML will do nothing until the 'go' command is issued. it's giving hibernation but dramatic. 🦋
  • go — resumes execution after a 'stop' command. wakey wakey bestie 🌸
  • config device — adds a new device to the virtual machine, or queries the configuration of an existing device. it takes one argument, which is either the device to add, with the same syntax as the kernel command line, or the name of an existing device. for example:
(mconsole)
config ubd3=root_fs_debian22
OK

(mconsole)
config ubd3
OK root_fs_debian22
  • remove — deletes a device from the virtual machine. its argument is the name of the device to be removed. in the case of the ubd driver, the removed block device must not be mounted, swapped on, or otherwise open, and in the case of the network driver, the device must be down. fr fr, respect the rules or it goes sideways. 🙈
(mconsole)
remove ubd3
OK

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

💜 AUTHOR 💜

uml_mconsole was written by Jeff Dike and others.

This manual page was written by Matt Zimmerman mdz@debian.org for the Debian GNU/Linux system, based on material in the UserModeLinux-HOWTO by Rusty Russell, and the uml_mconsole source code. shoutout to the whole squad 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one's filed under UML_MCONSOLE(1) in the General Commands Manual, so if you ever need to find it again that's the tag to search. now go forth and manage that kernel, main character energy only. 💅✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from