VIRTVBOXD(8)

📦
version 12.3.0 · 5 versions
, in alpine 3.24

🦋 VIRTVBOXD(8) — the virtvboxd manual page, bestie edition

okay so before we even start: this is the man page for virtvboxd, and it lives in the Virtualization Support section of your manuals (that's the whole (8) thing, iykyk). grab a lil snack, we're getting into it 💅

🌸 NAME

virtvboxd — the libvirt VirtualBox management daemon. yes. that's her. that's the whole name section. slay ✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS

virtvboxd [OPTION]...

that's it. that's the summoning ritual. [OPTION]... with the three dots means you can pile on as many as you want 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION

okay so virtvboxd is a server side daemon component of the libvirt virtualization management system. big words, but she's basically the backstage crew 🧚

she's one of a whole collection of modular daemons — like, they all split up the jobs that the old monolithic libvirtd daemon used to do by itself. one girl doing everything? no ma'am. divide and conquer, that's the vibe 👑

this particular daemon runs on virtualization hosts and provides management for VirtualBox virtual machines. that's literally her job description.

here's the important bit: virtvboxd only listens for requests on a local Unix domain socket. that's it. no remote anything. so if you're like "but bestie, what about remote access via TLS/TCP?" — that's not her, that's virtproxyd. and all the backwards compatibility for legacy clients that still expect libvirtd? also virtproxyd. she's the social one, virtvboxd is the homebody 😌

and now the best part: restarting virtvboxd does not interrupt running guests. guests keep doing their lil guest thing, and changes in their state will generally be picked up automatically during startup. no cap. she's polite like that 🫶

✨ DAEMON STARTUP MODES

the virtvboxd daemon is capable of starting in two modes. two! pick your fighter:

🔌 Socket activation mode

on hosts with systemd, she starts in socket activation mode, and she'll rely on systemd to create and listen on the UNIX sockets and pass them over as pre-opened file descriptors. very hands-off, very demure 💅

heads up bestie: in this mode, most of the socket related config options in /etc/libvirt/virtvboxd.conf will no longer have any effect. like, they're just sitting there. being decorative. 🎀

🕯️ Traditional service mode

on hosts without systemd, she creates and listens on UNIX sockets herself. independent queen. she built different 🔥

💜 OPTIONS

  • -h, --help — display command line help usage, then exit. the "wait what does this do again" button 🙈
  • -d, --daemon — run as a daemon & write the PID file. she goes in the background and leaves a lil note about where she is 🎀
  • -f, --config FILE — use this configuration file, overriding the default value. you're the boss 🫶
  • -p, --pid-file FILE — use this name for the PID file, overriding the default value. again: you're the boss 💅
  • -t, --timeout SECONDS — exit after the timeout period (in seconds), provided there are no client connections. she'll only ghost you when the room is empty 😭
  • -v, --verbose — enable output of verbose messages. she starts talking 🗣️✨
  • --version — display version information, then exit. the vibe check of an option 🌈

⭐ SIGNALS

on receipt of SIGHUP, virtvboxd will reload its configuration. that's it. that's the whole section. one signal. iconic 🌸

🦋 FILES

👑 When run as root

  • /etc/libvirt/virtvboxd.conf

the default configuration file used by virtvboxd, unless it's overridden on the command line using the -f | --config option.

  • /run/libvirt/virtvboxd-sock
  • /run/libvirt/virtvboxd-sock-ro
  • /run/libvirt/virtvboxd-admin-sock

the sockets virtvboxd will use.

the TLS Server private key virtvboxd will use. (yes, bestie, it's just floating there in the original too — I don't make the rules, I just report them faithfully 💀)

  • /run/virtvboxd.pid

the PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.

🌱 When run as non-root

  • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/virtvboxd.conf

the default configuration file used by virtvboxd, unless overridden on the command line using the -f | --config option.

  • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/virtvboxd-sock
  • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/virtvboxd-admin-sock

the sockets virtvboxd will use.

  • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/virtvboxd.pid

the PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.

and like, the fallbacks, because environment variables are flaky sometimes:

  • if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set in your environment, virtvboxd will use $HOME/.config 🍓
  • if $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set in your environment, virtvboxd will use $HOME/.cache 🧚

🔥 EXAMPLES

to retrieve the version of virtvboxd:

# virtvboxd --version
virtvboxd (libvirt) 12.3.0

look at her. 12.3.0. beautiful. no notes 👑

to start virtvboxd, instructing it to daemonize and create a PID file:

# virtvboxd -d
# ls -la /run/virtvboxd.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6 Jul  9 02:40 /run/virtvboxd.pid

see that? she's in there. 6 bytes of pure PID energy. and yes, before you ask, that's the whole ls -la output, permissions and all, we don't skip details in this house 💅

💀 BUGS

please report all bugs you discover. and like, actually report them, don't just suffer in silence bestie 😭 you can do it via either:

  1. the mailing list

<https://libvirt.org/contact.html>

  1. the bug tracker

<https://libvirt.org/bugs.html>

alternatively, you may report bugs to your software distributor / vendor. whoever's closest 🫶

👑 AUTHORS

please refer to the AUTHORS file distributed with libvirt. your faves are in there ✨

Copyright (C) 2006-2020 Red Hat, Inc., and the authors listed in the libvirt AUTHORS file.

🌈 LICENSE

virtvboxd is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL v2.1+. this is free software; see the source for copying conditions. there is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

like, for real, no warranty. none. zero. don't come for her if it breaks 💀

🦋 SEE ALSO

and that's the page, bestie! 🫶 kudos if you made it to the bottom. look after her, and remember — she only speaks over local UNIX sockets, virtproxyd handles the extroverted stuff 💜

VIRTVBOXD(8) — that's the footer, that's the sign-off, that's the whole manual page. periodt. ✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from