NAME
    virt-what - detect if we are running in a virtual machine

SUMMARY
    virt-what [options]

DESCRIPTION
    "virt-what" is a shell script which can be used to detect if the program
    is running in a virtual machine.

    The program prints out a list of "facts" about the virtual machine,
    derived from heuristics. One fact is printed per line.

    If nothing is printed and the script exits with code 0 (no error), then
    it can mean *either* that the program is running on bare-metal *or* the
    program is running inside a type of virtual machine which we don't know
    about or cannot detect.

FACTS
    openvz
        The guest appears to be running inside an OpenVZ or Virtuozzo
        container.

        Status: contributed by Evgeniy Sokolov

    kvm This is KVM.

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ.

    qemu
        This is QEMU.

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ.

    virtualpc
        The guest appears to be running on Microsoft VirtualPC.

        Status: not confirmed

    vmware
        The guest appears to be running on VMware.

        Status: not confirmed

    xen The guest appears to be running on Xen.

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ

    xen-dom0
        This is the Xen dom0 (privileged domain).

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ

    xen-domU
        This is a Xen domU (paravirtualized guest domain).

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ

    xen-hvm
        This is a Xen guest fully virtualized (HVM).

        Status: confirmed by RWMJ

IMPORTANT NOTE
    Most of the time, using this program is the *wrong* thing to do. Instead
    you should detect the specific features you actually want to use. (As an
    example, if you wanted to issue Xen hypervisor commands you would look
    for the "/proc/xen/privcmd" file).

    However people keep asking for this, so we provide it. There are a few
    legitimate uses:

    Bug reporting tool
        If you think that virtualization could affect how your program runs,
        then you might use "virt-what" to report this in a bug reporting
        tool.

    Status display and monitoring tools
        You might include this information in status and monitoring
        programs.

SEE ALSO
    <http://www.libvirt.org/>, <http://et.redhat.com/~rjones/>,
    <http://www.vmware.com/>,
    <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc>,
    <http://xensource.com/>, <http://bellard.org/qemu/>,
    <http://kvm.qumranet.com/>, <http://openvz.org/>

AUTHORS
    Richard W.M. Jones <rjones @ redhat . com>

COPYRIGHT
    (C) Copyright 2008 Red Hat Inc., <http://libvirt.org/>

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
    Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
    option) any later version.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
    Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
    675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

REPORTING BUGS
    Bugs can be viewed on the Red Hat Bugzilla page:
    <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/>.

    If you find a bug in virt-what, please follow these steps to report it:

    1. Check for existing bug reports
        Go to <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/> and search for similar bugs.
        Someone may already have reported the same bug, and they may even
        have fixed it.

    2. Capture debug and error messages
        Run

         virt-what > virt-what.log 2>&1

        and keep *virt-what.log*. It may contain error messages which you
        should submit with your bug report.

    3. Get version of virt-what and version of libvirt.
        Run

         virt-what --version

    4. Submit a bug report.
        Go to <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/> and enter a new bug. Please
        describe the problem in as much detail as possible.

        Remember to include the version numbers (step 3) and the debug
        messages file (step 2).

    5. Assign the bug to rjones @ redhat.com
        Assign or reassign the bug to rjones @ redhat.com (without the
        spaces). You can also send me an email with the bug number if you
        want a faster response.