Description of problem: virt-edit doesn't support --format raw, it only support --format=raw, so line '--format raw|qcow2|...' should change to '--format=raw|qcow2|...' in man virt-edit Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): libguestfs-1.27.62-1.1.el7 How reproducible: 100% Steps to Reproduce: 1. Prepare a rhel guest image: rhel.img 2. Read man virt-edit, search --format raw 3. #virt-edit --format raw -a rhel.img /etc/hosts Actual results: #virt-edit --format raw -a rhel.img /etc/hosts libguestfs: error: download: download_stub: path must start with a / character Expected results: command 'virt-edit --format raw -a rhel.img /etc/hosts' should give a proper error message,such as: #virt-edit --format raw -a rhel.img Try `virt-edit --help' for more information. Additional info:
«--format FMT» is not the same as «--format=FMT», because all of the C tools use getopt_long with --format as optional argument, so «--format FMT» is interpreted as argument-less --format with FMT as parameter. Since the tools that can mount more than one image need to have a way to reset the format autodetection, hence the argument-less --format is accepted. All the man pages of tools document that. (0c1d3c02a8147617ee0646e37d011235abdd2c22 introduces this behaviour in guestfish) Simple fix pushed as https://github.com/libguestfs/libguestfs/commit/145a188f7056d4414adef472e95cad5640d79511
I've just realised that we have had this patch in RHEL 7 for a little while.
Version: libguestfs-1.28.1-1.11.el7.x86_64 --format=raw|qcow2|.. Verified as above.
Since the problem described in this bug report should be resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated files, follow the link below. If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report. https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2015-0303.html