qemu-img: add measure subcommand

The measure subcommand calculates the size required by a new image file.
This can be used by users or management tools that need to allocate
space on an LVM volume, SAN LUN, etc before creating or converting an
image file.

Suggested-by: Maor Lipchuk <mlipchuk@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Alberto Garcia <berto@igalia.com>
Message-id: 20170705125738.8777-8-stefanha@redhat.com
Signed-off-by: Max Reitz <mreitz@redhat.com>

1 files changed, 30 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/qemu-img.texi b/qemu-img.texi
index f335139217..a2f45199d2 100644
--- a/qemu-img.texi
+++ b/qemu-img.texi
@@ -438,6 +438,36 @@ preallocated.
 For more information, consult @file{include/block/block.h} in QEMU's
 source code.
 
+@item measure [--output=@var{ofmt}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [--size @var{N} | [--object @var{objectdef}] [--image-opts] [-f @var{fmt}] [-l @var{snapshot_param}] @var{filename}]
+
+Calculate the file size required for a new image.  This information can be used
+to size logical volumes or SAN LUNs appropriately for the image that will be
+placed in them.  The values reported are guaranteed to be large enough to fit
+the image.  The command can output in the format @var{ofmt} which is either
+@code{human} or @code{json}.
+
+If the size @var{N} is given then act as if creating a new empty image file
+using @command{qemu-img create}.  If @var{filename} is given then act as if
+converting an existing image file using @command{qemu-img convert}.  The format
+of the new file is given by @var{output_fmt} while the format of an existing
+file is given by @var{fmt}.
+
+A snapshot in an existing image can be specified using @var{snapshot_param}.
+
+The following fields are reported:
+@example
+required size: 524288
+fully allocated size: 1074069504
+@end example
+
+The @code{required size} is the file size of the new image.  It may be smaller
+than the virtual disk size if the image format supports compact representation.
+
+The @code{fully allocated size} is the file size of the new image once data has
+been written to all sectors.  This is the maximum size that the image file can
+occupy with the exception of internal snapshots, dirty bitmaps, vmstate data,
+and other advanced image format features.
+
 @item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename}
 
 List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}.