Quickly switch between two custom screen resolutions from the Linux command line

Primarily as a reminder to myself, here’s a small script droppable into ~/bin that allows switching between two custom Linux screen resolutions, that is, resolutions the X server does not necessarily already know about, from the command line.

Executing arbitrary commands in your libvirt/Qemu virtual machine through Qemu guest agent

Many of us are used to installing additional Virtualization software-specific tools in virtual machines in order to get seamless Copy & Paste, higher screen resolutions — think “VMWare tools” or the “VirtualBox guest extensions”. So does Qemu, the working horse behind most libvirt-powered virtual machines these days, with the “Qemu guest agent”. But did you… Continue reading Executing arbitrary commands in your libvirt/Qemu virtual machine through Qemu guest agent

Introducing a custom Yast module for importing libvirt configuration files from existing installations

I like fresh, reproducible installs when a new version of your preferred Linux distro (in my case openSUSE) comes out. Ensuring the perceived (!) feeling that a system is a “clean” state is hard enough during its lifecycle already and ensuring it is so after doing an upgrade installation is even harder. That’s why I… Continue reading Introducing a custom Yast module for importing libvirt configuration files from existing installations

Why your kernel’s drm.edid_firmware parameter doesn’t work anymore in libvirt environments

The enterprise world is one that is fond of funny, crappy hardware gadgets such as KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switches, often in the matrix variant: you have one or more consoles connected matrix-style to different computers, for the obvious benefit of not having to connect keyboard, mouse and monitor when needed let alone have a set connected… Continue reading Why your kernel’s drm.edid_firmware parameter doesn’t work anymore in libvirt environments

Connecting to libvirtd as non-root user on openSUSE 13.1

As a revisit to my previous post on connecting to libvirtd as a non-root user on openSUSE 12.2, the way to do it on openSUSE 13.1 is the same that worked for Marek Goldmann on Fedora 18 (although he used the wheel group). Create /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/80-libvirt-manage.rules with the following content: polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) { if (action.id ==… Continue reading Connecting to libvirtd as non-root user on openSUSE 13.1