virtual_box
This gem is a Ruby API for VirtualBox, Sun's open-source virtualization software that supports Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Features
Currently, the gem supports the following features:
- VM creation and removal
- VM start, and stop
- Disk (VDI, VMDK, VHD) and DVD (ISO) images
- NAT, bridged, host-only and internal networking
- DHCP configuration for host-only and internal networks
- VirtualBox version detection (OSE vs. regular)
Dependencies
The gem uses the VirtualBox CLI (command-line tools), so they must be installed and on the system's path. The gem is developed against the documentation for VirtualBox 4.
Development Dependencies
Running tests relies on a few command-line tools.
On Fedora, use the following command to install the packages.
sudo yum install -y advancecomp curl mkisofs p7zip p7zip-plugins squashfs-tools
On OSX, run the following command.
brew install advancecomp cdrtools curl p7zip squashfs
Limitations
This gem makes some simplifying assumptions (rails people would say it is opinionated).
- VM configuration XML file management is completely delegated to VirtualBox; the gem assumes and enforces the invariant that all XML files map to registered VMs
Contributing to virtual_box
- Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet.
- Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it.
- Fork the project.
- Start a feature/bugfix branch.
- Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution.
- Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
- Please do not mess with the Rakefile, version, or history.
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010-2012 Victor Costan. See LICENSE.txt for further details.