NAME

nbdkit-ruby-plugin - nbdkit ruby plugin

SYNOPSIS

 nbdkit ruby /path/to/plugin.rb [arguments...]

WARNING

The Ruby language is fundamentally broken when it comes to embedding in a program which uses pthreads. This means you may see random "stack overflows" when using this plugin on some versions of Ruby but not others.

For the whole sorry saga, see: https://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/2294

DESCRIPTION

nbdkit-ruby-plugin is an embedded Ruby interpreter for nbdkit(1), allowing you to write nbdkit plugins in Ruby.

If you have been given an nbdkit Ruby plugin

Assuming you have a Ruby script which is an nbdkit plugin, you run it like this:

 nbdkit ruby /path/to/ruby.rb

You may have to add further key=value arguments to the command line. Read the Ruby script to see if it requires any.

WRITING A RUBY NBDKIT PLUGIN

For an example plugin written in Ruby, see: https://gitlab.com/nbdkit/nbdkit/blob/master/plugins/ruby/example.rb

Broadly speaking, Ruby nbdkit plugins work like C ones, so you should read nbdkit-plugin(3) first.

To write a Ruby nbdkit plugin, you create a Ruby file which contains at least the following required functions:

 def open(readonly)
   # see below
 end
 def get_size(h)
   # see below
 end
 def pread(h, count, offset)
   # see below
 end

Note that the subroutines must have those literal names (like open), because the C part looks up and calls those functions directly. You may want to include documentation and globals (eg. for storing global state). Any other top level statements are run when the script is loaded, just like ordinary Ruby.

Executable script

If you want you can make the script executable and include a "shebang" at the top:

 #!/usr/sbin/nbdkit ruby

See also "Shebang scripts" in nbdkit(1).

These scripts can also be installed in the $plugindir. See "WRITING PLUGINS IN OTHER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES" in nbdkit-plugin(3).

Methods

Your script has access to the Nbdkit module, with the following singleton methods:

 Nbdkit.set_error(err)

Record err as the reason you are about to raise an exception. err should either be a class that defines an Errno constant (all of the subclasses of SystemCallError in module Errno have this property), an object that defines an errno method with no arguments (all instances of SystemCallError have this property), or an integer value corresponding to the usual errno values.

Exceptions

Ruby callbacks should throw exceptions to indicate errors. Remember to use Nbdkit.set_error if you need to control which error is sent back to the client; if omitted, the client will see an error of EIO.

Ruby callbacks

This just documents the arguments to the callbacks in Ruby, and any way that they differ from the C callbacks. In all other respects they work the same way as the C callbacks, so you should go and read nbdkit-plugin(3).

dump_plugin

(Optional)

There are no arguments or return value.

config

(Optional)

 def config(key, value)
   # no return value
 end
config_complete

(Optional)

There are no arguments or return value.

open

(Required)

 def open(readonly)
   # return handle
 end

You can return any non-nil Ruby value as the handle. It is passed back in subsequent calls.

close

(Optional)

 def close(h)
   # no return value
 end
get_size

(Required)

 def get_size(h)
   # return the size of the disk
 end
can_write

(Optional)

 def can_write(h)
   # return a boolean
 end
can_flush

(Optional)

 def can_flush(h)
   # return a boolean
 end
is_rotational

(Optional)

 def is_rotational(h)
   # return a boolean
 end
can_trim

(Optional)

 def can_trim(h)
   # return a boolean
 end
pread

(Required)

 def pread(h, count, offset)
   # construct a string of length count bytes and return it
 end

The body of your pread function should construct a string of length (at least) count bytes. You should read count bytes from the disk starting at offset.

NBD only supports whole reads, so your function should try to read the whole region (perhaps requiring a loop). If the read fails or is partial, your function should throw an exception, optionally using Nbdkit.set_error first.

pwrite

(Optional)

 def pwrite(h, buf, offset)
   length = buf.length
   # no return value
 end

The body of your pwrite function should write the buf string to the disk. You should write count bytes to the disk starting at offset.

NBD only supports whole writes, so your function should try to write the whole region (perhaps requiring a loop). If the write fails or is partial, your function should throw an exception, optionally using Nbdkit.set_error first.

flush

(Optional)

 def flush(h)
   # no return value
 end

The body of your flush function should do a sync(2) or fdatasync(2) or equivalent on the backing store.

If the flush fails, your function should throw an exception, optionally using Nbdkit.set_error first.

trim

(Optional)

 def trim(h, count, offset)
   # no return value
 end

The body of your trim function should "punch a hole" in the backing store. If the trim fails, your function should throw an exception, optionally using Nbdkit.set_error first.

zero

(Optional)

 def zero(h, count, offset, may_trim)
   # no return value

The body of your zero function should ensure that count bytes of the disk, starting at offset, will read back as zero. If may_trim is true, the operation may be optimized as a trim as long as subsequent reads see zeroes.

NBD only supports whole writes, so your function should try to write the whole region (perhaps requiring a loop). If the write fails or is partial, your function should throw an exception, optionally using Nbdkit.set_error first. In particular, if you would like to automatically fall back to pwrite (perhaps because there is nothing to optimize if may_trim is false), use Nbdkit.set_error(Errno::EOPNOTSUPP).

Missing callbacks

Missing: load and unload

These are not needed because you can just use ordinary Ruby constructs.

Missing: name, version, longname, description, config_help, can_fua, can_cache, cache

These are not yet supported.

Threads

The thread model for Ruby callbacks currently cannot be set from Ruby. It is hard-coded in the C part to NBDKIT_THREAD_MODEL_SERIALIZE_ALL_REQUESTS. This may change or be settable in future.

FILES

$plugindir/nbdkit-ruby-plugin.so

The plugin.

Use nbdkit --dump-config to find the location of $plugindir.

VERSION

nbdkit-ruby-plugin first appeared in nbdkit 1.2.

SEE ALSO

nbdkit(1), nbdkit-plugin(3), ruby(1).

AUTHORS

Eric Blake

Richard W.M. Jones

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Red Hat

LICENSE

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY RED HAT AND CONTRIBUTORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL RED HAT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.