1=head1 NAME
2
3nbdkit-split-plugin - nbdkit plugin to concatenate split files into one disk
4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6
7 nbdkit split [file=]file1 [[file=]file2 [file=]file3 ...]
8
9=head1 DESCRIPTION
10
11C<nbdkit-split-plugin> is a file plugin for L<nbdkit(1)>.  One or more
12filenames may be given using the C<FILENAME> parameter.  These
13files are logically concatenated into a single disk image.
14
15If you want to add a virtual partition table, see
16L<nbdkit-partitioning-plugin(1)>.
17
18=head2 Differences from nbdkit-file-plugin
19
20Normally to serve a single file you should use
21L<nbdkit-file-plugin(1)>.  This plugin differs from nbdkit-file-plugin
22as follows:
23
24=over 4
25
26=item *
27
28nbdkit-file-plugin is faster and more efficient.  It has a fully
29parallel implementation, and does not have to deal with the complexity
30of locating the correct file to serve or splitting requests across
31files.
32
33=item *
34
35nbdkit-file-plugin allows you to resize the underlying file
36dynamically.  The underlying files must B<not> be resized when using
37the split plugin.
38
39=item *
40
41nbdkit-file-plugin can handle block devices, but the split plugin can
42only handle plain files.
43
44=item *
45
46nbdkit-file-plugin handles writes of blocks of zeroes efficiently, but
47the split plugin cannot.
48
49=item *
50
51nbdkit-file-plugin can "punch holes" in the backing file in response
52to a trim request from the client, but the split plugin does not
53support this.
54
55=back
56
57=head1 PARAMETERS
58
59=over 4
60
61=item [B<file=>]FILENAME
62
63One or more files to open.  They are logically concatenated in
64the order they appear on the command line.
65
66This parameter must appear at least once.
67
68C<file=> is a magic config key and may be omitted in most cases.
69See L<nbdkit(1)/Magic parameters>.
70
71=back
72
73=head1 FILES
74
75=over 4
76
77=item F<$plugindir/nbdkit-split-plugin.so>
78
79The plugin.
80
81Use C<nbdkit --dump-config> to find the location of C<$plugindir>.
82
83=back
84
85=head1 VERSION
86
87C<nbdkit-split-plugin> first appeared in nbdkit 1.2.
88
89=head1 SEE ALSO
90
91L<nbdkit(1)>,
92L<nbdkit-plugin(3)>,
93L<nbdkit-file-plugin(1)>,
94L<nbdkit-partitioning-plugin(1)>.
95
96=head1 AUTHORS
97
98Richard W.M. Jones
99
100=head1 COPYRIGHT
101
102Copyright (C) 2017 Red Hat Inc.
103