I'm having a problem using libvirt to manage "defined" domains (ie: domains for which it has XML, but are not running.) I have tried several debugging scenarios, but the simplest one is this. In a libvirt C program I define the following XML: char domxml[]="<domain type='xen' id='99'>" "<name>rhel5vm</name>" "<uuid>f948d7f4f36c4bfae8053bca535183b3</uuid>" "<os>" "<type>linux</type>" "<kernel>/var/lib/xen/boot/rhel5vm/vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5xen</kernel>" "<initrd>/var/lib/xen/boot/rhel5vm/initrd-2.6.18-8.el5xen.img</initrd>" "<root>/dev/xvda1</root>" "</os>" "<memory>512000</memory>" "<vcpu>1</vcpu>" "<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>" "<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>" "<on_crash>restart</on_crash>" "<devices>" "<interface type='bridge'>" "<source bridge='xenbr0'/>" "<mac address='00:16:3e:09:ef:b0'/>" "<script path='vif-bridge'/>" "</interface>" "<disk type='block' device='disk'>" "<driver name='phy'/>" "<source dev='/dev/sda3'/>" "<target dev='xvda'/>" "</disk>" "<console tty='/dev/pts/2'/>" "</devices>" "</domain>"; (I've played with several values for the domain id). What I find is that when I use virDomainDefineXML() to define the domain, for some reason it drops, the "root" element from the "os" specification. Because of this the domain then crashes when I try to start it. I've also tried, using virsh to create the domain from an XML file, capture the XML with virDomainGetXMLDesc(), pause the C program, and then try to redefine the domain with the domain with the exact XML virDomainGetXMLDesc() gave me (after destroying the original of course), and I get the same behavior, it strips the root element from the OS specification. Here is the version information: [root@rhel5-xen tmp]# cat /etc/redhat-release Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga) [root@rhel5-xen tmp]# uname -a Linux rhel5-xen 2.6.18-8.1.8.el5xen #1 SMP Mon Jun 25 17:19:38 EDT 2007 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux [root@rhel5-xen tmp]# virsh version Compiled against library: libvir 0.3.1 Using library: libvir 0.3.1 Using API: Xen 3.0.1 Running hypervisor: Xen 3.0.0 I am using rhel5 "out of the box" with libvirt upgraded to: libvirt-0.3.1-1.x86_64.rpm libvirt-devel-0.3.1-1.x86_64.rpm libvirt-python-0.3.1-1.x86_64.rpm I tried using libvirt-0.3.2-1, but sample code segv'd in virConnectClose(). All I'm really trying to do is build a primitive interface to list domains (both running, and non-running), and start and stop them. I'm open to suggestions as to whether I have this misconfigured or if there would be a better version with which to do this. Thanks, Evan