+The program cannot work on LVM partitions [#f1]_. The input media may only
+contain primary or logical partitions.
+
+Para-virtualized drivers
+------------------------
+
+*~Okeanos* uses the *VirtIO* framework. The disk I/O controller and the
+Ethernet cards on the VM instances are para-virtualized and need special
+*VirtIO* drivers. Those drivers are included in the Linux Kernel mainline since
+version 2.6.25 and are shipped with all the popular Linux distributions. The
+problem is that if the driver for the para-virtualized disk I/O controller is
+built as module, it needs to be preloaded using an initial ramdisk, otherwise
+the VM won't be able to boot.
+
+Many popular Linux distributions, like Ubuntu and Debian, will automatically
+create a generic initial ramdisk file that contains many different modules,
+including the VirtIO drivers. Others that target more experienced users, like
+Slackware, won't do that [#f2]_. *snf-image-creator* cannot resolve this kind
+of problems and it's left to the user to do so. Please refer to your
+distribution's documentation for more information on this. You can always check
+if a system can boot with para-virtualized disk controller by launching it with
+kvm using the *if=virtio* option (see the kvm command in the
+`Creating a new image`_ section).
+
+Some caveats on image creation
+==============================
+
+Image partition schemes and shrinking
+-------------------------------------
+
+When image shrinking is enabled, *snf-image-creator* will shrink the last
+partition on the disk. If this is a swap partition, it will remove it, save
+enough information to recreate it during image deployment and shrink the
+partition that lays just before that. This will make the image smaller which
+speeds up the deployment process.
+
+During image deployment, the last partition is enlarged to occupy the available
+space in the VM's hard disk and a swap partition is added at the end if a SWAP
+image property is present.
+
+Keep this in mind when creating images. It's always better to have your swap
+partition placed as the last partition on the disk and have your largest
+partition (*/* or */home*) just before that.
+
+Large temporary files
+---------------------
+
+*snf-image-creator* may create large temporary files when running:
+
+ * During image shrinking, the input media snapshot file may reach the size of
+ the original media.
+ * When bundling the host system, the temporary image file may became as large
+ as the rest of the disk files altogether.
+
+*/tmp* directory is not a good place for hosting large files. In many systems
+the contents of */tmp* are stored in volatile memory and the size they may occupy
+is limited. By default, *snf-image-creator* will use a heuristic approach to
+determine where to store large temporary files. It will examine the free space
+under */var/tmp*, the user's home directory and */mnt* and will pick the one
+with the most available space. The user may overwrite this behaviour and
+indicate a different directory using the *tmpdir* option. This option is
+supported by both *snf-image-creator* and *snf-mkimage*.