NAME¶

debvm-create - Create a VM image for various Debian releases and architectures

SYNOPSIS¶

debvm-create [-a architecture] [-h hostname] [-k sshkey] [-m mirror] [-o output] [-p package] [-r release] [-z size_in_GB] [-- mmdebstrap options]

DESCRIPTION¶

debvm-create is essentially a thin wrapper around mmdebstrap for creating a raw ext4 filesystem image for booting with debvm-run. The purpose of these images primarily is testing the different releases and architectures without access to a physical machine of that architecture. Beyond essential packages, the image will contain apt, an init system and a suitable kernel package. Notably absent is a bootloader and a partition table. In order to boot such an image, one is supposed to extract the kernel and initrd from the image and pass it to a suitable bootloader. No user account is created and root can login without specifying a password.

OPTIONS¶

-a architecture, --architecture=architecture

Specify a Debian architecture name. By default, the native architecture is being used. A suitable kernel image is automatically selected and installed into the image.

-h hostname, --hostname=hostname

Set the hostname of the virtual machine. By default, the hostname is testvm.

-k sshkey, --sshkey=sshkey

Install the given ssh public key file into the virtual machine image for the root user. This option also causes the ssh server to be installed. By default, no key or server is installed.

-m mirror, --mirror=mirror

Specify the Debian mirror to be used for downloading packages and to be configured inside the virtual machine image. By default, http://deb.debian.org/debian is being used.

-o output, --output=output

Specify the file name of the resulting virtual machine image. By default, it is written to rootfs.ext4.

-p package, --package=package

Request additional packages to be installed into the virtual machine image. This option can be specified multiple times and packages can be separated by a comma. Package recommendations are not honoured. If a linux-image is passed here, it will replace the one selected by default.

-r release, --release=release

Use the given Debian release. By default, unstable is being used.

-z size_in_GB, --size=size_in_GB

Specify the minimum image size in giga bytes. The resulting image will be grown as a sparse file to this size if necessary. The default is 1 GB.

-- mmdebstrap options

All options beyond a double dash are passed to mmdebstrap before the suite, target and mirror specification. This can be used to provide additional hooks for image customization.

SEE ALSO¶

    debvm-run(1) mmdebstrap(1)