NAME¶

vmdebootstrap - install basic Debian system into virtual disk image

SYNOPSIS¶

vmdebootstrap --image=FILE --size=SIZE [--mirror=URL] [--distribution=NAME] vmdebootstrap [--output=FILE] [--verbose | --no-verbose] --image=FILE --size=SIZE [--tarball=FILE] [--mirror=URL] [--arch=ARCH] [--distribution=NAME] [--package=PACKAGE] [--custom-package=DEB] [--no-kernel] [--enable-dhcp | --no-enable-dhcp] [--root-password=PASSWORD] [--customize=SCRIPT] [--hostname=HOSTNAME] [--user=USER/PASSWORD] [--serial-console | --no-serial-console] [--sudo | --no-sudo]

DESCRIPTION¶

vmdebootstrap installs a basic Debian system into a virtual disk image, for use with virtual machines, such as KVM, Qemu, or VirtualBox. It is like debootstrap(8), which does the same thing, but puts the system into a directory, for use with chroot(8). (In fact, vmdebootstrap is a wrapper around debootstrap). You need to run vmdebootstrap as root. To use the image, you probably want to create a virtual machine using your preferred virtualization technology, such as kvm(1), or qemu(1). Configure the virtual machine to use the image you've created. Then start the virtual machine, and log into it via its console to configure it. The image will be using extlinux(1) as a boot loader. It has an empty root password. The image will not have networking configured. Set the root password before you configure networking.

OPTIONS¶

--output=FILE

write output to FILE, instead of standard output

--verbose

report what is going on

--image=FILE

put created disk image in FILE

--size=SIZE

create a disk image of size SIZE (1000000000)

--tarball=FILE

tar up the disk's contents in FILE

--mirror=URL

use MIRROR as package source (http://cdn.debian.net/debian/)

--arch=ARCH

architecture to use (amd64)

--distribution=NAME

release to use (stable)

--package=PACKAGE

install PACKAGE onto system

--custom-package=DEB

install package in DEB file onto system (not from mirror)

--no-kernel

do not install a linux package

--enable-dhcp

enable DHCP on eth0

--root-password=PASSWORD

set root password

--customize=SCRIPT

run SCRIPT after setting up system

--hostname=HOSTNAME

set name to HOSTNAME (debian)

--user=USER/PASSWORD

create USER with PASSWORD

--serial-console

configure image to use a serial console

--sudo

install sudo, and if user is created, add them to sudo group

Configuration files and settings:¶

--dump-config

write out the entire current configuration

--no-default-configs

clear list of configuration files to read

--config=FILE

add FILE to config files

Logging:¶

--log=FILE

write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all); use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging

--log-level=LEVEL

log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)

--log-max=SIZE

rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)

--log-keep=N

keep last N logs (10)

--log-mode=MODE

set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal; default 0600)

Peformance:¶

--dump-memory-profile=METHOD

make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of: none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)

--memory-dump-interval=SECONDS

make memory profiling dumps at least SECONDS apart

EXAMPLE¶

To create an image for the stable release of Debian:

sudo vmdebootstrap --image test.img --size 1g \
    --log test.log --log-level debug --verbose \
    --mirror http://mirror.lan/debian/
    

To run the test image, make sure it is writeable:

sudo chmod a+w ./test.img
    

Execute using qemu, e.g. on amd64 using qemu-system-x86_64:

qemu-system-x86_64 ./test.img
    

(This loads the image in a new window.)

SEE ALSO¶

debootstrap(8) , qemu(1)