xenial (1) vmbuilder.1.gz

Provided by: python-vm-builder_0.12.4+bzr494-0ubuntu1_all bug

NAME

       vmbuilder - builds virtual machines from the command line

SYNOPSIS

       vmbuilder <hypervisor> <distro> [OPTIONS]...

       <hypervisor>  Hypervisor image format. Valid options: xen kvm vmw6 vmserver

       <distro>      Distribution. Valid options: ubuntu

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  documents the vmbuilder command.  vmbuilder is a program that builds virtual machines
       from the command line, but can have other interfaces implemented through its plugin  mechanism.  You  can
       pass  command  line options to add extra packages, remove packages, choose which version of Ubuntu, which
       mirror etc. On recent hardware with plenty of RAM, tmpdir in /dev/shm or  using  a  tmpfs,  and  a  local
       mirror (see apt-proxy or apt-mirror), you can bootstrap a vm in less than a minute.

OPTIONS

       NOTE:  Only  common  basic  options  are  described  here.  Many options can be added through plugins and
              others, they depends on the hypervisor and distro you specify.  Please use vmbuilder  <hypervisor>
              <distro> --help for a full options list.

       -h, --help
              Show this help message and exit.

       -c ALTCONFIG --config
              Specify  the  path  to  an  optional  configuration  file.  [default:None]. /etc/vmbuilder.cfg and
              ~/.vmbuilder.cfg are always read if present. The content of the configuration file is explained at
              https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOSVMBuilder#Using%20configuration%20files.

       -d DEST, --dest DEST
              Specify the destination directory. [default:<hypervisor>-<distro>]. Config option: destdir.

       --debug
              Show (a lot of) debug information

       -v, --verbose
              Show progress information

       -q, --quiet
              Silent operation

       -t TMP, --tmp TMP
              Use  TMP  as temporary working space for image generation. Defaults to $TMPDIR if it is defined or
              /tmp otherwise. [default: /tmp]

       --templates DIR
              Prepends          dir          to          template           search           path.           See
              https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOSVMBuilder#Modifying%20the%20libvirt%20template%20to%20use%20bridging
              for an example.

       -o, --overwrite
              Force overwrite of destination directory if it already exist. [default: False]

       --in-place
              Install directly into the filesystem images. This is  needed  if  your  $TMPDIR  is  nodev  and/or
              nosuid, but will result in slightly larger file system images.

       --tmpfs OPTS
              Use  a  tmpfs  as  the  working  directory,  specifying  its  size  or  "-"  to  use tmpfs default
              (suid,dev,size=1G).

       -m MEM, --mem MEM
              Assign MEM megabytes of memory to the guest vm. [default: 128]

       --cpus NUM
              Assign NUM cpus to the guest vm. [default: 1]

   Guest partitioning options
       --part PATH
              Allows to specify a partition table in PATH each line of partfile should specify (root first):
                      mountpoint size (device) (filename)
              one per line, separated by space, where size is in megabytes. The third and fourth  options  allow
              you to specify a device for the filesystem, and a name for the filesystem image, both of which are
              optional. You can have up to 4 virtual disks, a new disk starts on a line containing  only  '---'.
              ie:
                      root 2000 a1 rootfs
                      /boot 512 a2 boot
                      swap 1000 a3 swapfs
                      ---
                      /var 8000 b1 var
                      /var/log 2000 b2 varlog

       The following three options are not used if --part is specified:

              --rootsize SIZE
                     Size (in MB) of the root filesystem [default: 4096].  Discarded when --part is used.

              --optsize SIZE
                     Size  (in  MB)  of  the  /opt  filesystem.  If  not  set, no /opt filesystem will be added.
                     Discarded when --part is used.

              --swapsize SIZE
                     Size (in MB) of the swap partition [default: 1024]. Discarded when --part is used.

   Network related options:
       --domain DOMAIN
              Set DOMAIN as the domain name of the guest. Default:  The  domain  of  the  machine  running  this
              script.

       --ip ADDRESS
              IP address in dotted form [default: dhcp]

       Options below are discarded if --ip is not specified
              --mask VALUE IP mask in dotted form [default: based on ip setting].

              --net ADDRESS
                     IP net address in dotted form [default: based on ip setting].

              --bcast VALUE
                     IP broadcast in dotted form [default: based on ip setting].

              --gw ADDRESS
                     Gateway  (router) address in dotted form [default: based on ip setting (first valid address
                     in the network)].

              --dns ADDRESS
                     DNS address in dotted form [default: based on  ip  setting  (first  valid  address  in  the
                     network)]

   Post install actions:
       --copy FILE
              Read  'source  dest'  lines  from FILE, copying source files from host to dest in the guest's file
              system.

       --execscript SCRIPT, --exec SCRIPT
              Run SCRIPT after distro installation finishes. Script will be called with the  guest's  chroot  as
              first argument, so you can use chroot $1 <cmd> to run code in the virtual machine.

   libvirt integration:
       --libvirt=URI
              Add VM to given URI

   Scripts:
       --firstboot PATH
              Specify a script that will be copied into the guest and executed the first time the machine boots.
              This script must not be interactive.

       --firstlogin PATH
              Specify a script that will be copied into the guest and will be executed the first time  the  user
              logs in.  This script can be interactive.

DEVELOPMENT

       vmbuilder  is  a  python  program  that  offers  a  very  simple  mechanism  to increase functionalities,
       interfaces,  support  other  distribution  and  hypervisors.  Feel  free   to   join   the   project   at
       https://launchpad.net/vmbuilder

COMPATIBILTY

       vmbuilder  includes  a  command  line  interface compatibility with its ancestor ubuntu-vm-builder.  This
       compatibility does not include template or configration files which now use a newer format.  Programs  or
       script  that  were  relying on ubuntu-vm-builder should continue working without any issues if the do not
       use templates or configuration files.

SUPPORT

       Feel free to join #ubuntu-virt on freenode to get some help or just say hello.

SEE ALSO

       apt-proxy(8), apt-mirror(8)

       The vmbuilder tutorial available at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOSVMBuilder

       The     CheetahTemplate     documentation     for     syntax     of     the     template     files     at
       http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/docs/users_guide_html/

AUTHOR

       vmbuilder  is  Copyright  (C)  2007-2008 Canonical Ltd. and written by Soren Hansen <soren@canonical.com>
       with the help of others, see /usr/share/doc/python-vm-builder/AUTHORS for more details.

                                                    Oct 2008                                        VMBUILDER(1)