@ -11,7 +11,13 @@ Supported operating systems:
* MSVSphere 9 and other EL9-compatible distributions
* Fedora
Follow the Packer installation [instructions ](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/downloads?product_intent=packer ).
First install Ansible, which we use for virtual machines provisioning:
```shell
$ dnf install ansible-core
```
Then follow the Packer installation [instructions ](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/downloads?product_intent=packer ).
Alternatively, you can install a Packer binary from a Yandex
[mirror ](https://hashicorp-releases.yandexcloud.net/packer/ ): just download a
@ -21,7 +27,7 @@ Verify that Packer works:
```shell
$ packer version
Packer v1.9.1
1.9.4
```
In order to install required Packer plugins run the following command in the
@ -43,11 +49,15 @@ You will also need to install either QEMU/KVM or VirtualBox or
VMWare Workstation, depending on what types of images you are going to build.
For VirtualBox and VMWare Workstation just follow the official site
instructions .
documentation .
The QEMU/KVM installation instructions are provided below:
```shell
# for MSVSphere 9
$ dnf install edk2-ovmf libvirt libvirt-daemon-kvm
# for Fedora
$ dnf install @virtualization
$ dnf install edk2-ovmf
```
@ -65,6 +75,16 @@ where `${BUILDER}` is a Packer builder (e.g. `virtualbox-iso`) and
`${CONFIGURATION}` is an image configuration name (e.g.
`msvsphere-9-vagrant-x86_64` ).
On Fedora you might need to provide extra options because it has different
paths for qemu-kvm and edk2 firmware:
```shell
$ packer build -var qemu_binary=/usr/bin/qemu-kvm \
-var uefi_ovmf_code=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd \
-var uefi_ovmf_vars=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS.fd \
-only=${BUILDER}.${CONFIGURATION} .
```
A graphical VM console is disabled by default, but you can enable it for
debugging purposes by setting the `headless` variable to `false` :
@ -100,6 +120,44 @@ VMWare Vagrant box build command:
$ packer build -only=vmware-iso.msvsphere-9-vagrant-x86_64 .
```
## Debugging image builds
Use `PACKER_LOG=1` environment variable definition to get extra debug output
from Packer:
```shell
$ PACKER_LOG=1 packer build ...
```
other Packer debugging techniques are described in the Packer
[documentation ](https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs/debugging ).
Add `-vvvv` flag to the Ansible's `extra_arguments` block in a Packer config
in order to get verbose output from Ansible:
```hcl
build {
provisioner "ansible" {
...
extra_arguments = [..., "-vvvv"]
}
}
```
Additionally, you can connect to Packer's VNC session using a VNC client.
For TigerVNC you will need to enable the following settings:
* Input -> View only (ignore mouse and keyboard)
* Misc -> Shared (don't disconnect other viewers)
By default Packer is running a VNC server on a random TCP port in the
5900:6000 range. But for remote build environments it might be useful
to use a specific port so that you can configure a firewall easily:
```shell
$ packer build ... -var vnc_bind_address=0.0.0.0 -var vnc_port_min=5900 \
-var vnc_port_max=5900 .
```
## License
