distrobuilder

System container and VM image builder for Incus and LXC.

Status

Type	Service	Status
CI	GitHub
Project status	CII Best Practices

Command line options

The following are the command line options of distrobuilder. You can use distrobuilder to create container images for both Incus and LXC.

$ distrobuilder
System container and VM image builder for Incus and LXC
Usage:
distrobuilder [command]
Available Commands:
build-dir Build plain rootfs
build-incus Build Incus image from scratch
build-lxc Build LXC image from scratch
help Help about any command
pack-incus Create Incus image from existing rootfs
pack-lxc Create LXC image from existing rootfs
repack-windows Repack Windows ISO with drivers included
Flags:
--cache-dir Cache directory
--cleanup Clean up cache directory (default true)
--debug Enable debug output
--disable-overlay Disable the use of filesystem overlays
-h, --help helpfor distrobuilder
-o, --options Override options (list of key=value)
-t, --timeout Timeout in seconds
--version Print version number
Use "distrobuilder [command] --help"for more information about a command.

Installing from package

distrobuilder is available from the Snap Store.

sudo snap install distrobuilder --classic

Installing from source

To compile distrobuilder from source, first install the Go programming language, and some other dependencies.

• Debian-based:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y golang-go gcc debootstrap rsync gpg squashfs-tools git make build-essential libwin-hivex-perl wimtools genisoimage
  

• ArchLinux-based:

  sudo pacman -Syu
  sudo pacman -S go gcc debootstrap rsync gnupg squashfs-tools git make hivex cdrtools wimlib --needed
  

• Red Hat-based:

  sudo dnf check-update
  sudo dnf install golang gcc debootstrap rsync gnupg2 squashfs-tools git make hivex genisoimage
  

NOTE: Distrobuilder requires Go 1.21 or higher, if your distribution doesn't have a recent enough version available, get it from upstream.

Second, download the source code of the distrobuilder repository (this repository).

mkdir -p $HOME/go/src/github.com/lxc/
cd $HOME/go/src/github.com/lxc/
git clone https://github.com/lxc/distrobuilder

Third, enter the directory with the source code of distrobuilder and run make to compile the source code. This will generate the executable program distrobuilder, and it will be located at $HOME/go/bin/distrobuilder.

cd ./distrobuilder
make

Finally, you can run distrobuilder as follows.

$HOME/go/bin/distrobuilder

You may also add the directory $HOME/go/bin/ to your $PATH so that you do not need to run the command with the full path.

Runtime dependencies for building VM images

If you intend to build Incus VM images (via distrobuilder build-incus --vm), your system will need certain tools installed:

• Debian-based:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y btrfs-progs dosfstools qemu-kvm
  

How to use

See How to use distrobuilder for instructions.

Troubleshooting

See Troubleshoot distrobuilder.