[Neurodebian-devel] Tools for creating VM images

[Emmanuel Kasper]

Le 22/08/2013 18:46, Yury V. Zaytsev a écrit :
> On Thu, 2013-08-22 at 18:28 +0200, Emmanuel Kasper wrote:
>>
>> I will create now my Vagrant Boxes with
>> https://github.com/EmmanuelKasper/vagrant-debian-wheezy-64/tree/debian_vanilla
>> Works very well, clean (gasp) bash code, and do already all what I
>> want.
> 
> Looking at your code, I'd conclude that's also more or less how
> NeuroDebian VM builder works...
> 
>> The script use an interseting approach for preseeding: it unpacks the
>> initrd from the ISO cd, adds the preseed.cfg to it, and repacks
>> everything.
> 
> So Debian can't load preseed files from the diskette like kickstart
> files? ^__^ If you insert a virtual diskette, there is no need to modify
> the image. Also, this method is easier then messing with a DHCP server.

Yes the Debian installer can load its preseed file from a floppy or usb
stick,  but you would still need to remaster the iso to add your
modified isolinux.cfg, which would then look for your floppy preseed.
According to this
https://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2012/01/msg00023.html I don't think
d-i would automatically search for a preseed file on external media:

> In any case, I'm glad you've got it working. Just hope that at some
> point libvirt will add more complete support for VirtualBox... 
> 
> ... but in the end, this might be not even needed? Can't it export
> KVM/QEMU machines as OVF?

At some point I tried  provisioning with virtinstall, and then
converting the img to OVA format. A virtinstall qemu image works on
VirtualBox but a kvm crashes on startup.

If you look for more generic solutions you could also have a look at
https://wiki.debian.org/VMBuilder ( maintained up to Debian6, not
working on recent debian versions ) and ubuntu vm-builder ( for ubuntu
guests)

Manu