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              help for 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.