bootstrap-vz is a bootstrapping framework for Debian that creates ready-to-boot images able to run on a number of cloud providers and virtual machines. bootstrap-vz runs without any user intervention and generates ready-to-boot images for a number of virtualization platforms. Its aim is to provide a reproducable bootstrapping process using manifests as well as supporting a high degree of customizability through plugins.
bootstrap-vz was coded from scratch in python once the bash script architecture that was used in the build-debian-cloud bootstrapper reached its limits.
The documentation for bootstrap-vz is available at bootstrap-vz.readthedocs.org. There, you can discover what the dependencies for a specific cloud provider are, see a list of available plugins and learn how you create a manifest.
Note to developers: The documentaion is generated in a rather peculiar and nifty way.
bootstrap-vz has a master branch for stable releases and a development for, well, development.
After checking out the branch of your choice you can install the
python dependencies by running python setup.py install. However,
depending on what kind of image you'd like to bootstrap, there are
other debian package dependencies as well, at the very least you will
need debootstrap.
The documentation
explains this in more detail.
Note that bootstrap-vz will tell you which tools it requires when they aren't present (the different packages are mentioned in the error message), so you can simply run bootstrap-vz once to get a list of the packages, install them, and then re-run.
Here are a few quickstart tutorials for the most common images.
If you plan on partitioning your volume, you will need the parted
package and kpartx:
root@host:~# apt-get install parted kpartxNote that you can always abort a bootstrapping process by pressing
Ctrl+C, bootstrap-vz will then initiate a cleanup/rollback process,
where volumes are detached/deleted and temporary files removed, pressing
Ctrl+C a second time shortcuts that procedure, halts the cleanup and
quits the process.
user@host:~$ sudo -i # become root
root@host:~# git clone https://github.com/andsens/bootstrap-vz.git # Clone the repo
root@host:~# apt-get install qemu-utils debootstrap python-pip # Install dependencies from aptitude
root@host:~# pip install termcolor jsonschema fysom docopt pyyaml # Install python dependencies
root@host:~# bootstrap-vz/bootstrap-vz bootstrap-vz/manifests/virtualbox-vagrant.manifest.ymlIf you want to use the minimize_size plugin,
you will have to install the zerofree package and VMWare Workstation as well.
user@host:~$ sudo -i # become root
root@host:~# git clone https://github.com/andsens/bootstrap-vz.git # Clone the repo
root@host:~# apt-get install debootstrap python-pip # Install dependencies from aptitude
root@host:~# pip install termcolor jsonschema fysom docopt pyyaml boto # Install python dependencies
root@host:~# bootstrap-vz/bootstrap-vz bootstrap-vz/manifests/ec2-ebs-debian-official-amd64-pvm.manifest.ymlTo bootstrap S3 backed AMIs, bootstrap-vz will also need the
euca2ools package. However, version 3.2.0 is required meaning you
must however install it directly from the eucalyptus repository like
this:
apt-get install --no-install-recommends python-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev gcc
pip install git+git://github.com/eucalyptus/[email protected]bootstrap-vz tries very hard to clean up after itself both if a run was successful but also if it failed. This ensures that you are not left with volumes still attached to the host which are useless. If an error occurred you can simply correct the problem that caused it and rerun everything, there will be no leftovers from the previous run (as always there are of course rare/unlikely exceptions to that rule). The error messages should always give you a strong hint at what is wrong, if that is not the case please consider opening an issue and attach both the error message and your manifest (preferably as a gist or similar).
bootstrap-vz has a number of dependencies depending on the target platform and the selected plugins. At a bare minimum the following python libraries are needed:
To bootstrap Debian itself debootstrap is needed as well.
Any other requirements are dependent upon the manifest configuration and are detailed in the corresponding sections of the documentation. bootstrap-vz will however warn you if a requirement has not been met, before the bootstrapping process begins.
The API documentation, development guidelines and an explanation of bootstrap-vz internals can be found at bootstrap-vz.readthedocs.org.
Contribution guidelines are described in the documentation under Contributing. There's also a topic regarding the coding style.