packer

command module
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Published: Jul 8, 2013 License: MPL-2.0 Imports: 16 Imported by: 0

README

Packer

Packer is a tool for building identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration.

Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in parallel. Packer comes out of the box with support for creating AMIs (EC2), VMware images, and VirtualBox images. Support for more platforms can be added via plugins.

The images that Packer creates can easily be turned into Vagrant boxes.

Quick Start

Note: There is a great introduction and getting started guide for those with a bit more patience. Otherwise, the quick start below will get you up and running quickly, at the sacrifice of not explaining some key points.

First, download a pre-built Packer binary for your operating system or compile Packer yourself.

After Packer is installed, create your first template, which tells Packer what platforms to build images for and how you want to build them. In our case, we'll create a simple AMI that has Redis pre-installed. Save this file as quick-start.json. Be sure to replace any credentials with your own.

{
  "builders": [{
    "type": "amazon-ebs",
    "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
    "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
    "region": "us-east-1",
    "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7",
    "instance_type": "t1.micro",
    "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
    "ami_name": "packer-example {{.CreateTime}}"
  }]
}

Next, tell Packer to build the image:

$ packer build quick-start.json
...

Packer will build an AMI according to the "quick-start" template. The AMI will be available in your AWS account. To delete the AMI, you must manually delete it using the AWS console. Packer builds your images, it does not manage their lifecycle. Where they go, how they're run, etc. is up to you.

Documentation

Full, comprehensive documentation is viewable on the Packer website:

http://www.packer.io/docs

Developing Packer

If you wish to work on Packer itself, you'll first need Go installed (version 1.1+ is required). Make sure you have Go properly installed, including setting up your GOPATH.

For some additional dependencies, Go needs Mercurial to be installed. Packer itself doesn't require this but a dependency of a dependency does.

Next, clone this repository into $GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer and then just type make. In a few moments, you'll have a working packer executable:

$ make
...
$ bin/packer
...

You can run tests by typing make test.

This will run tests for Packer core along with all the core builders and commands and such that come with Packer.

Documentation

Overview

This is the main package for the `packer` application.

Directories

Path Synopsis
builder
amazonebs
The amazonebs package contains a packer.Builder implementation that builds AMIs for Amazon EC2.
The amazonebs package contains a packer.Builder implementation that builds AMIs for Amazon EC2.
command
communicator
ssh
The packer package contains the core components of Packer.
The packer package contains the core components of Packer.
plugin
The plugin package provides the functionality to both expose a Packer plugin binary and to connect to an existing Packer plugin binary.
The plugin package provides the functionality to both expose a Packer plugin binary and to connect to an existing Packer plugin binary.
rpc
plugin
post-processor
vagrant
vagrant implements the packer.PostProcessor interface and adds a post-processor that turns artifacts of known builders into Vagrant boxes.
vagrant implements the packer.PostProcessor interface and adds a post-processor that turns artifacts of known builders into Vagrant boxes.
provisioner
shell
This package implements a provisioner for Packer that executes shell scripts within the remote machine.
This package implements a provisioner for Packer that executes shell scripts within the remote machine.

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