github.com/ttysteale/packer@v0.8.2-0.20150708160520-e5f8ea386ed8/README.md (about) 1 # Packer 2 3 [](https://travis-ci.org/mitchellh/packer) 4 [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/hashicorp/packer) 5 6 * Website: http://www.packer.io 7 * IRC: `#packer-tool` on Freenode 8 * Mailing list: [Google Groups](http://groups.google.com/group/packer-tool) 9 10 Packer is a tool for building identical machine images for multiple platforms 11 from a single source configuration. 12 13 Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly 14 performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in parallel. 15 Packer comes out of the box with support for the following platforms: 16 * Amazon EC2 (AMI). Both EBS-backed and instance-store AMIs 17 * DigitalOcean 18 * Docker 19 * Google Compute Engine 20 * OpenStack 21 * Parallels 22 * QEMU. Both KVM and Xen images. 23 * VirtualBox 24 * VMware 25 26 Support for other platforms can be added via plugins. 27 28 The images that Packer creates can easily be turned into 29 [Vagrant](http://www.vagrantup.com) boxes. 30 31 ## Quick Start 32 33 **Note:** There is a great 34 [introduction and getting started guide](http://www.packer.io/intro) 35 for those with a bit more patience. Otherwise, the quick start below 36 will get you up and running quickly, at the sacrifice of not explaining some 37 key points. 38 39 First, [download a pre-built Packer binary](http://www.packer.io/downloads.html) 40 for your operating system or [compile Packer yourself](#developing-packer). 41 42 After Packer is installed, create your first template, which tells Packer 43 what platforms to build images for and how you want to build them. In our 44 case, we'll create a simple AMI that has Redis pre-installed. Save this 45 file as `quick-start.json`. Be sure to replace any credentials with your 46 own. 47 48 ```json 49 { 50 "builders": [{ 51 "type": "amazon-ebs", 52 "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE", 53 "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE", 54 "region": "us-east-1", 55 "source_ami": "ami-de0d9eb7", 56 "instance_type": "t1.micro", 57 "ssh_username": "ubuntu", 58 "ami_name": "packer-example {{timestamp}}" 59 }] 60 } 61 ``` 62 63 Next, tell Packer to build the image: 64 65 ``` 66 $ packer build quick-start.json 67 ... 68 ``` 69 70 Packer will build an AMI according to the "quick-start" template. The AMI 71 will be available in your AWS account. To delete the AMI, you must manually 72 delete it using the [AWS console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/). Packer 73 builds your images, it does not manage their lifecycle. Where they go, how 74 they're run, etc. is up to you. 75 76 ## Documentation 77 78 Full, comprehensive documentation is viewable on the Packer website: 79 80 http://www.packer.io/docs 81 82 ## Developing Packer 83 84 If you wish to work on Packer itself or any of its built-in providers, 85 you'll first need [Go](http://www.golang.org) installed (version 1.4+ is 86 _required_). Make sure Go is properly installed, including setting up 87 a [GOPATH](http://golang.org/doc/code.html#GOPATH). 88 89 Next, install the following software packages, which are needed for some dependencies: 90 91 - [Bazaar](http://bazaar.canonical.com/en/) 92 - [Git](http://git-scm.com/) 93 - [Mercurial](http://mercurial.selenic.com/) 94 95 Then, install [Gox](https://github.com/mitchellh/gox), which is used 96 as a compilation tool on top of Go: 97 98 $ go get -u github.com/mitchellh/gox 99 100 Next, clone this repository into `$GOPATH/src/github.com/mitchellh/packer`. 101 Install the necessary dependencies by running `make updatedeps` and then just 102 type `make`. This will compile some more dependencies and then run the tests. If 103 this exits with exit status 0, then everything is working! 104 105 $ make updatedeps 106 ... 107 $ make 108 ... 109 110 To compile a development version of Packer and the built-in plugins, 111 run `make dev`. This will put Packer binaries in the `bin` folder: 112 113 $ make dev 114 ... 115 $ bin/packer 116 ... 117 118 119 If you're developing a specific package, you can run tests for just that 120 package by specifying the `TEST` variable. For example below, only 121 `packer` package tests will be run. 122 123 $ make test TEST=./packer 124 ... 125 126 ### Acceptance Tests 127 128 Packer has comprehensive [acceptance tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing) 129 covering the builders of Packer. 130 131 If you're working on a feature of a builder or a new builder and want 132 verify it is functioning (and also hasn't broken anything else), we recommend 133 running the acceptance tests. 134 135 **Warning:** The acceptance tests create/destroy/modify *real resources*, which 136 may incur real costs in some cases. In the presence of a bug, it is technically 137 possible that broken backends could leave dangling data behind. Therefore, 138 please run the acceptance tests at your own risk. At the very least, 139 we recommend running them in their own private account for whatever builder 140 you're testing. 141 142 To run the acceptance tests, invoke `make testacc`: 143 144 ```sh 145 $ make testacc TEST=./builder/amazon/ebs 146 ... 147 ``` 148 149 The `TEST` variable is required, and you should specify the folder where the 150 backend is. The `TESTARGS` variable is recommended to filter down to a specific 151 resource to test, since testing all of them at once can sometimes take a very 152 long time. 153 154 Acceptance tests typically require other environment variables to be set for 155 things such as access keys. The test itself should error early and tell 156 you what to set, so it is not documented here.