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Installation

Quick Install

pip install osimager

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8+
  • HashiCorp Packer -- install instructions
  • mkisofs -- used by Packer to create the CD that carries the answer file. OSImager requires it only for builds whose builder uses cd_files (the ISO platforms); cloud builds don't need it

Ansible is installed automatically as a dependency of the osimager pip package. Specs that set an ansible_version run post-install configuration from a dedicated virtual environment instead; see Ansible Versions.

Packer Plugins

OSImager requires Packer plugins for both the Ansible provisioner and each platform's builder. Install all of them at once:

mkosimage --init-plugins

This reads the plugin key from each platform configuration file and runs packer plugins install for each one, plus the Ansible provisioner plugin (github.com/hashicorp/ansible). It runs the install for every plugin each time, whether or not it is already installed, and reports any that fail.

Ansible Versions

A spec's ansible_version (e.g. "2.18") names the Ansible its post-install configuration needs. mkosimage activates <venv_dir>/<version> before running Packer (default ~/.local/share/osimager/venvs/, override with the OSIMAGER_VENV_DIR environment variable), and stops with error: post-install requires Ansible <version> if that venv is missing, unless --skip is given. Create the venvs with mkvenv:

mkvenv              # show which venvs the specs need and which are installed
mkvenv 2.18         # create one
mkvenv --all        # create every missing venv the specs need

For each Ansible version, ansible.json gives the package name, the Python version range and any prerequisite packages. mkvenv looks for a matching interpreter on your PATH, creates the venv (with virtualenv for Python 2, installing it with that interpreter's pip if needed), and installs the package.

Legacy Ansible for Older OSes

Some older OS specs (e.g. RHEL 5 and 6, Fedora 7-20) need Ansible 2.3 or 2.9, which only run under Python 2. mkvenv looks for python2.7, python2.6 or python2 on your PATH for these.

Building Python 2.7

If your system doesn't have Python 2.7 installed, build it from source:

# Dependencies
apt install libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libffi-dev default-libmysqlclient-dev

cd /usr/src
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.18/Python-2.7.18.tgz
tar xzf Python-2.7.18.tgz
cd Python-2.7.18
./configure -prefix=/usr --enable-optimizations --with-ensurepip=install
make -j 8 altinstall
python2.7 -m pip install --upgrade pip

If pip2 is not installed:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python2.7 get-pip.py

Legacy VMware Tools

Legacy vmtools can be downloaded directly from Broadcom. Search for "legacy vmtools".

Verification

mkosimage --version