Re: debian ova instance generator

[Thomas Goirand <zigo@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/06/2013 09:54 PM, heroxbd@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Dear fellows,
> 
> This is a simple Makefile which generates ova[1] of customized debian,
> inpired by an ova build script of sagemath[2], and a guide from
> archlinux[5].
> 
> It is a by-product of AireLinux[3], a customized Debian for
> astrophysics. 
> 
> It basically creates a hdd image with debian debootstrapped and
> additional packages installed, and then calls virtualbox to generate the
> ova from the hdd image.
> 
> Why not automated d-i in a virtual machine(vm)? vm overhead can be
> avoided using kpartx and chroot, resulting in faster image
> build. Furthermore, commands in chroot can be controled from the
> building host (e.g. the file dependences by Makefile, while d-i has
> another command context inside virtual machine.
> 
> Why not Debian Live[4]? While strong in creating iso and squashfs
> automagically, it is not mature in creating a plain simple hdd image
> (not to mention a grub2 powered hdd image).
> 
> Future versions are tracked in the repo[6].
> 
> Enjoy!
> Benda

Hi Benda!

Nice to read you again! :)

Instead of this, would you be able to contribute to my
"openstack-debian-images" package, available in Sid, Jessie and
Wheezy-backports?

Cheers,

Thomas

P.S: Hardcoding the Tsinghua mirror doesn't sound like a great idea! :)