vm-builder

[Scott Moser]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013, Serge Hallyn wrote:

> Quoting cdmiller (cdmiller at adams.edu):
> > On 12/10/2013 10:13 AM, Serge Hallyn wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Years ago it was decided that vm-builder would be deprecated in favor
> > > of alternatives (cloud images, live-build, and some others).  This was
> > > dicussed at at least two separate physical UDSes.  However, it was
> > > never actually dropped from the archive.  As a result people kept
> > > using it despite it being considered deprecated and no longer
> > > maintained.  This is resulting in people losing data and time, i.e.
> > > https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vm-builder/+bug/1090223
> > >
> > > I intend to open a bug to ask that it be removed from the archive
> > > for trusty.  If anyone objects, please reply here.
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > > -serge
> > >
> >
> > Could you please provide any more alternatives to explore alongside the
> > cloud images and live-build mentioned for us behind the times vmbuilder
> > users.  Another I can think of immediately is cobbler, anything else to
> > consider?
>
> At UDS Copenhagen, oz was mentioned as a promising alternative which
> wraps the Ubuntu installer.  See
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/servercloud-r-vmbuilder
> and
> http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-r/meeting/21093/servercloud-r-vmbuilder/
>
> I've personally not used it, and doesn't even seem to be packaged.  IIRC
> Scott was the one who had mentioned it.  Scott have you used oz at all?

oz is at https://github.com/clalancette/oz/wiki

I've not used it personally. I really like the way that it is designed,
and there is even support for driving oz installs through openstack at
http://imgfac.org/

Generally, I don't think people should build images of operating systems.
We do that for them.  RH and fedora do that for them too.

I view ubuntu image build similar to how I view building eglibc, python,
or the linux kernel. You can do it if you want to, but unless you're
interested in just learning or *really* know what you're doing, I think
you're probably wasting your time.

Don't flame me. I agree there are people who have perfectly valid reasons
for doing each of the things listed above.  But I think thats
significantly fewer people than those who do them.