HashiCrop packer Template of Debian 12 (bookworm)

This repo contains a packer template for building a Vagrant Base Box of Debian 12.5 (aka bookworm).

You can also find these boxes on Vagrant cloud:

• vagrantup.com/aphorise/boxes/debian12

For ARM64 / AARCH64 builds used on AppleSilicon (M1-M3) see: github.com/aphorise/hashicorp.packer-arm64-debian12-bookworm.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you already have the following applications installed & working:

• Virtualbox
• Virtualbox Guest Additions (VBox GA)

• MacOS (aka OSX) - VirtualBox 6.x+ is expected to be shipped with the related .iso present under (eg): /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso You may however need to download the .iso specific to your version (mount it) and execute the VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg

• Vagrant
• Packer

Usage

1. Set "iso_checksum": "sha512:..." getting the required SUM via the version specific URL & SHASUM path eg:

   • https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/ :warning: 12.5.0 ⚠️ /amd64/iso-cd/SHA512SUMS

2. Make all changes as required (eg: d-i mirror/country string Netherlands in ui-input.http/pressed_debian12-bookworm.cfg) and thereafter commence with build using packer CLI:

   packer validate debian12-bookworm.json && \
   # if output: Template validated successfully. \
   packer build debian12-bookworm.json

3. Add Box & Test using Vagrant when box is produced:

   vagrant box add --name debian_x86-64 vbox-debian-x86_64-12.5.0.box ;
   vagrant init debian_x86-64 ;
   vagrant up ;
   # // when done:
   vagrant destroy -f && vagrant box remove debian_x86-64 ;

The resulting Vagrant Base *.box file will be produced in the root of the repository (where no issues / errors).

Last Run

  # Build 'virtualbox-iso.vbox-debian-x86_64-12.5.0' finished after 12 minutes 15 seconds.

date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' && uname -a && \
 vboxmanage --version && packer version && vagrant version ;
  # 2024-04-16 11:08:10
  # Linux ... 6.1.0-17-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.69-1 (2023-12-30) x86_64 GNU/Linux
  # 7.0.14r161095
  # Packer v1.10.2
  # Installed Version: 2.4.0
  # Latest Version: 2.4.1

Notes

Make adjustments to use appropriate mirrors (which are insecure ftp or http presently) where intended to extend to make proper use beyond a mere practise / training.

If your development & delivery resource specifications differ (eg - you'd like to use more resource locally) then then update (debian12-bookworm.json) by adding the below noted vboxmanage_post block (after: vboxmanage) within the builders section as well its related variables:

"variables":
{
    ...
 	"cpu_cores_delivery": "1",
	"memory_delivery": "1024",
    ...
},
"builders":
[{
    ...
	"vboxmanage_post":
	[
		[ "modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--memory", "{{user `memory_delivery`}}" ],
		[ "modifyvm", "{{.Name}}", "--cpus", "{{user `cpu_cores_delivery`}}" ]
	],
    ...
}],

Reference & Credits:

Accreditation due for material that are from other repo's which also worth referencing:

• deimosfr/packer-debian
• rgl/debian-vagrant

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