--- name: "sbuild-qemu-create" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "sbuild-qemu" version: "0.89.3+deb13u4" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/sbuild-qemu-create" --- # sbuild-qemu-create(1) QEMU image creator for sbuild ## NAME sbuild-qemu-create - QEMU image creator for sbuild ## SYNOPSIS **sbuild-qemu-create** \[**-h**\] \[**--arch=ARCH**\] \[**--install-packages=INSTALL\_PACKAGES\]** \[**--extra-deb=EXTRA\_DEB\]** \[**--components=COMPONENTS**\] \[**--skel=SKEL**\] \[**--authorized-keys=FILE**\] \[**--size=SIZE**\] \[**-o=OUT\_FILE**\] \[**--noexec**\] \[RELEASE\] \[MIRROR\] Build an image for use with **sbuild-qemu** and **autopkgtest**. **RELEASE** will be debootstrapped from **MIRROR**. This mirror will also be used for the *sources.list* file within the VM. See MIRROR below. Note that sbuild-qemu-create is just a simple wrapper around [autopkgtest-build-qemu(1)](/autopkgtest-build-qemu/1.md) that automates a few additional steps commonly performed for package-building images. ## OPTIONS - **-h**, **--help** Show this help message and exit. - **--arch**=ARCH Architecture to use. Default is the host architecture. Currently supported architectures are: amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el. - **--install-packages**=INSTALL\_PACKAGES Comma-separated list of additional packages to install using **apt-get install** from within the image. - **--extra-deb**=EXTRA\_DEB Package file (.deb) from the local filesystem to install. Can be specified more than once. - **--components**=COMPONENTS Comma-separated list of components to use with *sources.list* entries. Default: main. - **--skel**=SKEL Skeleton directory to use for */root*. - **--authorized-keys**=FILE Install this file as */root/.ssh/authorized\_keys* within the guest. This will automatically install the **openssh-server** package. This supersedes any copying of this file by the --skel option. - **--size**=SIZE Image size to use. Note that the images will be created in qcow2 format, so they won't consume that space right away. Default: 10G. - **-o**=OUT\_FILE, **--out-file**=OUT\_FILE Output filename. If not supplied, then DIST-autopkgtest-ARCH.img will be used. - **--noexec** Don't actually do anything. Just print the [autopkgtest-build-qemu(1)](/autopkgtest-build-qemu/1.md) command string that would be executed, and then exit. - **--boot**=auto,bios,efi,ieee1275,none How the image should boot. Default is BIOS on amd64 and i386, EFI on arm64 and armhf, and IEEE1275 on ppc64el. ## MIRROR It is **highly recommended** that you use an APT cache, like [approx(8)](/approx/8.md) or [apt-cacher-ng(8)](/apt-cacher-ng/8.md), on the **local** machine (so that the VM can access that cache without much hassle) as a mirror. This will dramatically speed up the package build process. On the author's local machine, installing the build dependencies of even larger packages takes only a few seconds. If you use a local cache, then ensure that the mirror is accessible from within the guest. Using *http://localhost:9999/debian* or similar will successfully build the image, but APT will fail within the running VM, because to the VM, \`\`localhost'' is something else. An easy workaround is to use an IP address instead, for example *http://192.168.0.123:9999/debian*, assuming the host system has the IP 192.168.0.123. ## SPECIAL CASES If **RELEASE** is **experimental**, *sources.list* will contain entries for both **experimental** and **unstable**. If **RELEASE** ends with **-backports**, *sources.list* will contain entries for both **RELEASE** and for the distribution it is based upon. In other words, specifying *bullseye-backports* will also add an entry for *bullseye*. ## SHARING FILES Among other things, [autopkgtest-virt-qemu(1)](/autopkgtest-virt-qemu/1.md) has built-in support for sharing a directory on the host with the guest, so no further configuration should be necessary when accessing the VM using autopkgtest. In additon to that, a mount point for a 9p filesystem is added to the VM's */etc/fstab*. This is for cases where the VM is launched via QEMU directly, rather than going through autopkgtest-virt-qemu. To share a directory on the host with the VM, QEMU should be started with the following additional options: **-virtfs local,path=/path/to/host/dir,id=sbuild-qemu,mount\_tag=sbuild-qemu,security\_model=none** ## TTY GEOMETRY **sbuild-qemu-creates a file** */etc/profile.d/sbuild-qemu-terminal-settings.sh* within the VM. This file reads terminal column and row geometry passed on through from the host, and sets the geometry within the guest using [stty(1)](/stty/1.md). ## EXAMPLES **$ sudo sbuild-qemu-create unstable http://deb.debian.org/debian** This will create an image **unstable-autopkgtest-amd64.img** (assuming that the host architecture is amd64) with the unstable distribution. **$ sudo sbuild-qemu-create bullseye-backports http://deb.debian.org/debian** This will create an image **bullseye-backports-autopkgtest-amd64.img**, with *sources.list* entries for both bullseye and bullseye-backports. **$ sudo sbuild-qemu-create --skel DIR unstable http://deb.debian.org/debian** The files in **DIR** will be copied into /root (that is, root's $HOME). This can be used, for example, to copy an **.ssh/authorized\_keys** file, so that one can connect to the running image using SSH (assuming openssh-server is installed). **$ sudo sbuild-qemu-create --install-packages openssh-server unstable http://deb.debian.org/debian** This would install openssh-server. The package will be downloaded in the target environment using 'apt-get'. A popular package to pre-install this way would be **debhelper**, as it is a build dependency of the vast majority of Debian packages. **$ sudo sbuild-qemu-create --extra-deb FOO.deb unstable http://deb.debian.org/debian** This would install the package **FOO.deb** from the local filesystem. Useful, for example, to install additional keyring packages. ## COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2020-2022 Christian Kastner \ ## SEE ALSO [**sbuild**(1)](/sbuild/1.md), [**sbuild-qemu**(1)](/sbuild-qemu/1.md), [**sbuild-qemu-update**(1)](/sbuild-qemu-update/1.md).