From fb70442687dd6fdee9b9488efac545649237614c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Aaron Bull Schaefer Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 22:37:07 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add README with project details --- README.md | 71 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 71 insertions(+) create mode 100644 README.md diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58952d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,71 @@ +Packer Arch +=========== + +Packer Arch is a bare bones [Packer](http://www.packer.io/) template and +installation script that can be used to generate a [Vagrant](http://www.vagrantup.com/) +base box for [Arch Linux](https://www.archlinux.org/). The template was +designed specifically for use with the [VMware provider](http://www.vagrantup.com/vmware), +although it shouldn't need too much tweaking to generate a VirtualBox VM. + +Overview +-------- + +My goal was to roughly duplicate the attributes from a +[DigitalOcean](https://www.digitalocean.com/) Arch Linux droplet: + +* 64-bit +* 20 GB Disk +* 512 MB Memory +* Only a single /root partition +* No swap +* Includes the `base` and `base-devel` package groups +* OpenSSH is also installed and enabled on boot + +The installation script follows the +[official installation guide](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_Guide) +pretty closely, with a few tweaks to ensure functionality within a VM. Beyond +that, the only customizations to the machine are related to the vagrant user +and the steps recommended for any base box. + +Usage +----- + +Assuming that you already have Packer, Vmware Fusion (or VMware Workstation), +and Vagrant with the VMware provider installed, you should be good to clone +this repo and go: + + $ git clone https://github.com/elasticdog/packer-arch.git + $ cd packer-arch/ + $ packer build arch-template.json + +Then you can import the generated box into Vagrant: + + $ vagrant box add arch packer_vmware_vmware.box + +Known Issues +------------ + +The official VMware Tools do not currently support Arch Linux, and the +[Open Virtual Machine Tools](http://open-vm-tools.sourceforge.net/) +(open-vm-tools) require extensive patching in order to compile correctly +with a Linux 3.10 series kernel. Thus, for the time being, I have not +included support for the tools, which means that the shared folder feature +will not work. + +When you run `vagrant up` to launch a VM based on this box, you will see the +following error message (which is safe to ignore): + +> The HGFS kernel module was not found on the running virtual machine. +> This must be installed for shared folders to work properly. Please +> install the VMware tools within the guest and try again. Note that +> the VMware tools installation will succeed even if HGFS fails +> to properly install. Carefully read the output of the VMware tools +> installation to verify the HGFS kernel modules were installed properly. + +License +------- + +Packer Arch is provided under the terms of the +[ISC License](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISC_license). + +Copyright © 2013, [Aaron Bull Schaefer](mailto:aaron@elasticdog.com).