Installation

This guide describes how to install snf-image-creator on a Linux system. It is highly recommended to have virtualization capable hardware. snf-image-creator will work on processors that do not support virtualization but it will be slow.

Dependencies

snf-image-creator depends on the following programs:

The above dependencies are resolved differently, depending on the installation method you choose. There are two installation methods available:

  1. Installation using packages
  2. Installation from source

Install snf-image-creator using packages

Ubuntu

For Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 12.10 systems, you can use our official packages found in grnet/synnefo Lauchpad PPA.

Add the synnefo PPA in your system:

$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:grnet/synnefo
$ sudo apt-get update

If apt-add-repository is missing, first install:

software-properties-common (Ubuntu 12.10):

$ sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

Or python-software-properties (Ubuntu 12.04):

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

After the synnefo repository is set up, you should be able to list snf-image-creator by calling:

$ apt-cache showpkg snf-image-creator

Install the package by issuing:

$ sudo apt-get install snf-image-creator

Note

If you are asked during the installation to create/update a “supermin appliance”, choose “Yes”.

Warning

In Ubuntu 12.10 the current package of libguestfs (1.18-2) is broken. Take a look at the open bug report. Until version 1.18-2ubunut1 is out, you may workaround this problem by creating a symlink like this:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/guestfs /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/guestfs

Fedora

For Fedora 17 you can use our official packages hosted at the synnefo repository of the openSUSE Build Service.

Add the synnefo repository for Fedora 17 to yum:

$ cd /etc/yum.repos.d
$ wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/GRNET:/synnefo/Fedora_17/home:GRNET:synnefo.repo

To list the snf-image-creator package use the following command:

$ yum info snf-image-creator

Install the package by issuing:

$ yum install snf-image-creator

CentOS

For CentOS 6 you can use our official packages hosted at the synnefo repository of the openSUSE Build Service.

Add the synnefo repository for CentOS 6 to the yum repositories list:

$ cd /etc/yum.repos.d
$ wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/GRNET:/synnefo/CentOS_CentOS-6/home:GRNET:synnefo.repo

Check the Fedora instructions on how to install the software.

Arch Linux

For Arch Linux there are unofficial packages in AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/snf-image-creator/ kindly provided by Axilleas Pipinellis <axilleas@archlinux.info>.

Note

Those packages are not maintained by the Synnefo development team.

Please direct package-specific questions to Axilleas Pipinellis <axilleas@archlinux.info>, Cc: the Synnefo development team <synnefo-devel@googlegroups.com>

To install the package you may use yaourt. Create and install the yaourt package:

$ wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pa/package-query/package-query.tar.gz
$ tar -xvf package-query.tar.gz
$ cd package-query
$ makepkg -s
$ pacman -U package-query-<VERSION>-<ARCH>.pkg.tar.xz
$ cd ..
$ wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ya/yaourt/yaourt.tar.gz
$ tar -xvf yaourt.tar.gz
$ cd yaourt
$ makepkg -s
$ pacman -U yaourt-<VERSION>-<ARCH>.pkg.tar.xz

Install snf-image-creator using yaourt:

$ yaourt -Sa snf-image-creator

Install snf-image-creator from source

Manually install the following dependencies:

In Ubuntu you can do this using:

$ sudo apt-get install python-setuptools python-guestfs python-dialog \
  python-sendfile python-parted rsync

If you are using Ubuntu 12.10 you also need to install libguestfs-tools:

$ sudo apt-get install libguestfs-tools

Note

If you are asked during the installation to create/update a “supermin appliance”, choose “Yes”.

Python Virtual Environment

Since snf-image-creator and the rest of its dependencies won’t be installed using packages, it’s better to work in an isolated python virtual environment (virtualenv).

Install the Virtual Python Environment builder: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv.

For Ubuntu use the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install python-virtualenv

Then create a new python virtual environment:

$ virtualenv --system-site-packages ~/image-creator-env

and activate it by executing:

$ source ~/image-creator-env/bin/activate

You may later deactivate it using:

$ deactivate

kamaki Installation

Refer to ./kamaki documentation for instructions. You may install kamaki from source inside the virtualenv you’ve created above or by using binary packages if they are available for your distribution.

snf-image-creator Installation

Download the latest snf-image-creator source package from here and install it inside the virtualenv using the following commands:

$ tar -xf snf_image_creator-<VERSION>.tar.gz
$ cd snf_image_creator-<VERSION>
$ python ./setup.py install

Alternatively, you can install the bleeding edge version of the software by cloning its git repository:

$ git clone https://code.grnet.gr/git/snf-image-creator
$ cd snf-image-creator
$ python ./setup.py install

To do the latter, you’ll need to have git (http://git-scm.com/) installed. For ubuntu this can be done using:

$ sudo apt-get install git

Warning

Keep in mind that the bleeding edge version may be unstable or even unusable.