Caution

FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE onwards is failing to build on VirtualBox.

packer-FreeBSD

This repository contains the necessary tools to build a Vagrant-ready FreeBSD virtual machine using Packer.

Tip

There are official FreeBSD VMs available from the Vagrant Cloud.

Prerequisites

• Packer

• Vagrant

• Parallels, QEMU, VirtualBox or VMWare Fusion

Instructions

To create a box:

1. Clone this repository:

   $ git clone https://github.com/jlduran/packer-FreeBSD.git
   $ cd packer-FreeBSD

2. Initialize packer:

   $ packer init .

3. Build the box (virtualbox-iso.freebsd or qemu.freebsd):

   $ packer build -only=virtualbox-iso.freebsd .

4. Add it to the list of Vagrant boxes. See Handling .iso and .box files for more information.

   $ vagrant box add builds/FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-amd64.box --name FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-amd64

Sample Vagrantbox file

servers = [
  { name: 'www.local', cpus: 2, memory: 1024 },
  { name: 'db.local', cpus: 1, memory: 2048 }
]

script = <<-SCRIPT
  sed -i '' "s/Vagrant/$(hostname -s)/g" /usr/local/etc/mDNSResponderServices.conf
  service mdnsresponderposix restart
SCRIPT

ansible_raw_arguments = []

Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
  servers.each do |server|
    config.vm.define server[:name] do |box|
      box.vm.box      = 'FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-amd64'
      box.vm.hostname = server[:name]
      box.vm.provider 'virtualbox' do |v|
        v.default_nic_type       = 'virtio'
        v.linked_clone           = true
        v.name, v.cpus, v.memory = server.values_at(:name, :cpus, :memory)
      end

      if server == servers.last
        box.vm.provision 'ansible' do |ansible|
          ansible.compatibility_mode = '2.0'
          ansible.limit              = 'all'
          ansible.playbook           = 'site.yml'
          ansible.inventory_path     = 'local'
          ansible.raw_arguments      = ansible_raw_arguments
        end
      else
        ansible_raw_arguments << private_key_path(server[:name])
      end
    end
  end

  config.vm.provision 'shell', inline: script
end

def private_key_path(server_name)
  provider = ENV['VAGRANT_DEFAULT_PROVIDER'] || 'virtualbox'
  vagrant_dotfile_path = ENV['VAGRANT_DOTFILE_PATH'] || '.vagrant'

  "--private-key=#{vagrant_dotfile_path}/machines/#{server_name}/" \
    "#{provider}/private_key"
end

---

Build Options

Below is a sample variables.pkrvars.hcl file:

arch            = "amd64"
branch          = "RELEASE"
build_date      = ""
cpus            = 1
directory       = "releases"
disk_size       = 10240
filesystem      = "zfs"
zfs_compression = "zstd"
git_commit      = ""
guest_os_type   = "FreeBSD_64"
memory          = 1024
mirror          = "https://download.freebsd.org"
rc_conf_file    = ""
revision        = "14.3"

The following variables can be set:

• cpus is the number of CPUs assigned. Default: 1

• disk_size is the HDD size in megabytes. Default: 10240

• memory is the amount of RAM in megabytes assigned. Default: 1024

• revision is the FreeBSD revision number. Default: 14.3

• branch used in conjunction with build_date, git_commit and directory. Default: RELEASE

  See FreeBSD's Release Branches for more information. Possible values are:

  Branch	Directory
  CURRENT	snapshots
  STABLE	snapshots
  ALPHA1, ALPHA2, …	snapshots
  PRERELEASE	snapshots
  BETA1, BETA2, …	releases
  RC1, RC2, …	releases
  RELEASE	releases

• arch is the target architecture (i386 or amd64). Default: amd64

• guest_os_type (VirtualBox) used in conjunction with arch (FreeBSD or FreeBSD_64). See packer's documentation. Default: FreeBSD_64

• filesystem is the file system type (ufs or zfs). Default: zfs

• zfs_compression is the ZFS compression algorithm (zstd or lz4). Default: zstd

• mirror is the preferred FreeBSD mirror. Default: https://download.freebsd.org

• rc_conf_file is the file where rc.conf parameters are stored. Default: empty . Possible values are:

  Value	File
  	/etc/rc.conf
  local	/etc/rc.conf.local (Its use is discouraged)
  vendor	/etc/defaults/vendor.conf
  name	(/usr/local)/etc/rc.conf.d/<name>

Create a variables.pkrvars.hcl file overriding the default values, and invoke:

$ packer build -var-file="variables.pkrvars.hcl" .

You can also select which components you wish to install. By default, it runs the following provisioning scripts:

Name	Description
update	Updates to the latest patch level (if applicable) and the latest packages
vagrant	Vagrant-related configuration
zeroconf	Enables zero-configuration networking
ansible	Installs python and CA Root certificates
vmtools	Virtual Machine-specific utilities
cleanup	Cleanup script (must be called last)

The following scripts are also available:

Name	Description
cloud-init	Installs cloud-init
hardening	Provides basic hardening options
ports	Installs the FreeBSD ports tree

Handling .iso and .box files

Packer will automatically download the .iso image if it does not find the right one under the iso directory. Optionally, you can download the .iso image and save it to the iso directory.

.box files will be created under the builds directory.