Lucas Bajolet
479ca07324
When outputting the data from the provisioner so Packer can consume it, we are writing to a file. The only constraints on this file are that Packer manages its lifecycle, and that Packer core and the provisioner are synced-up in terms of the contents and the structure of the file. Since we are outputting the file, and its format, we can bundle the two together, and export them under a structure that both the provisioner and Packer core have access to, so we can then fill-in the blanks, and write a serialised version of this structure to disk. This is the approach taken in this commit. First we clean-up the existing code a bit, since some abstractions were a bit hasty, and did not necessarily make sense in all cases, so the code is consolidated under `Provision`, and we use that structure then to fill-in the relevant information before serialising it to JSON and writing it in the output file provided by Packer core.
Packer
Packer is a tool for building identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration.
Packer is lightweight, runs on every major operating system, and is highly performant, creating machine images for multiple platforms in parallel. Packer supports various platforms through external plugin integrations, the full list of which can be found at https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/integrations.
The images that Packer creates can easily be turned into Vagrant boxes.
Quick Start
Packer
There is a great introduction and getting started guide for building a Docker image on your local machine without using any paid cloud resources.
Alternatively, you can refer to getting started with AWS to learn how to build a machine image for an external cloud provider.
HCP Packer
HCP Packer registry stores Packer image metadata, enabling you to track your image lifecycle.
To get started with building an AWS machine image to HCP Packer for referencing in Terraform refer to the collection of HCP Packer Tutorials.
Documentation
Comprehensive documentation is viewable on the Packer website at https://developer.hashicorp.com/packer/docs.
Contributing to Packer
See CONTRIBUTING.md for best practices and instructions on setting up your development environment to work on Packer.
Unmaintained Plugins
As contributors' circumstances change, development on a community maintained plugin can slow. When this happens, HashiCorp may use GitHub's option to archive the plugin’s repository, to clearly signal the plugin's status to users.
What does unmaintained mean?
- The code repository and all commit history will still be available.
- Documentation will remain on the Packer website.
- Issues and pull requests are monitored as a best effort.
- No active development will be performed by HashiCorp.
If you are interested in maintaining an unmaintained or archived plugin, please reach out to us at [email protected].