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=head1 NAME

virt-builder-repository - Build virt-builder source repository easily

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 virt-builder-repository /path/to/repository
    [-i|--interactive] [--gpg-key KEYID]

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Virt-builder is a tool for quickly building new virtual machines. It can
be configured to use template repositories. However creating and
maintaining a repository involves many tasks which can be automated.
virt-builder-repository is a tool helping to manage these repositories.

Virt-builder-repository loops over the files in the directory specified
as argument, compresses the files with a name ending by C<qcow2>, C<raw>,
C<img> or without extension, extracts data from them and creates or
updates the C<index> file.

Some of the image-related data needed for the index file can’t be
computed from the image file. virt-builder-repository first tries to
find them in the existing index file. If data are still missing after
this, they are prompted in interactive mode, otherwise an error will
be triggered.

If a C<KEYID> is provided, the generated index file will be signed
with this GPG key.

=head1 EXAMPLES

=head2 Create the initial repository

Create a folder and copy the disk image template files in it. Then
run a command like the following one:

 virt-builder-repository --gpg-key "joe@hacker.org" -i /path/to/folder

Note that this example command runs in interactive mode. To run in
automated mode, a minimal index file needs to be created before running
the command containing sections like this one:

 [template_id]
 file=template_filename.qcow.xz

The file value needs to match the image name extended with the C<.xz>
suffix if the I<--no-compression> parameter is not provided or the
image name if no compression is involved. Other optional data can be
prefilled. Default values are computed by inspecting the disk image.
For more informations, see
L<virt-builder(1)/Creating and signing the index file>.

=head2 Update images in an existing repository

In this use case, a new image or a new revision of an existing image
needs to be added to the repository. Place the corresponding image
template files in the repository folder.

To update the revision of an image, the file needs to have the same
name than the existing one (without the C<xz> extension).

As in the repository creation use case, a minimal fragment can be
added to the index file for the automated mode. This can be done
on the signed index even if it may sound a strange idea: the index
will be signed again by the tool.

To remove an image from the repository, just remove the corresponding
image file before running virt-builder-repository.

Then running the following command will complete and update the index
file:

 virt-builder-repository --gpg-key "joe@hacker.org" -i /path/to/folder

virt-builder-repository works in a temporary folder inside the repository
one. If anything wrong happens when running the tool, the repository is
left untouched.

=head1 OPTIONS

=over 4

=item B<--help>

Display help.

=item B<--gpg> GPG

Specify an alternate L<gpg(1)> (GNU Privacy Guard) binary.  You can
also use this to add gpg parameters, for example to specify an
alternate home directory:

 virt-builder-repository --gpg "gpg --homedir /tmp" [...]

This can also be used to avoid gpg asking for the key passphrase:

 virt-builder-repository --gpg "gpg --passphrase-file /tmp/pass --batch" [...]

=item B<-K> KEYID

=item B<--gpg-key> KEYID

Specify the GPG key to be used to sign the repository index file.
If not provided, the index will left unsigned. C<KEYID> is used to
identify the GPG key to use. This value is passed to gpg’s
I<--default-key> option and can thus be an email address or a
fingerprint.

B<NOTE>: by default, virt-builder-repository searches for the key
in the user’s GPG keyring.

=item B<-i>

=item B<--interactive>

Prompt for missing data. Default values are computed from the disk
image.

When prompted for data, inputting C<-> corresponds to leaving the
value empty. This can be used to avoid setting the default computed value.

=item B<--no-compression>

Don’t compress the template images.

=item B<--machine-readable>

=item B<--machine-readable>=format

This option is used to make the output more machine friendly
when being parsed by other programs.  See
L</MACHINE READABLE OUTPUT> below.

=item B<--colors>

=item B<--colours>

Use ANSI colour sequences to colourize messages.  This is the default
when the output is a tty.  If the output of the program is redirected
to a file, ANSI colour sequences are disabled unless you use this
option.

=item B<-q>

=item B<--quiet>

Don’t print ordinary progress messages.

=item B<-v>

=item B<--verbose>

Enable debug messages and/or produce verbose output.

When reporting bugs, use this option and attach the complete output to
your bug report.

=item B<-V>

=item B<--version>

Display version number and exit.

=item B<--wrap>

Wrap error, warning, and informative messages.  This is the default
when the output is a tty.  If the output of the program is redirected
to a file, wrapping is disabled unless you use this option.

=item B<-x>

Enable tracing of libguestfs API calls.

=back

=head1 MACHINE READABLE OUTPUT

The I<--machine-readable> option can be used to make the output more
machine friendly, which is useful when calling virt-builder-repository from
other programs, GUIs etc.

Use the option on its own to query the capabilities of the
virt-builder-repository binary.  Typical output looks like this:

 $ virt-builder-repository --machine-readable
 virt-builder-repository

A list of features is printed, one per line, and the program exits
with status 0.

It is possible to specify a format string for controlling the output;
see L<guestfs(3)/ADVANCED MACHINE READABLE OUTPUT>.

=head1 EXIT STATUS

This program returns 0 if successful, or non-zero if there was an
error.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<virt-builder(1)>
L<http://libguestfs.org/>.

=head1 AUTHOR

Cédric Bosdonnat L<mailto:cbosdonnat@suse.com>

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2016-2025 SUSE Inc.
