kiwi-ng

command-line tool for building Linux operating system images

TLDR

Build image from description

$ sudo kiwi-ng system build --description [path] --target-dir [output]

Build a specific profile and image type

$ sudo kiwi-ng --profile [name] --type [iso] system build --description [path] --target-dir [output]

Build with a replacement repository

$ sudo kiwi-ng system build --description [path] --set-repo [repo-url] --target-dir [output]

Build with an extra repository and package

$ sudo kiwi-ng system build --description [path] --add-repo [repo-url],rpm-md --add-package [package] --target-dir [output]

Prepare image root only

$ sudo kiwi-ng system prepare --description [path] --root [rootdir]

Create the image from a prepared root

$ sudo kiwi-ng system create --root [rootdir] --target-dir [output]

List profiles defined in a description

$ kiwi-ng image info --description [path] --list-profiles

List build results of the last build

$ kiwi-ng result list --target-dir [output]

SYNOPSIS

kiwi-ng [global options] image|result|system command [args...]

kiwi-ng is a command-line tool for building Linux operating system images. Supports various output formats including ISOs, virtual machine images, containers, and cloud images. Uses XML-based descriptions to define image configuration.A build runs in two steps: prepare installs packages into a new root tree, and create turns that tree into the output image. system build combines both. Runtime settings are read from /etc/kiwi.yml and ~/.config/kiwi/config.yml.

PARAMETERS

system build

Prepare the root tree and create the image in one step.

system prepare

Prepare the image root filesystem from the description.

system create

Create the output image from a prepared root tree.

system update

Update a previously prepared root tree.

image info

Show information about an image description, such as profiles or the resolved package list.

image resize

Resize a built disk image to a new size.

result list

List the files produced by the last build.

result bundle

Copy build results into a bundle directory with versioned file names.

--description path

Directory containing the kiwi XML description.

--target-dir path

Output directory for images.

--root path

Root tree directory for prepare and create.

--set-repo source[,type,alias,priority,...]

Replace the first repository of the description.

--add-repo source[,type,alias,priority,...]

Add a repository (repeatable).

--add-package name, --delete-package name

Add or remove a package from the image (repeatable).

--ignore-repos

Ignore all repositories from the description.

--clear-cache

Delete the repository cache before installing packages.

--allow-existing-root

Reuse an existing root directory from a previous build.

--profile name

Global option: select a profile from the description (repeatable).

--type type

Global option: select the image build type (e.g. iso, oem, kis).

--target-arch arch

Global option: build for a different architecture than the host.

--debug, --logfile file

Global options: print debug output, or write the log to a file (stdout for standard output).

CAVEATS

Global options such as --profile and --type must appear before the system, image or result command. Building usually requires root privileges and the package manager of the target distribution on the build host (or use system boxbuild to build inside a virtual machine).

HISTORY

KIWI was created at SUSE and is the image builder behind openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise images. The original Perl implementation was rewritten in Python as "KIWI Next Generation", which is why the command is named kiwi-ng. It is developed by the OSInside project.

RESOURCES

Source code · Documentation