mmdebstrap

creates Debian chroots from one or more mirrors

TLDR

Create a Debian Stable directory chroot

$ sudo mmdebstrap stable [path/to/debian-root]/

Create a Debian Bookworm tarball chroot using a mirror

$ mmdebstrap bookworm [path/to/debian-bookworm.tar] [http://mirror.example.org/debian]

Create a Debian Sid tarball with additional packages

$ mmdebstrap sid [path/to/debian-sid.tar] --include=[pkg1,pkg2]

Create chroot using user namespaces (no root required)

$ mmdebstrap --mode=unshare stable [path/to/debian.tar]

Create minimal chroot with essential packages only

$ mmdebstrap --variant=essential stable [path/to/minimal.tar]

Simulate without downloading or installing

$ mmdebstrap --simulate stable

SYNOPSIS

mmdebstrap [options] [suite [target [mirror...]]]

mmdebstrap creates Debian chroots from one or more mirrors. It is an alternative to debootstrap that uses apt for dependency resolution, supports multiple mirrors simultaneously, and can operate without root privileges using user namespaces.
The suite can be a codename (bookworm, sid) or symbolic name (stable, unstable). The target can be a directory, tarball, squashfs image, ext2/ext4 image, or stdout. Output format is auto-detected from file extension.

PARAMETERS

--mode _name_

Operation mode: auto, sudo, root, unshare, fakeroot, fakechroot, chrootless

--format _name_

Output format: auto, directory, tar, squashfs, ext2, ext4, null

--variant _name_

Package set: extract, custom, essential, apt, required, minbase, buildd, important, standard

--include _packages_

Additional packages to install (comma-separated)

--components _list_

Repository components: main, contrib, non-free

--architectures _list_

Supported architectures (native and foreign)

--keyring _file_

GPG keyring for signature verification

--aptopt _option_

Pass options to apt

--dpkgopt _option_

Pass options to dpkg

--setup-hook _cmd_

Command to run after initial setup

--customize-hook _cmd_

Command to run after packages installed

--hook-directory _dir_

Execute hook scripts from directory

--simulate, --dry-run

Test without downloading or installing

-q, --quiet

Suppress output

-v, --verbose

Show detailed output

CAVEATS

The chrootless mode can modify the host system if used with unsupported packages. The unshare mode creates files with seemingly incorrect ownership outside the namespace; requires proper /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid configuration. Only works with apt-based distributions.

HISTORY

mmdebstrap was developed by Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues as a faster, more flexible alternative to debootstrap. It supports reproducible builds when SOURCEDATEEPOCH is set and can be approximately twice as fast as debootstrap.