https://github.com/mitchellh/packer/issues/578

builder/amazon/common/run_config.go

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ type RunConfig struct {
 	SecurityGroupId          string   `mapstructure:"security_group_id"`
 	SecurityGroupIds         []string `mapstructure:"security_group_ids"`
 	SubnetId                 string   `mapstructure:"subnet_id"`
+	AssociatePublicIpAddress bool     `mapstructure:"associate_public_ip_address"`
 	TemporaryKeyPairName     string   `mapstructure:"temporary_key_pair_name"`
 	VpcId                    string   `mapstructure:"vpc_id"`
 	AvailabilityZone         string   `mapstructure:"availability_zone"`
@@ -85,15 +86,16 @@ func (c *RunConfig) Prepare(t *packer.ConfigTemplate) []error {
 	}
 
 	templates := map[string]*string{
-		"iam_instance_profile":    &c.IamInstanceProfile,
-		"instance_type":           &c.InstanceType,
-		"ssh_timeout":             &c.RawSSHTimeout,
-		"ssh_username":            &c.SSHUsername,
-		"source_ami":              &c.SourceAmi,
-		"subnet_id":               &c.SubnetId,
-		"temporary_key_pair_name": &c.TemporaryKeyPairName,
-		"vpc_id":                  &c.VpcId,
-		"availability_zone":       &c.AvailabilityZone,
+		"iam_instance_profile":        &cc.IamInstanceProfile,
+		"instance_type":               &cc.InstanceType,
+		"ssh_timeout":                 &cc.RawSSHTimeout,
+		"ssh_username":                &cc.SSHUsername,
+		"source_ami":                  &cc.SourceAmi,
+		"subnet_id":                   &cc.SubnetId,
+		"associate_public_ip_address": &cc.AssociatePublicIpAddress,
+		"temporary_key_pair_name":     &cc.TemporaryKeyPairName,
+		"vpc_id":                      &cc.VpcId,
+		"availability_zone":           &cc.AvailabilityZone,
 	}
 
 	for n, ptr := range templates {

builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ type StepRunSourceInstance struct {
 	SourceAMI                string
 	IamInstanceProfile       string
 	SubnetId                 string
+	AssociatePublicIpAddress bool
 	AvailabilityZone         string
 	BlockDevices             BlockDevices
 
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepActi
 		SecurityGroups:           securityGroups,
 		IamInstanceProfile:       s.IamInstanceProfile,
 		SubnetId:                 s.SubnetId,
+		AssociatePublicIpAddress: s.AssociatePublicIpAddress,
 		BlockDevices:             s.BlockDevices.BuildLaunchDevices(),
 		AvailZone:                s.AvailabilityZone,
 	}

builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go

@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) (packe
 			SourceAMI:                b.config.SourceAmi,
 			IamInstanceProfile:       b.config.IamInstanceProfile,
 			SubnetId:                 b.config.SubnetId,
+			AssociatePublicIpAddress: b.config.AssociatePublicIpAddress,
 			AvailabilityZone:         b.config.AvailabilityZone,
 			BlockDevices:             b.config.BlockDevices,
 		},

builder/amazon/instance/builder.go

@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) (packe
 			UserDataFile:             b.config.UserDataFile,
 			SourceAMI:                b.config.SourceAmi,
 			SubnetId:                 b.config.SubnetId,
+			AssociatePublicIpAddress: b.config.AssociatePublicIpAddress,
 			AvailabilityZone:         b.config.AvailabilityZone,
 			BlockDevices:             b.config.BlockDevices,
 		},