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layout	sidebar_current	page_title	description
intro	intro-getting-started-install	Install Packer - Getting Started	Packer must first be installed on the machine you want to run it on. To make installation easier, Packer is distributed as a binary package for all supported platforms and architectures. This page will not cover how to compile Packer from source, as that is covered in the README and is only recommended for advanced users.

Install Options

Packer may be installed in the following ways:

Using a precompiled binary; We release binaries for all supported platforms and architectures. This method is recommended for most users.
Installing from source This method is only recommended for advanced users.
An unoffical alternative installation method

Precompiled Binaries

To install the precompiled binary, download the appropriate package for your system. Packer is currently packaged as a zip file. We do not have any near term plans to provide system packages.

Next, unzip the downloaded package into a directory where Packer will be installed. On Unix systems, ~/packer or /usr/local/packer is generally good, depending on whether you want to restrict the install to just your user or install it system-wide. If you intend to access it from the command-line, make sure to place it somewhere on your PATH before /usr/sbin. On Windows systems, you can put it wherever you'd like. The packer (or packer.exe for Windows) binary inside is all that is necessary to run Packer. Any additional files aren't required to run Packer.

After unzipping the package, the directory should contain a single binary program called packer. The final step to installation is to make sure the directory you installed Packer to is on the PATH. See this page for instructions on setting the PATH on Linux and Mac. This page contains instructions for setting the PATH on Windows.

Compiling from Source

To compile from source, you will need Go installed and configured properly as well as a copy of git in your PATH.

Clone the Packer repository from GitHub into your GOPATH:

$ mkdir -p $(go env GOPATH)/src/github.com/hashicorp && cd $_
$ git clone https://github.com/hashicorp/packer.git
$ cd packer

Build Packer for your current system and put the binary in ./bin/ (relative to the git checkout). The make dev target is just a shortcut that builds packer for only your local build environment (no cross-compiled targets).
```
$ make dev
```

Verifying the Installation

After installing Packer, verify the installation worked by opening a new command prompt or console, and checking that packer is available:

$ packer
usage: packer [--version] [--help] <command> [<args>]

Available commands are:
    build       build image(s) from template
    fix         fixes templates from old versions of packer
    inspect     see components of a template
    push        push template files to a Packer build service
    validate    check that a template is valid
    version     Prints the Packer version

If you get an error that packer could not be found, then your PATH environment variable was not setup properly. Please go back and ensure that your PATH variable contains the directory which has Packer installed.

Otherwise, Packer is installed and you're ready to go!

Alternative Installation Methods

While the binary packages is the only official method of installation, there are alternatives available.

Homebrew

If you're using OS X and Homebrew, you can install Packer by running:

$ brew install packer

Chocolatey

If you're using Windows and Chocolatey, you can install Packer by running:

choco install packer

Troubleshooting

On some RedHat-based Linux distributions there is another tool named packer installed by default. You can check for this using which -a packer. If you get an error like this it indicates there is a name conflict.

$ packer
/usr/share/cracklib/pw_dict.pwd: Permission denied
/usr/share/cracklib/pw_dict: Permission denied

To fix this, you can create a symlink to packer that uses a different name like packer.io, or invoke the packer binary you want using its absolute path, e.g. /usr/local/packer.

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