87 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
87 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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description: |
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Packer must first be installed on the machine you want to run it on. To make
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installation easy, Packer is distributed as a binary package for all supported
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platforms and architectures. This page will not cover how to compile Packer from
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source, as that is covered in the README and is only recommended for advanced
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users.
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layout: docs
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page_title: Install Packer
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...
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# Install Packer
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Packer must first be installed on the machine you want to run it on. To make
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installation easy, Packer is distributed as a [binary package](/downloads.html)
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for all supported platforms and architectures. This page will not cover how to
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compile Packer from source, as that is covered in the
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[README](https://github.com/mitchellh/packer/blob/master/README.md) and is only
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recommended for advanced users.
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## Installing Packer
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To install packer, first find the [appropriate package](/downloads.html) for
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your system and download it. Packer is packaged as a "zip" file.
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Next, unzip the downloaded package into a directory where Packer will be
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installed. On Unix systems, `~/packer` or `/usr/local/packer` is generally good,
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depending on whether you want to restrict the install to just your user or
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install it system-wide. On Windows systems, you can put it wherever you'd like.
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After unzipping the package, the directory should contain a set of binary
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programs, such as `packer`, `packer-build-amazon-ebs`, etc. The final step to
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installation is to make sure the directory you installed Packer to is on the
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PATH. See [this
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page](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14637979/how-to-permanently-set-path-on-linux)
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for instructions on setting the PATH on Linux and Mac. [This
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page](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1618280/where-can-i-set-path-to-make-exe-on-windows)
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contains instructions for setting the PATH on Windows.
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## Verifying the Installation
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After installing Packer, verify the installation worked by opening a new command
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prompt or console, and checking that `packer` is available:
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``` {.text}
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$ packer
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usage: packer [--version] [--help] <command> [<args>]
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Available commands are:
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build build image(s) from template
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fix fixes templates from old versions of packer
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inspect see components of a template
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validate check that a template is valid
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```
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If you get an error that `packer` could not be found, then your PATH
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environmental variable was not setup properly. Please go back and ensure that
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your PATH variable contains the directory which has Packer installed.
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Otherwise, Packer is installed and you're ready to go!
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## Alternative Installation Methods
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Installation from binary packages is currently the only officially supported
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installation method. The binary packages are guaranteed to be the latest
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available version and match the proper checksums. However, in addition to the
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official binaries, there are other unofficial 3rd party methods of installation
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managed by the Packer community:
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### Homebrew
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If you're using OS X and [Homebrew](http://brew.sh), you can install Packer:
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``` {.text}
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$ brew install packer
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```
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### Chocolatey
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If you're using Windows and [Chocolatey](http://chocolatey.org), you can install
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Packer from Windows command line (cmd). Remember that this is updated by a 3rd
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party, so it may not be the latest available version.
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``` {.text}
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$ choco install packer
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```
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