75 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "intro"
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page_title: "Install Packer"
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prev_url: "/intro/platforms.html"
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next_url: "/intro/getting-started/build-image.html"
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next_title: "Build an Image"
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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 installation easy, 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.
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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.
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To make 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
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to 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)
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for 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
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or install it system-wide. On Windows systems, you can put it wherever you'd
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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
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to installation is to make sure the directory you installed Packer to
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is on the PATH. See [this 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.
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[This 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
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a new command 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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push push template files to a Packer build service
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validate check that a template is valid
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version Prints the Packer version
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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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environment variable was not setup properly. Please go back and ensure
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that 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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While the binary packages is the only official method of installation, there
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are alternatives available.
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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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