.. _quick-start:

Quick Start
===========

.. note:: **Abstract**

   This document describes how to start working with {kiwi}, an OS appliance
   builder.
   This description applies for version |version|.

Before you start
----------------

1. Install {kiwi} first, either via your distributions' package manager (see
   :ref:`kiwi-installation`) or via:

   .. code:: bash

      $ pip install kiwi

2. Clone the repository containing example appliances (see
   :ref:`example-descriptions`):

   .. code:: bash

      $ git clone https://github.com/OSInside/kiwi-descriptions


Choose a First Image
--------------------

Take a look which images are available in the example appliances repository
and select one that matches your desired image as close as possible. Or
just use the one given in the examples below.


Build your First Image
----------------------

Your first image will be a simple system disk image which can run
in any full virtualization system like QEMU. Invoke the following {kiwi}
command in order to build it:

.. code:: bash

    $ sudo kiwi-ng --type vmx system build \
        --description kiwi-descriptions/suse/x86_64/{exc_description} \
        --target-dir /tmp/myimage

The resulting image will be placed into the folder :file:`/tmp/myimage`
with the suffix :file:`.raw`.

If you don't wish to create a openSUSE Leap {exc_os_version} image,
substitute the folder following the ``--description`` option with another
folder that contains the image description which you selected.


Run your Image
--------------

Running an image actually means booting the operating system. In order to
do that attach the disk image to a virtual system. In this example we use
QEMU and boot it as follows:

.. code:: bash

    $ qemu -boot c \
        -drive file={exc_image_base_name}.x86_64-{exc_image_version}.raw,format=raw,if=virtio \
        -m 4096

Tweak and Customize your Image
------------------------------

Now that you have successfully built and started your first image, you can
start tweaking it to match your needs.

Find the documentation of the appliance description files in the following
sections.