Tools to build multi-package systems in chroots, app/service containers, disk images, VMs or other formats.

Contents

General tools

Tools to create (Debian) systems for general use.

Tool	Language	Read-only/Writable	Formats	Comments
virt-builder	ocaml	read/write	qcow2, raw
build-simple-cdd
debootstick
mkosi	python3, configuration in INI	configurable rw or ro	UKI, DDI (GPT), squashfs/erofs, qcow, directory/chroot, cpio, kernel+initrd	Does not require privileges, can build container images and/or VM images and/or bare-metal bootable images and/or UKIs, supports multiple distributions/architectures
Kameleon
lxc-create	Shell	read/write	dir(rootfs)	Deprecated, prefer distrobuilder; linux containers create new buildroots from scripts in lxc-templates
distrobuilder	Go	read/write	dir(rootfs), tar, qcow2	Modern system container image builder for LXC, LXD and Incus
debian-rootfs	Shell			WARNING: some questionable customizations
FAI	Shell, Perl	read/write	dir, ISO, raw, qcow2, vdi, vhdx, vmdk	can do installations, chroots, disk images, cross architecture
debos	Go			Data driven rootless image creation tool. debos intro
image-bootstrap	python			Creates (chroots and) bootable virtual machine images
apt2ostree	python
boxer
genimage	C			developed by Pengutronix
dmm	python		iso, tar	very alpha, not ready for production use, similar to debos and mkosi but much larger in scope (meant to be used for appimages/installer/ppa systems eventually)
kiwi	python	read/write	iso,qcow2,raw	Also used by SUSE and Redhat, supports non-root building in a VM
debvm	shell		ext4 raw image	Create and run Debian-based VM images for various releases and architectures

Live related (read-only)

Tools for creating Debian live environments.

Tool	Language	Read-only/Writable	Formats	Comments
live-build	shell	allows for persistence		UEFI boot and legacy boot, used for the official Debian live images
open-infrastructure-system-build
grml-live	used fai dirinstall in the past
FAI	uses fai-cd	writeable data partition possible		UEFI boot and legacy boot
supermin
NEALE
bootcd

Tools for managing Debian instances in the cloud.

Tool	Language	Read-only/Writable	Formats	Comments
ganeti-instance-debootstrap
bootstrap-vz	Python			removed in bullseye
python-diskimage-builder	shell, python			removed in bullseye
openstack-debian-images	shell
packer				removed in trixie
xen-tools	Perl
TKLDev
fai-server	fai-diskimage, The Debian cloud team is using FAI for official cloud images
debian-cloud-images				wapper around FAI
image-factory	Python			wapper around virt-install

Tools for managing Debian instances on embedded devices.

Tool	Language	Read-only/Writable	Formats	Comments
linaro-media-create	Python
buildroot
Armbian lib
omap-image-builder
FAI	Announcement for cross-architecture support
olimage	Python			For Olimex devices
mkimage-debian	shell			Build ready-to-burn Debian image for RISC-V boards (Hifive Unmatched, Visionfive v2, Allwinner D1 board)
moulin	Python			https://bugs.debian.org/1032323

Tools for manually installing Debian on a machine.

Tool	Language	Read-only/Writable	Formats	Comments
debian-installer	shell, C
calamares				used on the LiveCD
propellor	Haskell			propellor is d-i 2.0
ubiquity	Ubuntu/Mint installer, uses d-i in backend.
v-i				based on vmdb2, announcement
consfigurator	Common Lisp			similarish to propellor