QCOW2 Image Generation

This guide outlines the procedure for creating QCOW2 disk images, primarily for use in virtualized environments such as OpenStack.

Prerequisites

• Devenv installed
• Direnv recommended for automatic environment loading

Build Command

To generate a QCOW2 image, use the build-qcow2 script at the root of the Hephaestus repository:

devenv shell build-qcow2 --argstr profile <profile_name>

Parameters

Parameter	Description
--argstr profile	The name of the system profile to build into the image.

Locating Profiles:

• System Profiles: Defined in the profiles/ directory of the Hephaestus repository.

Usage Example

# Enter the development environment
cd /path/to/hephaestus
devenv shell build-qcow2 --argstr profile kaas

# Or with direnv (recommended)
cd /path/to/hephaestus
build-qcow2 --argstr profile kaas

The QCOW2 image will be generated at ./result/nixos.qcow2.

Deployment Notes

Generic Profile Installation

When running the generated ISO in a fresh Virtual Machine, the system will automatically install the generic profile by default.

For details on customizing the system after installation, please refer to the System Customization guide.