Box-Building Caveats

The Vagrant box-building process relies on numerous Linux tools whose behavior has changed across Ubuntu releases. These caveats probably no longer apply unless you’re using an ancient netlab release older than 1.8.2 (released in May 2024):

  • On Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (and later), the libvirt-qemu user needs read- and execute access to the VM disk file. It’s easiest to create Vagrant boxes in a subdirectory of the /tmp directory. Starting with release 1.8.2, the netlab libvirt package script always builds boxes within the /tmp directory.

  • ‌virt-install might report a fatal error on Ubuntu 22.04 (and later). Execute export VIRTINSTALL_OSINFO_DISABLE_REQUIRE=1 in your shell and restart the build process. Starting with release 1.8.1, the netlab libvirt package script sets this parameter.

  • If you downloaded an OVA file, you have to unpack it with the tar xvf ova_filename command. Starting with release 1.8.2, the netlab libvirt package script automatically unpacks the OVA files.

Finally, we tested the box-building scripts on Ubuntu 22.04. The netlab libvirt package might not work correctly on other Linux distributions.