zcashd/contrib/gitian-descriptors

Gavin's notes on getting gitian builds up and running using KVM

These instructions distilled from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/Installation.

You need the right hardware: you need a 64-bit-capable CPU with hardware virtualization support (Intel VT-x or AMD-V). Not all modern CPUs support hardware virtualization.

You probably need to enable hardware virtualization in your machine's BIOS.

You need to be running a recent version of 64-bit-Ubuntu, and you need to install several prerequisites:

sudo apt-get install ruby apache2 git apt-cacher-ng python-vm-builder qemu-kvm

Sanity checks:

sudo service apt-cacher-ng status  # Should return apt-cacher-ng is running
ls -l /dev/kvm   # Should show a /dev/kvm device

Once you've got the right hardware and software:

git clone git://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git
git clone git://github.com/devrandom/gitian-builder.git
mkdir gitian-builder/inputs
cd gitian-builder/inputs

# Create base images
cd gitian-builder
bin/make-base-vm --suite trusty --arch amd64
cd ..

# Get inputs (see doc/release-process.md for exact inputs needed and where to get them)
...

# For further build instructions see doc/release-process.md
...

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gitian-builder now also supports building using LXC. See help.ubuntu.com for how to get LXC up and running under Ubuntu.

If your main machine is a 64-bit Mac or PC with a few gigabytes of memory and at least 10 gigabytes of free disk space, you can gitian-build using LXC running inside a virtual machine.

Here's a description of Gavin's setup on OSX 10.6:

1. Download and install VirtualBox from https://www.virtualbox.org/

2. Download the 64-bit Ubuntu Desktop 12.04 LTS .iso CD image from https://ubuntu.com/

3. Run VirtualBox and create a new virtual machine, using the Ubuntu .iso (see the VirtualBox documentation for details). Create it with at least 2 gigabytes of memory and a disk that is at least 20 gigabytes big.

4. Inside the running Ubuntu desktop, install:

   sudo apt-get install debootstrap lxc ruby apache2 git apt-cacher-ng python-vm-builder

5. Still inside Ubuntu, tell gitian-builder to use LXC, then follow the "Once you've got the right hardware and software" instructions above:

   export USE_LXC=1 git clone git://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git ... etc