LXD image builder
August 13, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
This repository provides lxd-imagebuilder for building system container and virtual machine images
for LXD, and simplestream-maintainer for managing images on the simple streams server.
See https://canonical-lxd-imagebuilder.readthedocs-hosted.com/ for documentation.
Status
| Type | Service | Status |
|---|---|---|
| CI | GitHub |  |
Images
| RH-based | Debian-based | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Those community maintained images end up in the images: remote.
Installing from package
The lxd-imagebuilder and simplestream-maintainer tools are available in the lxd-imagebuilder
snap from the Snap Store.
sudo snap install lxd-imagebuilder --classic --edge
Installing from source
To compile from source, first install the Go programming language, and some other dependencies.
-
Debian-based:
sudo apt update sudo apt install -y golang-go debootstrap rsync gpg squashfs-tools git make xdelta3 -
ArchLinux-based:
sudo pacman -Syu sudo pacman -S go debootstrap rsync gnupg squashfs-tools git make xdelta3 --needed
NOTE: If your package manager doesn't provide a recent enough version, get it from upstream.
Second, download the source code of the lxd-imagebuilder repository (this repository).
mkdir -p $HOME/go/src/github.com/canonical/
cd $HOME/go/src/github.com/canonical/
git clone https://github.com/canonical/lxd-imagebuilder
Third, enter the directory with the source code of lxd-imagebuilder and run make to compile the
source code. This will generate the executable programs lxd-imagebuilder and simplestream-maintainer
in $HOME/go/bin.
cd ./lxd-imagebuilder
make
You may also add the directory $HOME/go/bin/ to your $PATH so that you do not need to run the command with the full path.
How to use
See How to use lxd-imagebuilder for instructions.