genutm

genutm creates aarch64 linux VMs that run via Apple Virtualization Framework utilizing UTM bundles, alongside the CIDATA cloud-init ISOs that hold the user-data and meta-data YAMLs.

installation and usage

docker is necessary to call qemu-imq without having to install the full qemu suite via brew. picocom is for providing serial console access when the user doesn't enable ssh key access for a user they create.

# pull deps
brew install docker utm --cask
brew install picocom

# install release
pip install genutm

# pull latest debian 12 qcow2
curl -L \
    https://cdimage.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-generic-arm64.qcow2 \
    -o $HOME/debian-12-generic-arm64.qcow2

# create userspec
genutm mkuser

# create vmspec
cat << EOF > vm.yml
---
vmspec:
  dom_name: debian12arm1
  dom_mem: 2048
  dom_vcpu: 2
  vol_size: 10
  base_image: $HOME/debian-12-generic-arm64.qcow2
  sshpwauth: yes
EOF

# create arbitrary user-data additions (optional)
cat << EOF > userdata.yml
package_update: true
package_upgrade: true

packages:
  - apt-transport-https
  - ca-certificates
  - curl
  - gnupg

write_files:
  - path: /tmp/hello.txt
    content: |
      hello world!

runcmd:
  - systemctl mask iptables
  - systemctl enable --now nftables
EOF

# create cidata.iso and utm bundle
gencloud create vm.yml --users userspec-*.yml --userdata userdata.yml

# register and start vm
open debian12arm1.utm

# hook up to serial
picocom /dev/ttys006

configuration

specification

domains

users

WARNING: if you do not specify any authentication method in the file supplied via --users and if you:

1. do not specify an arbitrary user-data file via --userdata,
2. or, specify a user-data but the resulting final cloud-init user-data yaml to be written to the iso ends up having no valid authentication method

program will halt.

examples

--users <userspec.yml>

you can also do genutm mkuser to interactively generate a userspec.yml through prompts.

---
userspec:
    - name: john
      password_hash: '$y$j9T$/gPg8H0fdtuZh8Ja8decf.$f7IzP89gNaToHUsY2bdgaxv2HJsKSRYLyG6mxNZ6AW3'
      sudo_god_mode: true

    - name: doe
      ssh_keys:
        - ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAI0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

<vmspec.yml>

---
vmspec:
    dom_name: testvm
    dom_mem: 2048
    dom_vcpu: 2
    net: cloudvirt
    vol_size: 10
    base_image: /Users/user/debian-12-generic-arm64.qcow2
    sshpwauth: true