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List:       ubuntu-users
Subject:    COnverting an LXC to a virtual machine
From:       ivan () ivanfetch ! com (Ivan Fetch)
Date:       2012-01-30 5:13:15
Message-ID: 6FD495E3-FAA6-420F-BD35-6C737E5FF87D () ivanfetch ! com
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Hello,

I'm replying to this, for the list archives, with the hope it may help someone else:

On Dec 11, 2011, at 10:58 PM, Ivan Fetch wrote:

Hello,

I would like to convert some LXC containers into virtual machines, and am looking for \
advice on how to do this while maintaining an accurate package database.

SO far, I have copied the contents of an LXC into an initial Ubuntu 10.04 \
installation, mixing the contents of the initial install with the contents of the \
LXC. A down side to this, is that dpkg does not know about packages which were \
installed in the initial installation, for example, kernel images, grub, Etc.

How can I register these packages who's files are installed, although they are not \
listed in the package database? ALternatively, is there a better way to turn an LXC \
into a more complete; bootable system?

Thanks,

Ivan.


I started with a base virtual machine, installed with Ubuntu 10.04, and no updates \
applied. I did not apply updates, because I don't want any packages in the base BM to \
be newer than those which will come from the LXC.

I saved a list of packages installed in the base VM: dpkg -l >packages.txt I adjusted \
this file so that it only contains a list of packages (no version numbers or other \
info from dpkg).

I used a second, helper VM to copy the contents of the LXC, into the / and /boot \
filesystems of the base VM, then booted the base VM.

THe VM's package database now contains packages from the LXC, but not from the base \
VM. Packages such as kernel and grub are not registered in the package database.

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list, so it only contains the base repositories (not security, \
updates, Etc): deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted

Install any missing packages which were installed in the base VM, by feeding the list \
of packages taken earlier, to apt-get: apt-get install `cat packages.txt`

Put back the original /etc/apt/sources.list file.

You may want to run the VM in it's current state, to verify the migration didn't \
introduce any issues - then, update with apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

- Ivan]


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