KIWI is an application for making a wide variety of
image sets for Linux supported hardware platforms as well as virtualization systems including
QEMU
The Quick Emulator (QEMU) is a free and open-source emulator that uses dynamic binary translation to emulate a computer's processor; that is, it translates the emulated binary codes to an equivalent binary format which is executed by the mach ...
,
Xen and
VMware.
It is developed by the
openSUSE Project and used to create
openSUSE
openSUSE () is a free and open-source software, free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project. It is offered in two main variations: ''Tumbleweed'', an upstream rolling release distribution, and ''Leap'', a stable r ...
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...
, but can also be employed to build a variety of other
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...
s.
Usage and documentation
KIWI has a large amount of documentation available, organized in 'cook books' which guide new users through the process of creating increasingly complicated KIWI images.
Basic usage requires the installation of a number of tools besides KIWI, most notably for virtualization. KIWI is a command line tool and has no
graphical user interface
A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...
.
KIWI in use
KIWI is used by a variety of organizations in a variety of places. Besides
SUSE Linux
openSUSE () is a free and open-source Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project. It is offered in two main variations: ''Tumbleweed'', an upstream rolling release distribution, and ''Leap'', a stable release distribution which is so ...
and the
openSUSE Project,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
has a product using KIWI and
Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
employs it as well.
SUSE Studio
SUSE Studio is a web interface (
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails (simplified as Rails) is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Rails is a model–view–controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pa ...
) to KIWI and the
Open Build Service. It allows users to graphically put together a custom
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
OS and generate output including a large variety of virtual machine and disk images.
See also
*
Boot image
A boot image is a type of disk image that when on a boot device allows the associated computer to Booting, boot.
A boot image usually includes an operating system, utilities, diagnostics, boot and data recovery information and applications used ...
*
ROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory Computer chip, chip, often from a ROM cartridge, video game cartridge, or used to contain a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's arc ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
KIWI homepageOpen Build Service homepage
Disk images
Free software programmed in Python
Software using the GNU General Public License