Provided by: kiwi_10.2.27-1_amd64 
NAME
kiwi::system::prepare - Prepare image root system
SYNOPSIS
kiwi-ng [global options] service <command> [<args>]
kiwi-ng system prepare -h | --help
kiwi-ng system prepare --description=<directory> --root=<directory>
[--allow-existing-root]
[--clear-cache]
[--ignore-repos]
[--ignore-repos-used-for-build]
[--set-repo=<source,type,alias,priority,imageinclude,package_gpgcheck,{signing_keys},components,distribution,repo_gpgcheck,repo_sourcetype>]
[--set-repo-credentials=<user:pass_or_filename>]
[--add-repo=<source,type,alias,priority,imageinclude,package_gpgcheck,{signing_keys},components,distribution,repo_gpgcheck,repo_sourcetype>...]
[--add-repo-credentials=<user:pass_or_filename>...]
[--add-package=<name>...]
[--add-bootstrap-package=<name>...]
[--delete-package=<name>...]
[--set-container-derived-from=<uri>]
[--set-container-tag=<name>]
[--add-container-label=<label>...]
[--set-type-attr=<attribute=value>...]
[--set-release-version=<version>]
[--signing-key=<key-file>...]
kiwi-ng system prepare help
DESCRIPTION
Create a new image root directory. The prepare step sets up a new image root directory from the specified
XML description. The specified directory acts as a root directory of the new image root system. You can
enter the system as root via chroot using the following command:
$ chroot <directory> bash
OPTIONS
--add-bootstrap-package=<name>
Specify a package to install as part of the early KIWI NG bootstrap phase. The option can be
specified multiple times.
--add-container-label=<name=value>
Add a container label to the container configuration metadata. It overwrites the label with the
provided key-value pair if it was already defined in the XML description.
--add-package=<name>
Specify a package to add (install). The option can be specified multiple times.
--add-repo=<source,type,alias,priority,imageinclude,package_gpgcheck,{signing_keys},components,distribution,repo_gpgcheck,repo_sourcetype>
Add a new repository to the existing repository setup in the XML description. This option can be
specified multiple times. For details about the supported option values, see the --set-repo
information below
--add-repo-credentials=<user:pass_or_filename>
For uri://user:pass@location type repositories, set the user and password connected with an
add-repo specification. If the provided value is a filename in the filesystem, the first line of
the file is used as credentials.
--allow-existing-root
Allow to re-use an existing image root directory.
--clear-cache
Delete repository cache for each of the used repositories before installing any package. This is
useful if an image build validates the signature of the package from the original repository
source for any build. Some package managers unconditionally trust the contents of the cache, which
works for cache data dedicated to one build. In case of KIWI NG, the cache is shared between
multiple image builds on the host for performance reasons.
--delete-package=<name>
Specify a package to delete. The option can be specified multiple times.
--description=<directory>
Path to the KIWI NG XML description. The directory must contain at least a config.xml of *.kiwi
XML description.
--ignore-repos
Ignore all repository configurations in the XML description. This option is normally used in
combination with the --add-repo` option. Otherwise, an image build operation results in an error.
--ignore-repos-used-for-build
Works the same way as --ignore-repos,` but the repository configurations that have the imageonly
attribute set to true are not ignored.
--root=<directory>
Path to the new root system.
--set-repo=<source,type,alias,priority,imageinclude,package_gpgcheck,{signing_keys},components,distribution,repo_gpgcheck,repo_sourcetype>
Overwrite the first repository entry in the XML description with the provided information:
• source
Source URL pointing to a package repository that must be in a format supported by the selected
package manager. See the URI_TYPES section for details about the supported source locators.
• type
Repository type: rpm-md, apt-deb.
• alias
An alias name for the repository. If not specified, KIWI NG generates an alias name based hex
representation of uuid4. While the hex is used to uniquely identify the repository, it is not
descriptive. We recommend to use a descriptive and unique alias name.
• priority
A number indicating the repository priority. How the value is evaluated depends on the selected
package manager. Refer to the package manager documentation for details about the supported
priority ranges and their meaning.
• imageinclude
Set to either true or false to specify if the repository is part of the system image repository
setup or not.
• package_gpgcheck
Set to either true or false to specify if the repository must validate the package signatures.
• {signing_keys}
List of signing_keys enclosed in curly brackets and delimited by the semicolon. The reference to
a signing key must be provided in the URI format.
• components
Component list for Debian-based repos as a space-delimited string.
• distribution
Main distribution name for Debian-based repos.
• repo_gpgcheck
Set to either true or false to specify if the repository must validate the repository signature.
• repo_sourcetype
Specify the source type of the repository path. Supported values are baseurl, metalink or
mirrorlist. With baseurl the source path is interpreted as simple URI. If metalink is set the
source path is resolved as metalink URI and if mirrorlist is set the source path is resolved as
a mirrorlist file. If not specified, baseurl is the default
--set-repo-credentials=<user:pass_or_filename>
For uri://user:pass@location type repositories, set the user and password connected to the
set-repo specification. If the provided value is a filename in the filesystem, the first line of
that file is used as credentials.
--set-container-derived-from=<uri>
Overwrite the source location of the base container for the selected image type. The setting is
only effective if the configured image type is setup with an initial derived_from reference
--set-container-tag=<name>
Overwrite the container tag in the container configuration. The setting applies only if the
container configuration provides an initial tag value.
--set-type-attr=<attribute=value>
Overwrite/set the attribute with the provided value in the selected build type section. Example:
--set-type-attr volid=some
--set-release-version=<version>
Overwrite/set the release-version element in the selected build type preferences section
--signing-key=<key-file>
Set the key file to be trusted and imported into the package manager database before performing
any operation. This is useful if an image build validates repository and package signatures during
build time. This option can be specified multiple times.
AUTHOR
Marcus Schäfer
COPYRIGHT
2020-2025, Marcus Schäfer
10.2.27 Jul 14, 2025 KIWI::SYSTEM::PREPARE(8)