NAME

       deb2apptainer - Build a Singularity/Apptainer image with given Debian packages

SYNOPSIS

       deb2apptainer [-hB][-c CMD] [-f FROM][-n NAME] [-o DIR][-p PRE_SCRIPT] [-s POST_SCRIPT] packages
       deb2singularity [-hB][-c CMD] [-f FROM][-n NAME] [-o DIR][-p PRE_SCRIPT] [-s POST_SCRIPT] packages

DESCRIPTION

       deb2apptainer  is  a simple script which takes as input a list of Debian packages and generates automati‐
       cally a Singularity/Apptainer container including these  packages.   A  set  of  freedesktop.org  desktop
       launchers  are also generated based on the .desktop and icon files found in the packages.  In addition, a
       desktop launcher is created to start the container in a Terminal.

       This tool is suited for deploying applications as containers, as well as for testing Debian packages in a
       sandbox.

OPTIONS

       -B     do NOT build the image (default is to build).  A build script is generated in the DIR  target  di‐
              rectory.

       -c EXEC
              Command to run in the container (default to /bin/bash).

       -f FROM
              Distribution is to be used (default to debian:stable).

       -h     Show this help

       -n NAME
              Name of the image (default is built from the package list).

       -o DIR Use given directory DIR for the build (default is in /tmp).

       -p PRE_SCRIPT
              Execute the given script PRE_SCRIPT before packages install.

       -s POST_SCRIPT
              Execute the given script POST_SCRIPT after packages install.

       packages
              The package list can be any Debian package, as well as local .deb files.

FILES

       • DIR/README

       • DIR/image.def

       • DIR/image.sif

       • DIR/launchers/

       • DIR/icons/

       • DIR/build

       • DIR/start

NOTES

       You obviously require to have apptainer installed.

       Get the Debian package at: - https://apptainer.org/docs/admin/main/installation.html#install-debian-pack‐
       ages

       Usual commands typically used to handle Apptainer/Singularity containers are:

       build  apptainer build image.sif

       run    apptainer run image.sif apptainer run –nv image.sif # with NVIDIA GPU pass-through

       info   apptainer inspect image.sif

       header apptainer sif header image.sif

       data   apptainer sif list image.sif

EXAMPLES

       Create a Singularity/Apptainer container with package x11-apps in directory /tmp/xeyes, and launch xeyes:

       • deb2apptainer -o /tmp/xeyes x11-apps

       • /tmp/xeyes/start xeyes

         A Desktop launcher is created as /tmp/xeyes/launchers/x11-apps-terminal.desktop

       Create a Singularity/Apptainer container with x11-apps and meshlab
         deb2apptainer x11-apps meshlab

       Create a Singularity/Apptainer container making sure software channels are active:

       • echo “sed -i `s/main/main contrib non-free/g' /etc/apt/sources.list” > pre.sh

       • deb2apptainer -p pre.sh x11-apps

       Create a Singularity/Apptainer container based on specific Debian version, and make use of the GPU:

       • echo  “echo `deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free' >> /etc/apt/sources.list”
         > pre-script.sh

       • deb2apptainer   -n   pyhst2   -f   debian:bullseye   -p   pre-script.sh    -o    /tmp/apptainer-pyhst2/
         python3-pyhst2-cuda nvidia-smi nvidia-cuda-toolkit

       • apptainer run –nv /tmp/apptainer-pyhst2/pyhst2.sif nvidia-smi ```

AUTHORS

       Emmanuel Farhi (emmanuel.farhi@synchrotron-soleil.fr)

SEE ALSO

       deb2docker(1), distrobox-create(1), distrobox-enter(1), docker(1), apptainer(1)

AUTHORS

       Emmanuel Farhi.

                                                  February 2024                                 DEB2APPTAINER(1)