OVA-COMPOSE(1)

📦 version 0.3.13, in ubuntu stonking

💖 NAME 💖

ova-compose — bestie, this is the glow-up machine that takes your YAML config file and turns it into an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or an OVF ✨

It's a User Commands girly, fr fr.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ova-compose -i input_file -o output_file

That's it. Two flags minimum. Iconic behaviour honestly.

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so real talk: the ova-compose command generates an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) or an OVF package straight from a YAML configuration file. She's part of the open-vmdk suite 🎀 and she's flexible like that — she can produce either:

  • a single OVA file 🌈
  • just the OVF 💜
  • or a whole directory containing the OVF, the manifest, and all the associated virtual disk files 💅

pick your fighter, she does it all.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -i, --input_file input_file — tell her which YAML configuration file to use. This is the source of truth, the blueprint, the moment 🫶
  • -o, --output_file output_file — tell her where the output file or directory goes. Destination unlocked 🎀
  • --format format — specify the output format. Your options are:
    • ova → create an OVA file 🔥
    • ovf → create only an OVF file 💜
    • dir → create a directory containing OVF, manifest, and device files 🌸

If you don't provide this, she's gonna guess the format from the output file extension (.ova or .ovf). She's smart like that, but not infallible, so maybe just tell her 😭

  • --param key=value — set a parameter for the configuration. And yesss you can specify multiple parameters, stack 'em up bestie 👑
  • --checksum-type sha256|sha512 — set the checksum type for the manifest file. Default is sha256. Only two choices, no chaos allowed 💅

🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

Generate an OVA from a minimal configuration:

An example YAML file for ova-compose is installed in:

/usr/share/doc/open-vmdk/examples/example.yaml

And then you hit her with:

$ ova-compose  -i example.yaml -o example.ova --param rootdisk=example.vmdk
(yes there's a double space after ova-compose, it's giving casual slay, we don't fix it 💖)

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

  • mkova (1)
  • vmdk-convert (1)
  • ovfenv (1)

go read those too, they're the friend group 🫶

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Written by Mégane Vilain <megane.vilain@gmail.com> — thank you queen 🙇‍♀️

🍓 REPORTING BUGS 🍓

Found a bug?? 😭 Report bugs to <https://github.com/vmware/open-vmdk/issues>.

Don't suffer in silence, bestie. Tell the internet.

Copyright © 2025 Mégane Vilain. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. 💅

and that's the whole thing!! this page is from open-vmdk 0.3.12, September 2025 💖 no cap, you're now an ova-compose expert. periodt. 🎀🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from