RBM_REMOTE(7)

📦
version 0.4^20241205gitc6a4095 · 2 versions
, in fedora 43

💖 RBM_REMOTE(7) — rbm remote build 💖

okay bestie, so this is the page for rbm_remote, aka "rbm remote build", from the rbm man pages. this is the one where we take your build and yeet it somewhere else. let's go ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

rbm_remote — rbm remote build 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

ngl, sometimes it's just better to run the build of your package on an external server, or a VM, or a chroot. like, picture this: you're on an rpm based distribution and you wanna build a Debian package. you can't do that locally, bestie. that's not the vibe.

so to do that, you define the remote_exec option. that's the whole trick. 💅

here are the options that configure the remote execution of the build, no cap:

  • remote_exec — the template of a command used to execute a command on a remote host. the command that's about to be executed lives in the option exec_cmd. and the option exec_as_root tells you whether the script should run as a normal user or as root — some commands, like the pre and post scripts, need to be run as root. the name of the command we're running is sitting in the option exec_name. 👑
  • remote_mktemp — the template of a command that creates a temporary directory. if it's undefined, mktemp -d -p /var/tmp gets used. default queen behavior. 🎀
  • remote_put — the template of a command used to put a file on a remote host. the source file is in the put_src option and the destination directory is in the put_dst option. the default is to use tar together with the remote_exec option. 📦
  • remote_get — the template of a command used to fetch a file from a remote host. the source directory is in the get_src option, and the destination directory is in the get_dst option. the default is to use tar together with the remote_exec option. 🧲
  • remote_start — the template of a command that starts the remote host before we can even access it. lowkey so useful, like if you need to start a VM, or fetch a container. if access to an input file is needed, the remote_srcdir option points to a temporary directory containing the input files. and get this — the input files are hard links to their original location if it's on the same filesystem, and link_input_files has not been set to 0. 🔥
  • remote_finish — the template of a command that stops the remote host after we're done building. iconic for shutting down a VM or removing a temporary container. bye bestie 👋

and a lil extra: the remote_* options can access the build_id option, which is a unique identifier of the current build. so every build gets its own lil name tag. 🏷️

🧚 REMOTE BUILD WITH ROOTLESS CONTAINERS 🧚

rbm ships a rbmcontainer script which lets you create rootless containers — that is, creating some Linux namespaces without requiring root privileges. main character energy honestly. ✨

it requires the newuidmap and newgidmap commands. on Debian systems that means installing the uidmap package. go install it, bestie, it's required. 🫶

some predefined remote_* options for using containers are available, and you enable them by setting container/use_container to true.

when the use of containers is enabled, the input_files of your build should include a chroot tarball with a filename starting with container-image_. when starting a build, this chroot tarball gets extracted to a temporary directory, and the build script is run chrooted inside that directory. so cozy in there. 🏠

here are the options you can use:

  • container/disable_network/script_name — disable the use of network when running script_name (replace it with the name of the script, obviously 💅). by default, network is disabled in the build script and enabled in all other scripts.
  • container/global_disable — when this option is set, container/use_container and containers are not used. periodt. 🚫

🐳 REMOTE BUILD WITH DOCKER 🐳

some predefined remote_* templates for running builds in docker are available. to enable building in docker, set the remote_docker option to 1. the following options will then be used, bestie:

  • docker_image — the name of the docker image you want to use. 🖼️
  • docker_save_image — by default the docker image used during the build is removed when it's finished. if you wanna keep it (valid, honestly), you define an image name in this option. 💾
  • docker_opts — if you wanna add some docker command line options, define them here. useful for instance if you don't want to use the default docker instance. 🛠️
  • docker_user — the user that should be used to run the build inside the container. if that user doesn't exist, it will be created automatically. the default is rbm. 👑

for example, if you wanna build your software on Fedora 20 using docker, you can do this:

remote_docker: 1
docker_image: fedora:20

🌈 REMOTE BUILD WITH SSH 🌈

some predefined remote_* templates are available and can be enabled by setting the remote_ssh option to 1. for instance you can add the following lines to your configuration:

ssh_host: some_hostname
remote_ssh: 1

the following options will be used:

  • ssh_host — the hostname where to connect. it can also contain a username. 🖥️
  • ssh_port — optionally you can set a port using this option. you could also do it by editing your .ssh/config file. either way slays. 🔌
  • ssh_options — optionally you can set some ssh options, for the exec command. ⚙️

🎀 BUILD IN A CHROOT 🎀

you can use the remote_chroot option if you wanna build in a chroot. this option requires that you have sudo access to the chroot command — so heads up, you need the access, no way around it. 🔐

the following options will be used:

  • chroot_path — the path to the chroot directory. 📁
  • chroot_user — the user in the chroot which should run the build. 🙋

example:

chroot_path: /chroots/debian-wheezy
chroot_user: build
steps:
  deb:
    remote_chroot: 1

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

rbm(1), rbm_config(7)

💜 okay that's the whole page, bestie! every option, every default, every path — all of it, untouched. facts don't change just because the vibe is immaculate. ✨

this has been the RBM_REMOTE(7) page, from the rbm project 💖 — version dated 07/25/2025, and yeah, the footer says RBM_REMOTE(7) again because it loves a lil mirror moment. 🪞 mwah, go build something cute. 💅🌸🦋

📦 where this page comes from