From 6327a04ea0e3f79c78a634ad5b40b6dcc1aafe84 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sunil Mohan Adapa Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:12:47 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] HACKING.md: Mention using virtual machines instead of containers Signed-off-by: Sunil Mohan Adapa --- HACKING.md | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) diff --git a/HACKING.md b/HACKING.md index 7ac761a7f..f89956582 100644 --- a/HACKING.md +++ b/HACKING.md @@ -114,6 +114,26 @@ development environment inside a systemd-nspawn container. host$ ./container ssh --distribution=stable ``` +#### Using KVM Virtual Machine + +The `./container` script, shipped with FreedomBox source code, can manage the +development environment inside a KVM-based virtual machine using libvirt. This +is an alternative to using containers described above (but the name of the +script is still 'container' even when managing virtual machines). Some hardware, +such as additional disks, can be better tested with virtual machine than with +containers. + +Containers and a virtual machines of the same or different distribution all be +used simultaneously as they all use different disk images. + +1. To use virtual machines instead of container, append the option + '--machine-type=vm' to all the ./container commands described above. For + example, to bring up a virtual machine instead of a container run: + + ```bash + host$ ./container up --machine-type=vm + ``` + #### Using after Setup After logging into the container, the source code is available in `/freedombox`