lxccreate

Lxccreate is a command-line utility designed to automate the creation of Linux containers (LXC). It provides a higher-level wrapper around the standard LXC creation workflow, offering template-based image selection, profile-driven configuration, and post-creation setup. The tool focuses on reproducibility and ease of use, enabling administrators and developers to deploy consistent container environments.

Key features

- Template-based image selection: users can choose base images from a range of templates or remote repositories, simplifying image discovery and standardization.

- Profiles: predefined configurations for resources, networking, mounts, and lifecycle hooks can be applied to ensure consistent behavior across containers.

- Post-creation steps: support for executing commands inside the new container after creation to install software or configure services.

- Reproducibility and auditing: parameters and decisions are captured in profile files and logs to aid troubleshooting and replication.

- Dry-run and validation: the tool can simulate a creation process to validate configuration before committing changes.

- Extensibility: supports plugins or custom templates to adapt to different environments and workflows.

Usage

Common usage patterns include commands such as lxccreate --name mycontainer --template ubuntu --release focal --arch amd64 --profiles webserver. Options typically cover the container name, image template, release and architecture, and any profiles or config files to apply. The tool performs preflight checks, can run in a dry-run mode, and logs its actions for auditability.

Development and licensing

Lxccreate is an open-source project maintained by a community-driven ecosystem within the LXC tooling space. It is released under a permissive license to encourage collaboration and broad adoption. See also LXC, lxc-create, and LXC templates for related tooling and concepts in container creation.