deb2singularity(1)

Usage

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

Overview

deb2apptainer is a simple script which takes as input a list of Debian packages and generates automatically 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 directory.

-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-packages

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 ```