* This is assuming you're running Debian 13 on your computer, though it will probably work with any non-ancient variant of GNU/Linux. This guide will create a VM with a snapshot so the `test-in-vm.sh` script can reset it every time for testing installation as many times as you need. But before that, we have to manually prepare the VM first:
* Ensure your local user is in the `libvirt` group so you can run `virsh`.
* Ensure the default URI for libvirt is `qemu:///system`, you can check by running `virsh uri`. You can change the default by editing `/etc/libvirt/libvirt.conf` or `~/.config/libvirt/libvirt.conf` (which you may need to create first) and uncommenting/adding:
```
uri_default = "qemu:///system"
```
* Create a new `libvirt` network:
```
virsh net-define libre-chip-test.xml
virsh net-autostart libre-chip-test
virsh net-start libre-chip-test
```
* Get the latest Debian 12 ISO, you can get it from <https://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/12.15.0/amd64/iso-cd/debian-12.15.0-amd64-netinst.iso>
* Using the `virt-manager` gui frontend, create a new VM with:
* Local install media (ISO image)
* Pick the Debian 12 ISO you downloaded above
* 12GiB (12288 MiB) RAM
* 6 CPUs
* A new 30GB disk image
* The name should be `libre-chip.test` (*this is important*)
* Under "Network selection", choose `libre-chip-test` (*this is important*)
* Click "Finish". The VM should start running.
* In the VM:
* Go to "Advanced Options" and choose the "Expert install" option.
* Pick "Choose Language"
* Pick "English"
* Choose "United States"
* Choose "United States - en_US.UTF-8".
* For additional locales, choose "C.UTF-8".
* Select "C.UTF-8" as the default locale.
* Pick "Configure the keyboard".
* Pick "American English".
* Pick "Detect and mount installation media".
* Pick "Load installer components from installation media".
* Enable "network-console".
* Pick "Detect network hardware".
* Pick "Configure the network".
* For "Auto-configure networking?", pick "No".
* The IP address should be `10.10.10.2`, netmask `255.255.255.0`, gateway `10.10.10.1`, name server `10.10.10.1`.
* The hostname should be `libre-chip`, the domain name should be `test`.
* Pick "Continue installation remotely using SSH".
* Use whatever you like as the "Remote installation password".
* Once you get to the "Start SSH" page, then you can continue on your host with SSH.
* On your host:
* Start a new terminal
* Resize the new terminal window to be as big as you like (the installer doesn't deal well with changes in the window size after logging in with ssh)
* Run `ssh installer@libre-chip.test` -- this lets you copy and paste things into the terminal instead of having to type everything out.
* If ssh complains that the host key changed (because you had something else at `libre-chip.test` before, like a previous version of the VM), run `ssh-keygen -R 10.10.10.2` and `ssh-keygen -R libre-chip.test` to remove the old host, and then run ssh again.
* Pick the advanced installation option.
* Pick "Set up users and passwords".
* For "Allow login as root?", choose "Yes".
* Choose a suitable root password.
* For "Create a normal user account now?", choose "No" (*this is important*).
* Pick "Configure the clock".
* For "Set the clock using NTP?", choose "Yes", using the default NTP server.
* For time zone, choose "Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)".
* Pick "Detect disks".
* Pick "Partition disks".
* For "Partitioning method", choose "Manual".
* Pick "Virtual disk 1".
* Create the new empty partition table on that device.
* For "Partition table type", pick "gpt".
* Pick "FREE SPACE".
* Choose "Create a new partition".
* Choose `1 GB` and locate it at the "Beginning".
* For "Use as", choose "Ext4".
* For "Mount point", choose "/boot".
* Select "Done setting up the partition".
* Pick the lower "FREE SPACE".
* Choose "Create a new partition".
* For "New partition size", choose `max`.
* For "Use as", choose "btrfs" (*this is important*).
* Select "Done setting up the partition".
* Select "Finish partitioning and write changes to disk".
* When it complains about no swap space and asks if you want to return to the partitioning menu, choose "No".
* For "Write the changes to disk?", choose "Yes".
* Pick "Install the base system".
* For "Kernel to install", pick "linux-image-amd64" (or whatever one is appropriate for your CPU architecture).
* For "Drivers to include in the initrd", pick "generic".
* For "Character set to support", pick "Guess optimal character set".
* Pick "Configure the package manager".
* For "Scan extra installation media", choose "No".
* For "Use a network mirror", choose "Yes".
* Pick "http".
* Pick "United States".
* Pick "deb.debian.org".
* Leave the proxy blank.
* Choose "No" for non-free firmware/software and contrib software.
* Enable source repositories in APT.
* Leave "security updates", and "release updates" enabled, and "backported software" disabled.
* Pick "Select and install software".
* Pick "Install security updates automatically".
* For "popularity-contest", pick "No".
* For "Software selection", disable "Debian desktop environment" and "GNOME", and enable "SSH server".
* Pick "Install the GRUB boot loader".
* For "Run os-prober automatically", choose "No".
* For "Install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive", choose "Yes".
* Choose "/dev/vda".
* Pick "Finish the installation".
* For "Is the system clock set to UTC", choose "Yes".
* Choose "<Continue>" to reboot.
* SSH should exit.
* Close and reopen the terminal, or run `reset`, to clean up the mess left by the debian installer.
* Wait until the VM has finished rebooting, then in the VM window, login as `root` with the password you set before:
* Run `apt install sudo git htop`.
* Create a non-root user now, but (*this is important*) you must avoid UID/GID 1000 since that will be used by the `git` user:
* Run `adduser --uid 1001 jacob` (you can substitute `jacob` with whatever username you like.) Pick a suitable password, you can leave the other information blank if you like.
* Run `adduser jacob sudo`. (substitute `jacob` with the username you picked.)
* Press Ctrl+D to logout.
* On your host:
* Copy your SSH public key(s) on the host to the VM:
* Run `scp ~/.ssh/id_*.pub jacob@libre-chip.test:`. (substitute `jacob` with the username you picked.)
* Run `ssh jacob@libre-chip.test`. (substitute `jacob` with the username you picked.)
* Verify you don't have UID 1000 or GID 1000 by running `id`, it should say something like `uid=1001(jacob) gid=1001(jacob)`.
* Install the SSH public key(s) as allowed to login to the VM without a password:
* Verify you can login as root without a password:
* Run `ssh root@libre-chip.test id`, you shouldn't need any password and it should say `uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)`. If you do need a password to unlock your SSH key, you need to have a running copy of `ssh-agent` and need your SSH key to be loaded.
* Now we create the snapshot:
* Verify the VM is still running and that nothing is logged-in to the VM. (if you just rebooted the VM, login via SSH and then logout to ensure all the necessary system stuff has finished booting.)
* Go to "View"/"Snapshots" in the VM's window in `virt-manager`.
* Click the "+" button to create a new snapshot.
* Name the snapshot `start`. (*this is important*)
