Re: apt2ostree - build ostree images of apt based distributions

[Daniel Drake <drake endlessm com>]

On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 4:28 AM Colin Walters <walters verbum org> wrote:
> Cool!  Would love if the deb-ostree-maintainers had a chance to look at this - there's a specific 
> comparison here: https://github.com/stb-tester/apt2ostree#endless-ostree-builder-eob

I imagine the deb-ostree-builder is lagging behind what we use
internally, sorry about that.
The comparison seems pretty accurate at a high level.

However, in our updated internal version, we have stopped using
debootstrap to set up the base filesystem tree. We got fed up of
debootstrap acting differently from the real apt & dpkg
implementations. We tried to fix it up, we tried to use multistrap too
(same issue there), it just got too painful and instead of continually
trying to adhere closer (and keep up with) apt, we decided to just use
apt itself.

If apt2ostree does not actually use apt for dep resolution, package
installation etc, then I suspect it will ultimately face the same
headaches.

So we now use an alternative bootstrap tool, which is superior to
debootstrap/multistrap/etc in the sense that 99% of the "business
logic" is executed just by calling into apt. e.g. you'll notice it
doesn't parse any control files, look up dependencies, etc.

https://github.com/dbnicholson/apt-bootstrap

Daniel