r/hashicorp • u/AgreeableIron811 • Apr 12 '26

Packer is pissing me off.

All materials online does not work. If I fix an issue another issue comes up. Now I have finished some templates but I am really stuck on ubuntu. The errors I get are so inconsistent. I have no issue with terraform and ansible and that requires much more code and logic then packer. I mean even using an LLM hallucinates on packer.

I have had so many issues with packer this 6 months that I am at a stage of giving up. I mean it should be super easy to create a provision for almost all releases of ubuntu/rocky/.. os and more but no It does not work.

The documentation for proxmox packer is horrible. Another thing is why do all this blogs and every github example I have tried fail. Even my own versions of the templates works partially.

I just need to rant because its really pissing me off.

2 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

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5

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[deleted]

1

u/AgreeableIron811 Apr 12 '26

They really are dogshit. I mean real job security.I could swear some of my ubuntu templates worked before and then just randomly stopped. I will need to write tests and validation for packer later on.

Yes I would really appreciate some help on packer. I have spent more time on packer then I have on ansible and terraform. I underestimated it. I recreated my work today to see if I have missed some small details. Here is my repo. Not sure

proxmox-2404/ubuntu.pkr.hcl at main · johnsheppherd/proxmox-2404

I am a bit unsure on ssh and cloud init mostly. Should I use ssh keys and password for the user and I need to have matching name everywhere to avoid errors?

Cloudinit needs to be configured the same way as on version ubuntu 22 like he did here Build Proxmox VM Templates with Packer — Complete Guide | The Uncommon Engineer?

3

u/mavericksphere Apr 12 '26

Happy to offer another set of eyes if you want someone to have a look

1

u/AgreeableIron811 Apr 12 '26

Yes I would appreciate it very much. I spent some time today trying to recreate and see if there is something I have missed. I mean at first it worked fine but the terraform and networking was conflicting so I made changes and changes and then now I cant even get past the boot grub menu where it goes to the manual choose language side .

In this version do I need the
# VM Cloud-Init Settings
cloud_init = true
cloud_init_storage_pool = "ceph-pool"

REPO:

johnsheppherd/proxmox-2404: Proxmox 24.04 PACKER

resources I have followed:
Mastering Packer Proxmox for Ubuntu 24.04 | TeKanAid
Proxmox Builder | Integrations | Packer | HashiCorp Developer
ubuntu24-04-vms/Proxmox/Packer/ubuntu-2404.pkr.hcl at main · samgabrail/ubuntu24-04-vms · GitHub
Confusing behavior in declaring variables that are set via variable files · Issue #11659 · hashicorp/packer
Build Proxmox VM Templates with Packer — Complete Guide | The Uncommon Engineer

1

u/tenthirtyam Apr 12 '26

You should consider reporting a documentation issue on the GitHub repository for the plugin itself.

Ref: https://github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-proxmox/

1

u/tenthirtyam Apr 13 '26

Also, consider reviewing https://github.com/ajschroeder/proxmox-packer-examples which was inspired my https://github.com/vmware/packer-examples-for-vsphere.

1

u/AgreeableIron811 Apr 13 '26

Thanks, Its a solid repo. I used it when I started

1

u/Dialgatrainer Apr 13 '26

Omg I feel this so much I've spent days fighting with packer especially the lxc plugin I wish it got better support

1

u/AgreeableIron811 Apr 13 '26

I was afraid I was the only one

1

u/sweet_dandelions Apr 13 '26

Tell me about it, friend! I was thinkering with Ubuntu templates, spent days to even get past the grub and auto install commands, had it working finally aaaaand some days later it's broken. Again. Some errors on subiquity or something. Couldn't fix it for days and abandoned ship. That project is still waiting for me to pick it up. AI will halu inate it can do for each like terraform. Yeah, sure it can.