# pi-gen

Tool used to create Raspberry Pi OS images, and custom images based on Raspberry Pi OS,
which was in turn derived from the Raspbian project.

**Note**: Raspberry Pi OS 32 bit images are based primarily on Raspbian, while
Raspberry Pi OS 64 bit images are based primarily on Debian.

**Note**: 32 bit images should be built from the `master` branch.
64 bit images should be built from the `arm64` branch.

## Dependencies

pi-gen runs on Debian-based operating systems released after 2017, and we
always advise you use the latest OS for security reasons.

On other Linux distributions it may be possible to use the Docker build described
below.

To install the required dependencies for `pi-gen` you should run:

```bash
apt-get install coreutils quilt parted qemu-user-static debootstrap zerofree zip \
dosfstools libarchive-tools libcap2-bin grep rsync xz-utils file git curl bc \
gpg pigz xxd arch-test
```

The file `depends` contains a list of tools needed.  The format of this
package is `<tool>[:<debian-package>]`.

## Getting started with building your images

Getting started is as simple as cloning this repository on your build machine. You
can do so with:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/RPI-Distro/pi-gen.git
```

`--depth 1` can be added after `git clone` to create a shallow clone, only containing
the latest revision of the repository. Do not do this on your development machine.

Also, be careful to clone the repository to a base path **NOT** containing spaces.
This configuration is not supported by debootstrap and will lead to `pi-gen` not
running.

After cloning the repository, you can move to the next step and start configuring
your build.