---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Convert Veewee Definitions to Packer Templates"
---

# Veewee-to-Packer

If you are or were a user of [Veewee](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee),
then there is an official tool called [veewee-to-packer](https://github.com/mitchellh/veewee-to-packer)
that will convert your Veewee definition into an equivalent Packer template.
Even if you're not a Veewee user, Veewee has a
[large library](https://github.com/jedi4ever/veewee/tree/master/templates)
of templates that can be readily used with Packer by simply converting them.

## Installation and Usage

Since Veewee itself is a Ruby project, so too is the veewee-to-packer
application so that it can read the Veewee configurations. Install it using RubyGems:

```
$ gem install veewee-to-packer
...
```

Once installed, usage is easy! Just point `veewee-to-packer`
at the `definition.rb` file of any template. The converter will output
any warnings or messages about the conversion. The example below converts
a CentOS template:

```
$ veewee-to-packer templates/CentOS-6.4/definition.rb
Success! Your Veewee definition was converted to a Packer
template! The template can be found in the `template.json` file
in the output directory: output

Please be sure to run `packer validate` against the new template
to verify settings are correct. Be sure to `cd` into the directory
first, since the template has relative paths that expect you to
use it from the same working directory.
```

***Voila!*** By default, `veewee-to-packer` will output a template that
contains a builder for both VirtualBox and VMware. You can use the
`-only` flag on `packer build` to only build one of them. Otherwise
you can use the `--builder` flag on `veewee-to-packer` to only output
specific builder configurations.

## Limitations

None, really. The tool will tell you if it can't convert a part of a
template, and whether that is a critical error or just a warning.
Most of Veewee's functions translate perfectly over to Packer. There are
still a couple missing features in Packer, but they're minimal.

## Bugs

If you find any bugs, please report them to the
[veewee-to-packer issue tracker](https://github.com/mitchellh/veewee-to-packer).
I haven't been able to exhaustively test every Veewee template, so there
are certainly some edge cases out there.
