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270 lines
9.8 KiB
270 lines
9.8 KiB
---
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description: |
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Install external Packer plugins that extend Packer functionality.
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page_title: Install Plugins
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---
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# Installing Plugins
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Packer plugins are separate, standalone applications that perform tasks during each build.
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You do not need to install the builder, provisioner, or
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post-processor components that ship with the Packer binary. Packer automatically knows how to find and launch these built-in plugins.
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This page explains how to install custom external plugins. Refer to [External Plugins](/packer/plugins) for a list of available plugins and their documentation.
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## Plugin Loading Order
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@include "plugins/plugin-location.mdx"
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## Installation Guides
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Choose the tab that corresponds to the type of plugin you want to install. If you are not sure, check the plugin's name.
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- Multi-component plugin names have the prefix `packer-plugin-`.
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- Single-component plugin names have a prefix containing the component type, like `packer-provisioner-` or `packer-builder`.
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<Tabs>
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<Tab heading="Packer init (recommended from Packer v1.7.0)">
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-> **Note:** Only _multi-component plugin binaries_ -- plugins named
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packer-plugin-\*, like the `packer-plugin-amazon` -- are expected to work with
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Packer init. The legacy `builder`, `post-processor` and `provisioner` plugin
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types will continue to be detected but Packer cannot install them automatically.
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If a plugin you use has not been upgraded to use the multi-component plugin
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architecture, contact your maintainer to request an upgrade.
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## Create a required_plugins block
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1. Add a
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[`required_plugins`](/packer/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer#specifying-plugin-requirements)
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block to your [packer block](/packer/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer). Each block will tell Packer what version(s) of a
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particular plugin can be installed. Make sure to set a valid [version
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constraint string](/packer/docs/templates/hcl_templates/blocks/packer#version-constraints).
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Here is an example `required_plugins` block:
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```hcl
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packer {
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required_plugins {
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myawesomecloud = {
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version = ">= 2.7.0"
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source = "github.com/azr/myawesomecloud"
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}
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happycloud = {
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version = ">= 1.1.3"
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source = "github.com/azr/happycloud"
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}
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}
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}
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```
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2. Run [`packer init`](/packer/docs/commands/init) from your project directory (the
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directory containing your Packer templates) to install all missing plugin
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binaries. Given the above example, Packer will try to look for a GitHub
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repository owned by user or organization `azr` named
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`packer-plugin-myawesomecloud` and `packer-plugin-happycloud`.
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## Names and Addresses
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Each plugin has two identifiers:
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- A `source` address, which is necessary when requiring a plugin not bundled with the Packer binary.
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- A unique **local name**, which is used everywhere else in a Packer configuration.
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## Local Names
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Local names allow you to access the components of a plugin and must be unique
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per configuration.
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This is best explained using an example. In the above `required_plugins` block,
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we declared the local name "myawesomecloud" for the plugin `azr/myawesomecloud`.
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If the "myawesomecloud" plugin contains both an "ebs" builder and an "import"
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post-processor, then the builder will be accessed in a source block by using:
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```hcl
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source "myawesomecloud-ebs" "example" {
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// builder configuration...
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}
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```
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similarly, the import post-processor would be accessed by declaring the
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post-processor block:
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```hcl
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post-processor "myawesomecloud-import" {
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// post-processor configuration...
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}
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```
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If we change the required_plugins block to use a different local name "foo":
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```hcl
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required_plugins {
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foo = {
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version = ">= 2.7.0"
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source = "github.com/azr/myawesomecloud"
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}
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}
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```
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Then we'd instead access that builder using the source:
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```hcl
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source "foo-ebs" "example" {
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// builder configuration...
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}
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```
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## Source Addresses
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A plugin's source address is its global identifier. It also tells Packer where
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to download it.
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Source addresses consist of three parts delimited by slashes (`/`), as
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follows:
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`<HOSTNAME>/<NAMESPACE>/<TYPE>`
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- **Hostname:** The hostname of the location/service that
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distributes the plugin. Currently, the only valid "hostname" is github.com,
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but we plan to eventually support plugins downloaded from other domains.
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- **Namespace:** An organizational namespace within the specified host.
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This often is the organization that publishes the plugin.
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- **Type:** A short name for the platform or system the plugin manages. The
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type is usually the plugin's preferred local name.
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For example, the fictional `myawesomecloud` plugin could belong to the
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`hashicorp` namespace on `github.com`, so its `source` could be
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`github.com/hashicorp/myawesomecloud`,
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-> Note: the actual _repository_ that myawesomecloud comes from must always have
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the name format `github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-myawesomecloud`, but the
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`required_plugins` block omits the redundant `packer-plugin-` repository prefix
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for brevity.
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The source address with all three components given explicitly is called the
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plugin's _fully-qualified address_. You will see fully-qualified address in
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various outputs, like error messages.
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## Plugin Installation Workflow
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* [`packer init`](/packer/docs/commands/init) will install plugins in the **last** directory
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in the following numbered list.
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1. `PACKER_PLUGINS_PATH` if set will be the sole location for installing plugins. All other
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plugin directories will be ignored.
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1. `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR`\plugins on Windows systems, or `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR`/plugins on all other systems.
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* During the initialization of Packer, any plugin required in the
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**`required_plugins`** section will be looked up in all entries of the following
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list. **First** plugin found takes precedence. Two binaries of the same plugin
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with two different version will be considered as two different plugins. Highest
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found version matching `required_plugins` will be taken into consideration.
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During initialization, on a `darwin_amd64` system, Packer will look-up for the
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following files:
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* `PACKER_PLUGIN_PATH/github.com/azr/happycloud/packer-plugin-happycloud_*_x5.0_darwin_amd64`
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* `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR/plugins/github.com/azr/happycloud/packer-plugin-happycloud_*_x5.0_darwin_amd64`
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The first plugin-name/version files found will take precedence.
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For plugins located under the `github.com/azr/happycloud/` directory structure an accompanying SHA256SUM file
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will be required in order for `packer init` to ensure the plugin being loaded has not been tampered with.
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The SHA256SUM file will be automatically generated when a plugin is installed via `packer init` if the plugin
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was installed manually into `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR/plugins/github.com/azr/happycloud/` then the file
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`PACKER_CONFIG_DIR/plugins/github.com/azr/happycloud/packer-plugin-happycloud_*_x5.0_darwin_amd64_SHA256SUM` must be generated manually as well.
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## Implicit Github urls
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Using the following example :
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```hcl
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required_plugins {
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happycloud = {
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version = ">= 2.7.0"
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source = "github.com/azr/happycloud"
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}
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}
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```
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The plugin getter will look for plugins located at:
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- github.com/azr/packer-plugin-happycloud
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Packer will error if you set the `packer-plugin-` prefix in a `source`. This
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will avoid conflicting with other plugins for other tools, like Terraform.
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</Tab>
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<Tab heading="manually (multi-component plugin)">
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-> The [`packer plugins`](/packer/docs/commands/plugins), available from Packer v1.8.0, command allows
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you to install plugins without going through `init`.
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```shell
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packer plugins install github.com/hashicorp/vagrant
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```
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## Plugin Installation Workflow
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Plugin installation via `packer plugins install` works similar to that of the `packer init` command, with the following
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exceptions no `required_plugins` block required and can be used with both legacy JSON and HCL2 templates.
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* [`packer plugins install`](/packer/docs/commands/plugins) will install plugins in the **last** directory
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in the following numbered list.
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1. `PACKER_PLUGINS_PATH` if set will be the sole location for installing plugins. All other
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plugin directories will be ignored.
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1. `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR`\plugins on Windows systems, or `PACKER_CONFIG_DIR`/plugins on all other systems.
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For manual installation of plugin binaries, without the `packer plugins` command, please continue reading.
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The easiest way to manually install a plugin is to name it correctly, then place
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it in the proper directory. To name a plugin correctly, make sure the binary is
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named `packer-plugin-NAME`. For example, `packer-plugin-amazon` for a "plugin"
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binary named "amazon". This binary will make one or more components available to
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use. Valid types for plugins are down this page.
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The valid types for plugins are:
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- `plugin` - A plugin binary that can contain one or more of each Packer component
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type.
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- `builder` - Plugins responsible for building images for a specific
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platform.
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- `post-processor` - A post-processor responsible for taking an artifact from
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a builder and turning it into something else.
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- `provisioner` - A provisioner to install software on images created by a
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builder.
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</Tab>
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<Tab heading="manually (single-component plugin)">
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The easiest way to manually install a plugin is to name it correctly, then place
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it in the proper directory. To name a plugin correctly, make sure the binary is
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named `packer-COMPONENT-NAME`. For example, `packer-provisioner-comment` for a "plugin"
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binary named "comment". This binary will make a single provisioner named `comment` available to
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use. Valid types for plugins are down this page.
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The valid types for plugins are:
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- `plugin` - A plugin binary that can contain one or more of each Packer component
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type.
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- `builder` - Plugins responsible for building images for a specific
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platform.
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- `post-processor` - A post-processor responsible for taking an artifact from
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a builder and turning it into something else.
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- `provisioner` - A provisioner to install software on images created by a
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builder.
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</Tab>
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</Tabs>
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