Slackpass

Slackpass is a virtual machine manager for Linux distributions, inspired by Multipass. It creates and manages Linux virtual machines using KVM/QEMU with a simple command-line interface.

Features

• Multiple Linux Distributions: Support for Slackware, Debian, Fedora, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CentOS, Gentoo, and openSUSE
• KVM/QEMU Backend: Uses KVM virtualization with QEMU for high performance
• SSH Integration: Automatic SSH access to virtual machines
• Cloud Images: Downloads and uses official cloud images
• Simple CLI: Easy-to-use command-line interface similar to Multipass

Supported Distributions

• Debian: bookworm (12), bullseye (11)
• Fedora: 39, 38, 37
• AlmaLinux: 9, 8
• Rocky Linux: 9, 8
• CentOS: Stream 9, Stream 8
• openSUSE: Tumbleweed, Leap 15.5
• Gentoo: Latest
• Slackware: 15.0, 14.2

Prerequisites

• Linux operating system
• KVM virtualization support
• QEMU installed (qemu-system-x86_64, qemu-img)
• SSH client
• Go 1.21+ (for building from source)

Installing Prerequisites (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qemu-kvm qemu-utils libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils
sudo usermod -aG kvm,libvirt $USER

Installing Prerequisites (Fedora/CentOS/RHEL)

sudo dnf install qemu-kvm qemu-img libvirt libvirt-daemon-config-network libvirt-daemon-kvm
sudo usermod -aG kvm,libvirt $USER

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/slackpass/slackpass.git
cd slackpass
go build -o slackpass
sudo mv slackpass /usr/local/bin/

Quick Start

1. Launch a virtual machine:

   slackpass launch debian

2. List running instances:

   slackpass list

3. Open a shell session:

   slackpass shell butterfly-effect

4. Execute a command:

   slackpass exec butterfly-effect -- sudo apt update

5. Stop and delete an instance:

   slackpass stop butterfly-effect
   slackpass delete butterfly-effect

Commands

Core Commands

• slackpass launch [image] [name] - Create and start a new virtual machine
• slackpass list - List all virtual machine instances
• slackpass shell [name] - Open a shell session to a virtual machine
• slackpass exec [name] -- [command] - Execute a command on a virtual machine
• slackpass info [name] - Display detailed information about instances
• slackpass start [name...] - Start virtual machine instances
• slackpass stop [name...] - Stop virtual machine instances
• slackpass delete [name...] - Delete virtual machine instances

Image Management

• slackpass find [image-name] - Display available images to launch

Examples

# Launch different distributions
slackpass launch debian:bookworm mydebian
slackpass launch fedora:39 myfedora --cpus 2 --memory 2G
slackpass launch almalinux:9 myalma --disk 20G

# Find available images
slackpass find
slackpass find debian

# Manage instances
slackpass list
slackpass info mydebian
slackpass shell mydebian
slackpass exec mydebian -- ls -la /home

# Stop and clean up
slackpass stop mydebian myfedora
slackpass delete mydebian --purge

Configuration

Slackpass stores its configuration and data in ~/.slackpass/:

• ~/.slackpass/instances/ - Virtual machine instances
• ~/.slackpass/images/ - Downloaded cloud images
• ~/.slackpass/keys/ - SSH keys

Architecture

Slackpass is built with a modular architecture:

• CLI Layer: Cobra-based command-line interface
• VM Manager: High-level virtual machine operations
• KVM Client: Low-level QEMU/KVM integration
• SSH Client: SSH connection and command execution
• Image Manager: Cloud image discovery and management
• Configuration: Application settings and defaults

Development

Building

go mod download
go build -o slackpass

Testing

go test ./...

Project Structure

slackpass/
├── main.go                # Application entry point
├── cmd/                   # CLI commands
│   ├── root.go            # Root command and configuration
│   ├── launch.go          # Launch command
│   ├── list.go            # List command
│   ├── shell.go           # Shell command
│   ├── exec.go            # Exec command
│   ├── info.go            # Info command
│   ├── start.go           # Start/Stop commands
│   ├── delete.go          # Delete command
│   └── find.go            # Find command
├── internal/              # Internal packages
│   ├── vm/                # Virtual machine management
│   ├── kvm/               # KVM/QEMU integration
│   ├── ssh/               # SSH client
│   ├── images/            # Image management
│   └── config/            # Configuration
└── go.mod                 # Go module definition

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Multipass by Canonical
• Built with Cobra CLI framework
• Uses Viper for configuration management