==== Virtualization on Slackware Aarch64 ====

<note warning>OUTDATED:  Please refer to the updated installation guide, [[slackwarearm:virtualization_slackware_aarch64|here]]</note>

**This is a WIP set of notes that will eventually become an installation guide to build a virtualization stack with qemu on SA64**

The software mentioned here all have an existing SlackBuild on SlackBuilds.org.

  * Qemu
  * Libvirt
  * Virt-Manager
  * Netcat-openbsd

==== Preparation ====

Clone the latest SlackBuild git repository

<code> git clone git://git.slackbuilds.org/slackbuilds.git </code>

Checkout a new branch within the local repository.

<code>git checkout -b aarch64</code>

Find and replace the support for x86_64 with that of aarch64 architecture. Verify that the current directory is the local repo.

<code>cd /data/slackbuilds
sed -i 's/x86_/aarch/g' */*/*.SlackBuild</code>


Commit the changes to the "aarch64" branch:

<code>git add .
git commmit -m "Add aarch64 support."</code>


I install sbopkg found at https://sbopkg.org to build the packages required for virtualization.

<code>installpkg sbopkg*wsr.t?z</code>

Add the following file to the sbopkg configuration in /etc/sbopkg/repos.d/100-ble-current-aarch64.repo.

<code>SA64 aarch64 "SA64 git repository for -current" _ble git /data/slackbuilds@aarch64 ""</code>

  * Where /data/slackbuilds is the location of the slackbuilds cloned repository.
  * Where _ble is the tag used to identify all built packages

==== Installation ====

Replace the standard netcat package (nc) with the netcat-openbsd package on SlackBuilds.org to enable remote access to Virt Manager

<code>removepkg nc</code>

Optionally blacklist nc in /etc/slackpkg/blacklist to avoid accidental reinstallation during a system update.

Pull our changes from the local repository into the sbopkg file structure:

<code>sbopkg -r</code>

Create queue files:

<code>sqg -a -j$(nproc)</code>

Build and install the packages.

<code>sbopkg -i "qemu virt-manager libvirt netcat-openbsd"</code>

After some time sbopkg will report it has successfully installed the virtualization stack.

Start the Libvirt daemon:

<code>chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.libvirt
/etc/rc.d/rc.libvirt start</code>