Installing Packer

Packer is freely available via many options depending on your computer. You can download the full source code at any time via GitHub. In most cases, there is no need to compile your own release. Official binaries are available on HashiCorp’s release page: https://releases.hashicorp.com. The best way to install is via OS releases:

1. If using Brew for Mac, run the following commands to enable the HashiCorp tap and install Packer:

   brew tap hashicorp/tap
   brew install hashicorp/tap/packer

2. For RPM-based Linux distributions, use YUM or DNF to enable the HashiCorp repo for RPM-based Linux using these commands:

   sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.hashicorp.com/fedora/hashicorp.repo
   sudo dnf -y install packer

3. For DEB-based Linux distributions, enable HashiCorp’s APT repo and install Packer using these commands:

   curl -fsSL https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
   sudo apt-add-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main"
   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install packer

4. Windows users can use Chocolatey to install Packer using the following command:

   choco install packer

The OS packaging contains secure signed binaries that get verified by packaging. Downloading the binaries from HashiCorp’s releases page manually requires that downloads be verified manually with checksums before use. This verification ensures the build comes from HashiCorp and doesn’t have any compromised code. Never use a Packer release in production without verifying its signature.