32 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
|
sidebar_current: "boxes-format"
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
# Box File Format
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
In the past, boxes were just [tar files](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_\(computing\))
|
||
|
|
of VirtualBox exports. With Vagrant supporting multiple providers, box files
|
||
|
|
are now tar files where the contents differ for each provider. They are
|
||
|
|
still tar files, but they may now optionally be [gzipped](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gzip)
|
||
|
|
as well.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Box files made for Vagrant 1.0.x and VirtualBox continue to work with
|
||
|
|
Vagrant 1.1+ and the VirtualBox provider.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The only file required within a box is a "metadata.json" file. This is
|
||
|
|
a [JSON](http://www.json.org/) file that has a top-level object that
|
||
|
|
can contain any metadata about the box. Vagrant requires that a "provider"
|
||
|
|
key exists in this metadata with the name of the provider the box is made
|
||
|
|
for.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The "metadata.json" file for a VirtualBox box:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
```json
|
||
|
|
{
|
||
|
|
"provider": "virtualbox"
|
||
|
|
}
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If there is no metadata.json file or the file does not contain valid JSON
|
||
|
|
with at least a "provider" key, then Vagrant will error when adding the box.
|