Getting Started

Here are some tips to get you started.

Get OpenXT

OpenXT is not just a product, it is a platform. The project itself can be quite daunting with its myriad of repositories. The main open source project is here on Github:

https://github.com/OpenXT

For some the best way to get started might be to just grab a build off this public builder. It runs nightly builds of the master branch of OpenXT:

http://openxt.ainfosec.com/builds/master/

In particular you will want the installation ISO. So e.g. for a particular build:

http://openxt.ainfosec.com/builds/master/oxt-dev-39-master/iso/installer.iso

The server runs instances of Buildbot. You can see what the main builder is currently building using the first link on:

http://openxt.ainfosec.com

To get an idea what sort of hardware you will need to run OpenXT, see the Hardware Guide to get an idea. After installing OpenXT, a guest can be created using the Install VM button at the top of the UI. The simplest way to install a guest is to create one with OS installation media (e.g. a CDROM) in the drive. Once a guest is created and running, the xctools.iso will be present in the guest to allow OpenXT guest tools to be installed. For Windows guests, the build machine certificate will need to be installed. It can be found here:

http://openxt.ainfosec.com/certificates/windows/

Follow the instruction for Installing the Windows driver certificate before running the installation on Windows.

If you want to jump in and start building OpenXT then How to build OpenXT is where you want to go.

Contribute

Contributing to OpenXT will be a bit awkward while we're establishing our process. Currently we're transitioning from a closed to an open source model so we don't yet have a handle on all of the new tools that we're using. For now use the How to contribute page as a "best practices" guide to get you started. Another good resource is the task list in What needs doing? if you want to know what needs doing on the OpenXT project.

On this page:

Join the Community!

There is an OpenXT google group for information on existing development efforts. Feel free to join the group and discuss any / all aspects of the project. The use of these tools is subject to change in the future. If it turns out that (for instance) the Google Group doesn't work the way we want / need, we may expend the resources to set up an "old-school" mailing list. But for now, we're sticking to the free stuff. We also have an #openxt IRC channel set up on freenode. Feel free to join and ask questions there too.

Product Documents

The documents below are dated, especially with respect to video architecture, but may be useful to new developers. And fixing up these documents is one of the things on the task list mentioned above!

Related pages