Pi-CI – A RasPi 5 emulator in a Docker image for creating and flashing configs

The PI-CI project is a Docker-based Raspberry Pi emulator aimed at simplifying the preparation and flashing of Raspberry Pi configurations for developers. It allows users to run a virtual machine (VM) that can preconfigure Raspberry Pi servers for first boot, create reproducible server configurations with Ansible, automate configuration distribution through continuous integration (CI) pipelines, and test ARM applications in a virtualized setting. The emulator supports Raspberry Pi models 3, 4, and 5 and includes a 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm). Users can access the internet without requiring root privileges, and the setup is designed to be safe and reproducible from source. To utilize the emulator, developers can pull the Docker image and execute commands to start the VM, save images, enable SSH access, resize images, and flash them to devices. The project also facilitates automation through Ansible, allowing programmatic control over VM operations. Users are advised to back up images before making changes and to implement security measures such as setting a root password and disabling root login. The project is licensed under GPLv3, and further instructions are available on its GitHub repository.

- The PI-CI project is a Docker-based emulator for Raspberry Pi configurations.

- It supports Raspberry Pi models 3, 4, and 5 with a 64-bit OS.

- Automation is possible using Ansible for configuration management.

- Users should back up images and secure root access for safety.

- The project is licensed under GPLv3 and has detailed instructions on GitHub.