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Chapter 11. Using shell scripts with cloud-init

You can add list values or string values to bootcmd or runcmd in cloud-init. You can also provide a shell script within userdata to execute custom commands during VM initialization.

  • If you use a string value, the entire string runs as a shell script.
  • If you use a list value for bootcmd or runcmd, each list item runs in turn using execve.
  • If you want to use cloud-init to run a shell script, provide a shell script (complete with shebang #!) instead of providing cloud-init with a .yaml file.

Refer to Run commands on first boot for examples of how to put shell scripts in bootcmd and runcmd.

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