Update Template for Debian with fixes and improvements

common/template/debian13-gui/debian.pkr.hcl

@@ -241,6 +241,38 @@ build {
   name    = "debian-13-gui-template"
   sources = ["source.vsphere-iso.debian"]
 
+  # Install VS Code + YAML extension and Zeal docsets (requires internet via DHCP)
+  provisioner "shell" {
+    inline = [
+      "set -e",
+      # BDs are mounted at boot via fstab (installer keeps trays closed via
+      # cdrom-detect/eject=false in preseed).
+      "for n in 1 2 3 4 5 6; do mountpoint -q /mnt/bd$n || mount /mnt/bd$n; done",
+      "sudo apt-get update",
+      # ── VS Code ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+      # Download the .deb directly — avoids apt-get update hitting stale CD-ROM sources
+      "curl -fL --retry 3 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=linux-deb-x64' -o /tmp/vscode.deb",
+      "file /tmp/vscode.deb | grep -q 'Debian binary package' || { echo 'VS Code download is not a valid .deb'; head -c 500 /tmp/vscode.deb; exit 1; }",
+      "dpkg -i /tmp/vscode.deb || apt-get install -fy",
+      "rm -f /tmp/vscode.deb",
+      "code --install-extension redhat.vscode-yaml --no-sandbox --user-data-dir /root/.vscode --force",
+
+      # Patch the .desktop launcher so VS Code opens without the root sandbox error
+      "sed -i 's|Exec=/usr/share/code/code|Exec=/usr/share/code/code --no-sandbox|g' /usr/share/applications/code.desktop",
+
+      # ── Zeal ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+      "apt-get install -y zeal",
+      # Qt WebEngine (Chromium) refuses to run as root without disabling sandbox.
+      # Patch the launcher to pass the env var instead of --no-sandbox flag.
+      "sed -i 's|^Exec=zeal|Exec=env QTWEBENGINE_CHROMIUM_FLAGS=--no-sandbox zeal|' /usr/share/applications/org.zealdocs.zeal.desktop",
+      "mkdir -p /root/.local/share/Zeal/Zeal/docsets",
+      "wget -qO /tmp/Python.tgz  https://kapeli.com/feeds/Python.tgz  && tar -xz -C /root/.local/share/Zeal/Zeal/docsets -f /tmp/Python.tgz  && rm /tmp/Python.tgz",
+      "wget -qO /tmp/Ansible.tgz https://kapeli.com/feeds/Ansible.tgz && tar -xz -C /root/.local/share/Zeal/Zeal/docsets -f /tmp/Ansible.tgz && rm /tmp/Ansible.tgz",
+      "wget -qO /tmp/Nginx.tgz   https://kapeli.com/feeds/Nginx.tgz   && tar -xz -C /root/.local/share/Zeal/Zeal/docsets -f /tmp/Nginx.tgz   && rm /tmp/Nginx.tgz",
+      "wget -qO /tmp/Bash.tgz    https://kapeli.com/feeds/Bash.tgz    && tar -xz -C /root/.local/share/Zeal/Zeal/docsets -f /tmp/Bash.tgz    && rm /tmp/Bash.tgz",
+    ]
+  }
+
   # Generalise the VM so every clone starts with a clean identity
   provisioner "shell" {
     inline = [