diff --git a/packer/provision/basebuild.sh b/packer/provision/basebuild.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6413221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packer/provision/basebuild.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Ubuntu base build
+
+# vim: ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 et tw=72 :
+
+# force any errors to cause the script and job to end in failure
+set -xeu -o pipefail
+
+rh_systems() {
+    echo 'No changes to apply'
+}
+
+ubuntu_install_java_setup() {
+    DISTRO="xenial" # TODO get this programatically
+    echo debconf shared/accepted-oracle-license-v1-1 select true | debconf-set-selections
+    echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu $DISTRO main" | \
+        tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-java.list
+    echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu $DISTRO main" | \
+        tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-java.list
+    apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys EEA14886
+}
+
+ubuntu_systems() {
+    apt-get clean
+    ubuntu_install_java_setup
+
+    # set up docker repo
+    curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
+    sudo add-apt-repository \
+        "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
+         $(lsb_release -cs) \
+         stable"
+    
+    apt-get update
+    apt-get install -y \
+        bzip2 \
+        curl \
+        git \
+        less \
+        oracle-java8-installer \
+        oracle-java8-set-default \
+        python \
+        ssh \
+        zip \
+        maven \
+        nodejs \
+        nodejs-legacy \
+        npm \
+        python-pip \
+        docker-ce \
+        # end of apt-get install list
+    npm install -g bower
+    npm install karma --save-dev
+
+    #TODO clean up
+    #apt-get clean
+    #apt-get purge -y
+    #apt-get autoremove -y
+    #rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+    #rm -rf /var/cache/oracle-jdk8-installer
+    echo 'No changes to apply'
+}
+ 
+all_systems() {
+    echo 'No common distribution configuration to perform'
+}
+
+echo "---> Detecting OS"
+ORIGIN=$(facter operatingsystem | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+
+case "${ORIGIN}" in
+    fedora|centos|redhat)
+        echo "---> RH type system detected"
+        rh_systems
+    ;;
+    ubuntu)
+        echo "---> Ubuntu system detected"
+        ubuntu_systems
+    ;;
+    *)
+        echo "---> Unknown operating system"
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# execute steps for all systems
+all_systems