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preconfiguring debian

Ask for help with issues regarding the Installations of the Debian O/S.
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lllux
Posts: 3
Joined: 2013-04-18 12:38

preconfiguring debian

#1 Post by lllux »

Hi there,

I have followed this guide: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed/EditIso in order to add a preseed.cfg to my debian iso.

I can then boot the iso (using qemu for testing) and after the installer boot screen it gives the error "The installer failed to process the perconfiguration file from file:///preseed.cfg. The file may be corrupt"

I have tried a few different files;
the one given here: http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/example-preseed.txt,
one using "debconf-get-selections --installer > file_selections" on a working freshly installed system,
and one with just the fist line (setting the locale) to see of it would miss that question. ["d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US"]
All give the same error (stated above).

Is there something im missing? did I do something stupid?

*update*

Sorry to update this so soon... but it would apear something in (my interpretation of) that guide is turning my preseed.cfg file into garbled rubish doing the process in reverse yeilds a preseed file that is not human readable.

I would also like to know if there is a way of bypassing the installer boot screen to go straight to the installation. I was hoping this would be the case when I used a preseed file but it would seem not, unless the apperance of the screen is a byproduct of my error.

Reason why... I want to create an iso that will be used to create a qemu-KVM machine without using a vnc client (with NO input at all from power on to when I can log in via ssh).

Thanks in advance for you help.

J
Last edited by lllux on 2013-04-18 13:40, edited 5 times in total.

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llivv
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Re: preconfiguring debian

#2 Post by llivv »

have you installed FAI packages? ie: fai-doc
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

lllux
Posts: 3
Joined: 2013-04-18 12:38

Re: preconfiguring debian

#3 Post by lllux »

I have not looked very far into that... yet, where I looked said it was quite complicated and seemed to suggest it was not the ideal solution, If I could achive the desired results using the standard debian installer it would be great.

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llivv
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Re: preconfiguring debian

#4 Post by llivv »

lllux wrote:I have not looked very far into that... yet, where I looked said it was quite complicated and seemed to suggest it was not the ideal solution, If I could achive the desired results using the standard debian installer it would be great.
please post the url of that advice
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

lllux
Posts: 3
Joined: 2013-04-18 12:38

Re: preconfiguring debian

#5 Post by lllux »

http://debian-handbook.info/browse/whee ... ation.html

quotes:
"Fully Automatic Installer is probably the oldest automated deployment system for Debian, which explains its status as a reference; but its very flexible nature only just compensates for the complexity it involves. "
and
"At the end of the day, the best tool to install Debian systems should logically be the official Debian installer"

OK so its not quite as strongly worded as I remember when I read it a few hrs ago... i will look into it! Thanks.

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llivv
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Re: preconfiguring debian

#6 Post by llivv »

It's a very well written reference:
please see:
12.3.1. Fully Automatic Installer (FAI wrote:FAI uses a specific approach for defining the various installable profiles. Instead of simply duplicating a reference installation, FAI is a full-fledged installer, fully configurable via a set of files and scripts stored on the server; the default location /srv/fai/config/ is not automatically created, so the administrator needs to create it along with the relevant files. Most of the times, these files will be customized from the example files available in the documentation for the fai-doc package, more particularly the /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/examples/simple/ directory.
and
12.3.2.2. Creating a Preseed File wrote:A preseed file is a plain text file, where each line contains the answer to one Debconf question. A line is split across four fields separated by whitespace (spaces or tabs), as in, for instance, d-i mirror/suite string stable:

the first field is the “owner” of the question; “d-i” is used for questions relevant to the installer, but it can also be a package name for questions coming from Debian packages;

the second field is an identifier for the question;

third, the type of question;

the fourth and last field contains the value for the answer; note that it must be separated from the third field with a single space, so that the value can start with whitespace.

The simplest way to write a preseed file is to install a system by hand. Then debconf-get-selections --installer will provide the answers concerning the installer. Answers about other packages can be obtained with debconf-get-selections. However, a cleaner solution is to write the preseed file by hand, starting from an example and the reference documentation: with such an approach, only questions where the default answer needs to be overridden can be preseeded; using the priority=critical boot parameter will instruct Debconf to only ask critical questions, and use the default answer for others.
May I be so bold as to suggest?
Let FAI do the heavy lifting and setup everything with the defaults.
It still may take a long time to get that far.
It's not a kids toy.
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Mrfai
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Re: preconfiguring debian

#7 Post by Mrfai »

[Removed by Moderator]

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Re: preconfiguring debian

#8 Post by arochester »

@ Mrfai

Please do not add to posts that are over four years old.

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