> Examples of usage of each of what? I was referring to this statement of yours: "profiles" defines which profiles are included in simple-cdd, "auto-profiles" selects which profiles to use at run-time without asking the user."
I'm not sure why it didn't make it through. I am still learning this cool but unusual bug reporting system. Anyway, that statement made no sense to me, even after reading lots and lots of docs and help files. Please provide examples of each. > Yes, please include the contents of these files, otherwise it's > essentially impossible for me to understand what you're doing or what's Okay: --custom.preseed-- #### Contents of the preconfiguration file (for jessie) ### Localization # Preseeding only locale sets language, country and locale. #d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US # The values can also be preseeded individually for greater flexibility. d-i debian-installer/language string en d-i debian-installer/country string CH #d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US.UTF-8 # Optionally specify additional locales to be generated. d-i localechooser/supported-locales multiselect en_GB.UTF-8, de_DE.UTF-8 # Keyboard selection. d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select us # d-i keyboard-configuration/toggle select No toggling ### Network configuration d-i netcfg/enable boolean true # netcfg will choose an interface that has link if possible. This makes it # skip displaying a list if there is more than one interface. d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto # To pick a particular interface instead: #d-i netcfg/choose_interface select eth1 # To set a different link detection timeout (default is 3 seconds). # Values are interpreted as seconds. #d-i netcfg/link_wait_timeout string 10 # If you have a slow dhcp server and the installer times out waiting for # it, this might be useful. #d-i netcfg/dhcp_timeout string 60 #d-i netcfg/dhcpv6_timeout string 60 # If you prefer to configure the network manually, uncomment this line and # the static network configuration below. #d-i netcfg/disable_autoconfig boolean true # If you want the preconfiguration file to work on systems both with and # without a dhcp server, uncomment these lines and the static network # configuration below. #d-i netcfg/dhcp_failed note #d-i netcfg/dhcp_options select Configure network manually # Static network configuration. # # IPv4 example #d-i netcfg/get_ipaddress string 192.168.1.42 #d-i netcfg/get_netmask string 255.255.255.0 #d-i netcfg/get_gateway string 192.168.1.1 #d-i netcfg/get_nameservers string 192.168.1.1 #d-i netcfg/confirm_static boolean true # # IPv6 example #d-i netcfg/get_ipaddress string fc00::2 #d-i netcfg/get_netmask string ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:: #d-i netcfg/get_gateway string fc00::1 #d-i netcfg/get_nameservers string fc00::1 #d-i netcfg/confirm_static boolean true # Any hostname and domain names assigned from dhcp take precedence over # values set here. However, setting the values still prevents the questions # from being shown, even if values come from dhcp. d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain # If you want to force a hostname, regardless of what either the DHCP # server returns or what the reverse DNS entry for the IP is, uncomment # and adjust the following line. #d-i netcfg/hostname string somehost # Disable that annoying WEP key dialog. d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string # The wacky dhcp hostname that some ISPs use as a password of sorts. #d-i netcfg/dhcp_hostname string radish # If non-free firmware is needed for the network or other hardware, you can # configure the installer to always try to load it, without prompting. Or # change to false to disable asking. #d-i hw-detect/load_firmware boolean true ### Network console # Use the following settings if you wish to make use of the network-console # component for remote installation over SSH. This only makes sense if you # intend to perform the remainder of the installation manually. #d-i anna/choose_modules string network-console #d-i network-console/authorized_keys_url string http://10.0.0.1/openssh-key #d-i network-console/password password r00tme #d-i network-console/password-again password r00tme ### Mirror settings # If you select ftp, the mirror/country string does not need to be set. #d-i mirror/protocol string ftp d-i mirror/country string manual d-i mirror/http/hostname string http.de.debian.org d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian d-i mirror/http/proxy string # Suite to install. d-i mirror/suite string stable # Suite to use for loading installer components (optional). #d-i mirror/udeb/suite string testing ### Account setup d-i passwd/root-login boolean true # Alternatively, to skip creation of a normal user account. d-i passwd/make-user boolean false # Root password, either in clear text d-i passwd/root-password password wootaler d-i passwd/root-password-again password wootaler # or encrypted using an MD5 hash. #d-i passwd/root-password-crypted password [MD5 hash] # To create a normal user account. #d-i passwd/user-fullname string Debian User #d-i passwd/username string debian # Normal user's password, either in clear text #d-i passwd/user-password password insecure #d-i passwd/user-password-again password insecure # or encrypted using an MD5 hash. #d-i passwd/user-password-crypted password [MD5 hash] # Create the first user with the specified UID instead of the default. #d-i passwd/user-uid string 1010 # The user account will be added to some standard initial groups. To # override that, use this. #d-i passwd/user-default-groups string audio cdrom video ### Clock and time zone setup # Controls whether or not the hardware clock is set to UTC. d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true # You may set this to any valid setting for $TZ; see the contents of # /usr/share/zoneinfo/ for valid values. d-i time/zone string UTC # Controls whether to use NTP to set the clock during the install d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true # NTP server to use. The default is almost always fine here. #d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string ntp.example.com ### Partitioning ## Partitioning example # If the system has free space you can choose to only partition that space. # This is only honoured if partman-auto/method (below) is not set. #d-i partman-auto/init_automatically_partition select biggest_free # Alternatively, you may specify a disk to partition. If the system has only # one disk the installer will default to using that, but otherwise the device # name must be given in traditional, non-devfs format (so e.g. /dev/sda # and not e.g. /dev/discs/disc0/disc). # For example, to use the first SCSI/SATA hard disk: #d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda # In addition, you'll need to specify the method to use. # The presently available methods are: # - regular: use the usual partition types for your architecture # - lvm: use LVM to partition the disk # - crypto: use LVM within an encrypted partition d-i partman-auto/method string lvm # If one of the disks that are going to be automatically partitioned # contains an old LVM configuration, the user will normally receive a # warning. This can be preseeded away... d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true # The same applies to pre-existing software RAID array: d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true # And the same goes for the confirmation to write the lvm partitions. d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true # You can choose one of the three predefined partitioning recipes: # - atomic: all files in one partition # - home: separate /home partition # - multi: separate /home, /var, and /tmp partitions d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic # Or provide a recipe of your own... # If you have a way to get a recipe file into the d-i environment, you can # just point at it. #d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe_file string /hd-media/recipe # If not, you can put an entire recipe into the preconfiguration file in one # (logical) line. This example creates a small /boot partition, suitable # swap, and uses the rest of the space for the root partition: #d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string \ # boot-root :: \ # 40 50 100 ext3 \ # $primary{ } $bootable{ } \ # method{ format } format{ } \ # use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } \ # mountpoint{ /boot } \ # . \ # 500 10000 1000000000 ext3 \ # method{ format } format{ } \ # use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } \ # mountpoint{ / } \ # . \ # 64 512 300% linux-swap \ # method{ swap } format{ } \ # . # The full recipe format is documented in the file partman-auto-recipe.txt # included in the 'debian-installer' package or available from D-I source # repository. This also documents how to specify settings such as file # system labels, volume group names and which physical devices to include # in a volume group. # This makes partman automatically partition without confirmation, provided # that you told it what to do using one of the methods above. d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true d-i partman/choose_partition select finish d-i partman/confirm boolean true d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true ## Partitioning using RAID # The method should be set to "raid". #d-i partman-auto/method string raid # Specify the disks to be partitioned. They will all get the same layout, # so this will only work if the disks are the same size. #d-i partman-auto/disk string /dev/sda /dev/sdb # Next you need to specify the physical partitions that will be used. #d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string \ # multiraid :: \ # 1000 5000 4000 raid \ # $primary{ } method{ raid } \ # . \ # 64 512 300% raid \ # method{ raid } \ # . \ # 500 10000 1000000000 raid \ # method{ raid } \ # . # Last you need to specify how the previously defined partitions will be # used in the RAID setup. Remember to use the correct partition numbers # for logical partitions. RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10 are supported; # devices are separated using "#". # Parameters are: # <raidtype> <devcount> <sparecount> <fstype> <mountpoint> \ # <devices> <sparedevices> #d-i partman-auto-raid/recipe string \ # 1 2 0 ext3 / \ # /dev/sda1#/dev/sdb1 \ # . \ # 1 2 0 swap - \ # /dev/sda5#/dev/sdb5 \ # . \ # 0 2 0 ext3 /home \ # /dev/sda6#/dev/sdb6 \ # . # For additional information see the file partman-auto-raid-recipe.txt # included in the 'debian-installer' package or available from D-I source # repository. # This makes partman automatically partition without confirmation. d-i partman-md/confirm boolean true d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true d-i partman/choose_partition select finish d-i partman/confirm boolean true d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true ## Controlling how partitions are mounted # The default is to mount by UUID, but you can also choose "traditional" to # use traditional device names, or "label" to try filesystem labels before # falling back to UUIDs. #d-i partman/mount_style select uuid ### Base system installation # Configure APT to not install recommended packages by default. Use of this # option can result in an incomplete system and should only be used by very # experienced users. #d-i base-installer/install-recommends boolean false # The kernel image (meta) package to be installed; "none" can be used if no # kernel is to be installed. #d-i base-installer/kernel/image string linux-image-586 ### Apt setup # You can choose to install non-free and contrib software. #d-i apt-setup/non-free boolean true #d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean true # Uncomment this if you don't want to use a network mirror. #d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean false # Select which update services to use; define the mirrors to be used. # Values shown below are the normal defaults. #d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security, updates #d-i apt-setup/security_host string security.debian.org # Additional repositories, local[0-9] available #d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string \ # http://local.server/debian stable main #d-i apt-setup/local0/comment string local server # Enable deb-src lines #d-i apt-setup/local0/source boolean true # URL to the public key of the local repository; you must provide a key or # apt will complain about the unauthenticated repository and so the # sources.list line will be left commented out #d-i apt-setup/local0/key string http://local.server/key # By default the installer requires that repositories be authenticated # using a known gpg key. This setting can be used to disable that # authentication. Warning: Insecure, not recommended. #d-i debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated boolean true # Uncomment this to add multiarch configuration for i386 #d-i apt-setup/multiarch string i386 ### Package selection tasksel tasksel/first multiselect manual #standard, web-server, kde-desktop #tasksel tasksel/first multiselect desktop #tasksel tasksel/desktop multiselect task-xfce-desktop # Individual additional packages to install d-i pkgsel/include string build-essential git w3m secure-delete rsync nmap screen tmux sudo pwgen net-tools dnstools # Whether to upgrade packages after debootstrap. # Allowed values: none, safe-upgrade, full-upgrade #d-i pkgsel/upgrade select none # Some versions of the installer can report back on what software you have # installed, and what software you use. The default is not to report back, # but sending reports helps the project determine what software is most # popular and include it on CDs. popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean true ### Boot loader installation # Grub is the default boot loader (for x86). If you want lilo installed # instead, uncomment this: #d-i grub-installer/skip boolean true # To also skip installing lilo, and install no bootloader, uncomment this # too: #d-i lilo-installer/skip boolean true # This is fairly safe to set, it makes grub install automatically to the MBR # if no other operating system is detected on the machine. d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true # This one makes grub-installer install to the MBR if it also finds some other # OS, which is less safe as it might not be able to boot that other OS. d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true # Due notably to potential USB sticks, the location of the MBR can not be # determined safely in general, so this needs to be specified: #d-i grub-installer/bootdev string /dev/sda # To install to the first device (assuming it is not a USB stick): #d-i grub-installer/bootdev string default # Alternatively, if you want to install to a location other than the mbr, # uncomment and edit these lines: #d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean false #d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean false #d-i grub-installer/bootdev string (hd0,1) # To install grub to multiple disks: #d-i grub-installer/bootdev string (hd0,1) (hd1,1) (hd2,1) # Optional password for grub, either in clear text #d-i grub-installer/password password r00tme #d-i grub-installer/password-again password r00tme # or encrypted using an MD5 hash, see grub-md5-crypt(8). #d-i grub-installer/password-crypted password [MD5 hash] # Use the following option to add additional boot parameters for the # installed system (if supported by the bootloader installer). # Note: options passed to the installer will be added automatically. #d-i debian-installer/add-kernel-opts string nousb ### Finishing up the installation # During installations from serial console, the regular virtual consoles # (VT1-VT6) are normally disabled in /etc/inittab. Uncomment the next # line to prevent this. #d-i finish-install/keep-consoles boolean true # Avoid that last message about the install being complete. d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note # This will prevent the installer from ejecting the CD during the reboot, # which is useful in some situations. #d-i cdrom-detect/eject boolean false # This is how to make the installer shutdown when finished, but not # reboot into the installed system. #d-i debian-installer/exit/halt boolean true # This will power off the machine instead of just halting it. #d-i debian-installer/exit/poweroff boolean true ### Preseeding other packages # Depending on what software you choose to install, or if things go wrong # during the installation process, it's possible that other questions may # be asked. You can preseed those too, of course. To get a list of every # possible question that could be asked during an install, do an # installation, and then run these commands: # debconf-get-selections --installer > file # debconf-get-selections >> file #### Advanced options ### Running custom commands during the installation # d-i preseeding is inherently not secure. Nothing in the installer checks # for attempts at buffer overflows or other exploits of the values of a # preconfiguration file like this one. Only use preconfiguration files from # trusted locations! To drive that home, and because it's generally useful, # here's a way to run any shell command you'd like inside the installer, # automatically. # This first command is run as early as possible, just after # preseeding is read. #d-i preseed/early_command string anna-install some-udeb # This command is run immediately before the partitioner starts. It may be # useful to apply dynamic partitioner preseeding that depends on the state # of the disks (which may not be visible when preseed/early_command runs). #d-i partman/early_command \ # string debconf-set partman-auto/disk "$(list-devices disk | head -n1)" # This command is run just before the install finishes, but when there is # still a usable /target directory. You can chroot to /target and use it # directly, or use the apt-install and in-target commands to easily install # packages and run commands in the target system. #d-i preseed/late_command string apt-install zsh; in-target chsh -s /bin/zsh -- --custom.packages-- (blank) -- --custom.postinst-- (contains a custom BASH script with private data) -- --custom.description-- (contains a single-line string with private data describing the project) -- --custom.udebs-- # the udeb needed for simple-cdd simple-cdd-profiles -- >> Wait wait whoah whoah. The docs I've been reading for weeks don't >> sound like this at all. I'm going to explain what I've been lead to >> believe. You will hopefully tell me *specifically* how I am wrong, >> and suggest correct usage instead. >What docs are you referring to? My primary source was https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-handbook/sect.automated-installation.en.html >From the README: > Default Profile > the profile named "default" is special, because it always gets installed. > modify the profile/default.* files with care, as simple-cdd relies upon the > default profile working in certain ways ... That's a great example of what I meant, but maybe it makes sense not to bog down with details. > I don't understand where you get this impression from. So clearly the issue is that we communicate differently. Maybe you're vague and I'm making assumptions. Maybe I am just dumb today. Each of those can be a common set of errors leading to situations like this. Once we figure out the issue (ie - you and I use this bug report such that you explain how it really works) I will happily provide suggested documentation. > Language selection is addressed in the README in the "Language and > Country Selection" heading. It's one of those special configurations. Yes and I think I did it right (please see sample above) but I still get the problem of being asked for a language selection when I boot the VM. Maybe I did not do it right? > There's also some debian-installer documentation the briefly touches on > what questions can be answered with which methods of preseeding: > https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/apbs01.en.html Much too briefly. I've read that, and I did not find it helpful. It was very abstract. > There are a lot of other things documented in the adjacent > chapters. Probably, but none of them are naturally led to from the 12.3 doc, so they might be there but be unfound when it matters. >>> That said, not including or aggressively overriding contents in the >>> default profile is >>> possible to break how simple-cdd works, so be selective in what you >>> override. >> >> That's not helpful! Please point me to the docs that explain the >> precise interplay between default and custom profiles, including a >> specific list of what I must not override! > >There are no such docs. The specific values change over time largely >entirely outside of simple-cdd... So the solution is... to guess? > Yes, I would recommend copying whatever files you need to modify from > /usr/share/simple-cdd/profiles/ into your working ./profiles/ directory > and change as little as you can to get what you want. What? *Why would I need to modify a file from /usr/share/simple-cdd/profiles*? You are making some assumption here that is not explained or clear. > For each file type it looks first in ./profiles/PROFILE.* and if it > doesn't find one, it looks in /usr/share/simple-cdd/profiles/PROFILE.* Okay, now this is clear. > The "default" profile is *always* loaded, so if you want to change > something in it, you need to add ./profiles/default.* for any of the > files you want to change or override. Ohhhhhhh. I knew it was "always selected; it contains the bare minimum required for Simple-CDD to work." But this is a little different. Okay. > The "default" profile is loaded a little earlier than the other > profiles; any other simple-cdd profiles will be loaded after the > " default" profile preseed has run and should be able to overwrite the > "default" settings ... except for things that have already been used by > debian-installer. Two points: 1. This should almost definitely go into https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-handbook/sect.automated-installation.en.html section 12.3.3.1. 2. How can I know which "things... have already been used by debian-installer"? >>> The custom.preseed file may not be loaded till later in the process; it >>> depends on which questions you're thinking are answered by it. There is >>> a question during the install that asks which simple-cdd profiles to >>> load; any pquestions asked before that obviously can't be preseeded. Does this imply that it is not possible to have a completely non-interactive installer? Why does the install ask which simple-cdd profiles to load, if I use the --profiles switch? > [non-interactive installer] should be possible, but often time all the exact > questions asked may > be hard to track down. Can you point me to a doc that has a complete list? What process does one use to "track down" the basic language required for an effective preseed file? > There's no real difference in simple-cdd profiles defined in ./profiles/ > and in /usr/share/simple-cdd/profiles, other than the order in which > simple-cdd looks for files, preferring the files in the ./profiles/ > directory. I would also add this to https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-handbook/sect.automated-installation.en.html section 12.3.3.1 or maybe to https://wiki.debian.org/Simple-CDD/Howto. (I don't know about the Howto because I can never see the Debian wiki.) I would phrase it like this: "When reading profiles, simple-cdd gives precedence to profiles defined in ./profiles/ and then in /usr/share/simple-cdd/profiles." > Once you grasp this, I would *very* much appreciate patches to improve > the documentation. :) I will be happy to do this. First, let's work on the "Once you grasp this" part. I am trying, I promise. And I am starting to see that this may not be a bug, but I'm not 100% sure and anyway I would really benefit from the help (ie - examining the files above to determine why I might have the original error.)
