On 10/11/2017 04:17 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 08:18:29AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
My long term goal is a "minimal" install -- my precise definition of
"minimal" to be specified.
Constraints when accomplishing this goal:
1. the installer will be on a USB flash drive.
2. the installation target will also be a USB flash drive.
The underlying purpose is having a Debian system available
to any machine capable of booting from a USB flash drive.
This implies installing Grub to MBR of the flash drive.
This is slightly tricky - not completely impossible but you need to be
very clear which USB stick is which at all times :)
<chuckle> That was specifically why I was asking how to force that
question to be asked when using preseeding. Reasons for preseeding:
1. I'll be making multiple almost identical test installs to
hone my implementation of "minimal".
2. I'm working on documenting details related to Bug#852323.
Doing this with a preseed file will allow others to check
my observations.
[snip procedure description]
It did not address the questions I asked.
Two Questions:
Section B.4.10. "Package selection" says in part "You can also
choose to install no tasks, ... We recommend always including
the standard task." I need to know what is installed when no
tasks are specified and when the standard task is specified.
My question was evidently unclear. A clearer question might be
"Where do I find a list of packages when:
1. no tasks are specified?
2. the "standard task" is specified?
Section B.4.11. "Boot loader installation" covers when/where Grub is
installed. I'll always install to _*A*_ MBR. I need to force the
installer to ask which device is target. It is unclear to me.
I note that
https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=preseed.cfg#CA-92ec8c7fca7565142e8daa9b11114577891ee95c_56
says "d-i grub-installer/choose_bootdev select manual".
But I do not see anything similar in Section B.4.11.
This portion of the question was the reason for posting to debian-boot
rather than debian-user as this list is oriented towards those creating
and documenting the installer.
I'm not sure this is a bug or if I'm not reading Appendix B correctly.