> > Illo de' Illis wrote: > > > > On Wed, May 19, 1999 at 09:12:29AM -0700, Dean Carpenter wrote: > > > Now during installation, the exim preinst and postinst scripts would > > > source the install-response file, creating the variables with the > > > responses they need. At this point, it's just as if they've asked the > > > questions and retrieved the user responses. If a particular response > > > variable doesn't exist in the install-response file, the script can > > > still prompt just like normal, though this ruins the effect. > > > > Hmm... and, if we run dselect, dpkg, apt-get or whatever it is without any > > system-wide configuration script, it could generate a skeleton file with the > > user's answers logged. This way we should be able to carefully configure the > > first machine, cut away the variable configuration fields from the generated > > configuration script, and feed the rest of the machines with it. > > Or better yet, modify the variable parameters for each system, and get > complete auto installs. :) I'd use this allot to generate "identical" > systems that vary only in name and IP. > > I like the idea of a system install prompt answer file. If parameters > that are common to many packages get common names that all packages > could share, this could even work better. It would also be nice to > allow some conditional parsing, possibly on the level of a simple C > preprocessor, but that isn't needed for the initial versions. > > One of the main reasons I would like to have this ability is for > rebuilds of a system. If you save the configuration file off to > floppy, then you can rebuild the system quickly to the same state > of your initial load. > > A possible format for variables would be: > > <package>__<variable_name>: "<value>" > > For a line that would look like: > > Apache_SSL__webmaster: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > Notes: Convert "-" in package names to "_". The "__" (double > underscore) is for separating package name and variable name parts. > If package name isn't needed as in the definition of a globally > used value, then the "__" isn't used, and just the variable name > is used. Use quoting that is compatible with bash. > > If a common set of bash shell functions and C functions are > created, then programs could easily open and read the > configuration in. Then when they want to prompt for a value, > the call the prompt function which looks up to see if it's > already set. It then uses that value, or it prompts. I see > three main functions, load, prompt, and save. Load reads in > set of values. Prompt searches for a value in the loaded set, > if not found it prompts for the value. Save dumps the set of > vales out to a file if anything changed. > > If in the above example there wasn't a definition for > "Apache_SSL__webmaster", but there is a definition for > "webmaster", then a call by the Apache-SSL configuration > script would retrieve the value set for "webmaster". > > There is a potential problem with package upgrades invalidating > values sets. For this I propose that when the file is generated, > the package sets a variable with > > <package>__Version: "<package_version>". > > For a line that would look like: > > Apache_SSL__Version: "1.3.6" > > When a package reads in the settings, it can check the version > tag to check for value set compatibility. > > I'd volunteer time to work on this, but I'm embroiled in finding > a way to compress the Tiger map data onto one CD. > > -- > | Bryan Andersen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://softail.visi.com | > | Buzzwords are like annoying little flies that deserve to be swatted. | > | -Bryan Andersen | > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
I'm working on an automatic installation tool. It as almost working. I will post more information in the following days. The basic idea is to record automatically all the answers given during the first installation and retrieve them from a db when installing identical machines. -- Massimo Dal Zotto +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Massimo Dal Zotto email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Via Marconi, 141 phone: ++39-0461534251 | | 38057 Pergine Valsugana (TN) www: http://www.cs.unitn.it/~dz/ | | Italy pgp: finger [EMAIL PROTECTED] | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+