Re: Next attempt to add Blends to Debian installer

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 09:52:42AM +0100, Philip Hands wrote:
> I don't have anything like a design for how that should look in my head
> though -- I guess interested parties should get together and come up
> with a design _before_ we start trying to implement it :-)

This sounds like you need someone with UX design experience to look at
this first, before you can actually implement things properly.

Perhaps this is something that could be posted as a "job" on the open
source design website? I've used them in the past to great effect for
the review interface of SReview, my video review system (we did a talk
about that process at FOSDEM 2019; you can see the video at
https://archive.fosdem.org/2019/schedule/event/open_source_design_in_trenches/)

You'd need someone who's willing and able to implement the required
changes to give feedback to the designer, and you'd need to commit to a
bit of time in order to do this properly (in my experience there were a
few iterations of back-and-forth improvements that did take some time to
get fleshed out), but I think the end result is worth it...

-- 
 w@uter.{be,co.za}
wouter@{grep.be,fosdem.org,debian.org}

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Jonas Bygdén]

However (albeit strange after reading the docs) if I remove the priority 
boot-parameter completely I DO get the hostname/domainname question and THEN I 
get the question about where to find the preseed file. Looking promising so far.

> On 20 Jan 2022, at 20:56, Jonas Bygdén  wrote:
> 
> After setting priority to ‘high’ instead of ‘critical’ I don’t even get the 
> question about where to find the preseed file...
> 
>> On 20 Jan 2022, at 19:46, john doe > > wrote:
>> 
>> On 1/20/2022 5:11 PM, Jonas Bygdén wrote:
>>> Ok, now it looks like this:
>>> 
>>> # 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
>>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>>> 
>>> # 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
>>> #d-i netcfg/hostname seen false
>>> 
>>> # 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 debian
>>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>>> 
>>> But still - it goes directly to the partitioning after choosing keyboard 
>>> layout, without any hostname question.
>>> 
>> 
>> Maybey setting the 'priority' to 'high' instead of 'critical'.
>> 
>> --
>> John Doe
> 

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Jonas Bygdén]

After setting priority to ‘high’ instead of ‘critical’ I don’t even get the 
question about where to find the preseed file...

> On 20 Jan 2022, at 19:46, john doe  wrote:
> 
> On 1/20/2022 5:11 PM, Jonas Bygdén wrote:
>> Ok, now it looks like this:
>> 
>> # 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
>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>> 
>> # 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
>> #d-i netcfg/hostname seen false
>> 
>> # 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 debian
>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>> 
>> But still - it goes directly to the partitioning after choosing keyboard 
>> layout, without any hostname question.
>> 
> 
> Maybey setting the 'priority' to 'high' instead of 'critical'.
> 
> --
> John Doe

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[john doe]

On 1/20/2022 5:11 PM, Jonas Bygdén wrote:

Ok, now it looks like this:

# 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
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false

# 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
#d-i netcfg/hostname seen false

# 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 debian
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false

But still - it goes directly to the partitioning after choosing keyboard 
layout, without any hostname question.



Maybey setting the 'priority' to 'high' instead of 'critical'.

--
John Doe

Bug#1004090: tasksel: A comma in a task's Description breaks tasksel

[Arnaud Rebillout]

Package: tasksel
Version: 3.68
Severity: normal
User: de...@kali.org
Usertags: origin-kali

Dear Maintainer,

in Kali Linux we made the mistake to put a comma in a task description:

  Description: everything -- almost all tools [>= 7 GB to download, >= 16 GB 
installed]

Cf https://gitlab.com/kalilinux/packages/tasksel/-/commit/c55a2e8b for
the complete file.

It turns out that this is not supported, because all the descriptions
are themselves packed together in a string and separated with a comma,
when tasksel.pl passes it over to tasksel-debconf. And this string is
fed to the file debian/templates which is a rfc-822 kind of file. So
there's a quite strong expectation that Descriptions should not contain
a comma, because values for the RFC-822 file are themselves comma
separated.

Interestingly, tasksel.pl escapes this comma (cf tasksel.pl, function
format_description_for_debconf), so it's aware of the problem. Maybe it
used to work, but right now it doesn't.

So what happens with a comma in the task description? Nothing on the
surface, one can still see the task in the tasksel UX, and select it.
But then tasksel silently drops it. The value of RET (from script
tasksel-debconf) is wrong, in the sense that the task with the offending
comma is missing.

For example in Kali, the value for RET is:

  "desktop, desktop-xfce, meta, meta-top10, meta-default, ,"

While it should be:

  "desktop, desktop-xfce, meta, meta-top10, meta-default, meta-everything,"

I hope it makes sense. I'm not sure I explain the problem very well.

In any case, documenting that task descriptions should not contain a
comma seems like an easy thing to do, for a start. Do you want such a patch?

Thanks,

  Arnaud

Re: Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Philip Hands]

> d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
 ^ 
as Daniel points out, you're missing 'string' in these (as I then copied ... 
oops!)

Re: Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Philip Hands]

Jonas Bygdén  writes:

>> Am Donnerstag, dem 20.01.2022 um 13:16 +0100 schrieb Jonas Bygdén:
>> > I'm trying to get an automatic install of 11.2 working using a preseed 
>> > file:
>> > (https://gist.github.com/jby/7c3010e7157286166acee617ef47da30 
>> > )
>> > hosted on a server running nginx.
>> > According to the nginx logs the file is read.
>> > What I'd like to accomplish is to have the install be as fully automated as
>> > possible, but I *want* the question about what hostname to give the client.
>> > I was told that setting these settings would make it ask me for the 
>> > hostname:
>> > d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>> > d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>> > and/or maybe this:
>> > d-i netcfg/hostname seen false
>> 
>> Works for me. I have a profile for simple-cdd which does exactly that.
>> 
>> > However, no matter how I do it it always sets the hostname to the default
>> > 'debian'.
>> >  
>> > How do I get it to ask me for the hostname? Are the order of the commands 
>> > in
>> > the preseed file significant?
>> 
>> Yes. the "seen false" must come after any pre-seeting of the value. Maybe
>> you'll have to move the
>> 
>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
>> 
>> also after preseeding netcfg/hostname? I make sure that the "seen false"
>> entries always come after everything else.
> Do you mean at the end of the file, or is it enough to have it at the end of 
> the section?
>
> I now have this in my preseed file, at the place where it’s in the example 
> file, since I’ve based my config on that:
>
> # 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 seen false
> #d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
> #d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname
> #d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain
> d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
> d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true

The thing to realise is that the 'seen' flag tells debconf that the user
has seen the question, and that it should therefore not be asked it
again. Also, that setting something via preseeding automatically sets
the seen flag (otherwise the user would get asked the question anyway,
so preseeding would be a bit useless)

So, you need to reset the 'seen' flag to 'false' _after_ setting the
value you want it to default to.

In the above, in the commented section you're setting it to false before
setting the value, so that only survives for a moment before being
automatically set again, and in the lower attempt you're setting 'seen'
to 'true' (which prevents the question being shown, and is redundant
anyway because it just got set true by the preseed setting just above).

I'd normally do it thus:

d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false

d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false


HTH

Cheers, Phil.
-- 
|)|  Philip Hands  [+44 (0)20 8530 9560]  HANDS.COM Ltd.
|-|  http://www.hands.com/http://ftp.uk.debian.org/
|(|  Hugo-Klemm-Strasse 34,   21075 Hamburg,GERMANY

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Jonas Bygdén]

Ok, now it looks like this:

# 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
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false

# 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
#d-i netcfg/hostname seen false

# 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 debian
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false

But still - it goes directly to the partitioning after choosing keyboard 
layout, without any hostname question.

> On 20 Jan 2022, at 17:00, Daniel Leidert  wrote:
> 
> Am Donnerstag, dem 20.01.2022 um 16:41 +0100 schrieb Jonas Bygdén:
> 
> [..]
> 
>> 
>> Do you mean at the end of the file, or is it enough to have it at the end of
>> the section?
> 
> I usually put the "seen false" statements at the end of the file. But it
> shouldn't be any problem to put them at the end of the section.
> 
>> I now have this in my preseed file, at the place where it’s in the example
>> file, since I’ve based my config on that:
>> 
>> # 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 seen false
>> #d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
>> #d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname
>> #d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain
> 
> It wouldn't work in that order. The pre-seeding will set the dialog to "seen
> true". So any "seen false" statement must come *after* pre-seeding a value.
> 
>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
>^^^
> There is a "string" missing.
> 
>> d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
>  
> Ditto.
> 
>> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
>> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true
>   ^^^
> 
> You have set everything to "seen true", not "false". Maybe you want to check
> that again?
> 
> Regards, Daniel
> -- 
> Regards,
> Daniel Leidert  | https://www.wgdd.de/
> GPG-Key RSA4096 / BEED4DED5544A4C03E283DC74BCD0567C296D05D
> GPG-Key ED25519 / BD3C132D8B3805D1808123AB7ACE00941E338C78
> 
> https://www.fiverr.com/dleidert
> https://www.patreon.com/join/dleidert

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Daniel Leidert]

Am Donnerstag, dem 20.01.2022 um 16:41 +0100 schrieb Jonas Bygdén:

[..]

> 
> Do you mean at the end of the file, or is it enough to have it at the end of
> the section?

I usually put the "seen false" statements at the end of the file. But it
shouldn't be any problem to put them at the end of the section.

> I now have this in my preseed file, at the place where it’s in the example
> file, since I’ve based my config on that:
> 
> # 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 seen false
> #d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
> #d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname
> #d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain

It wouldn't work in that order. The pre-seeding will set the dialog to "seen
true". So any "seen false" statement must come *after* pre-seeding a value.

> d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
^^^
There is a "string" missing.

> d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
  
Ditto.

> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true
   ^^^

You have set everything to "seen true", not "false". Maybe you want to check
that again?

Regards, Daniel
-- 
Regards,
Daniel Leidert  | https://www.wgdd.de/
GPG-Key RSA4096 / BEED4DED5544A4C03E283DC74BCD0567C296D05D
GPG-Key ED25519 / BD3C132D8B3805D1808123AB7ACE00941E338C78

https://www.fiverr.com/dleidert
https://www.patreon.com/join/dleidert


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Re: Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Jonas Bygdén]

> Am Donnerstag, dem 20.01.2022 um 13:16 +0100 schrieb Jonas Bygdén:
> > I'm trying to get an automatic install of 11.2 working using a preseed file:
> > (https://gist.github.com/jby/7c3010e7157286166acee617ef47da30 
> > )
> > hosted on a server running nginx.
> > According to the nginx logs the file is read.
> > What I'd like to accomplish is to have the install be as fully automated as
> > possible, but I *want* the question about what hostname to give the client.
> > I was told that setting these settings would make it ask me for the 
> > hostname:
> > d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
> > d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
> > and/or maybe this:
> > d-i netcfg/hostname seen false
> 
> Works for me. I have a profile for simple-cdd which does exactly that.
> 
> > However, no matter how I do it it always sets the hostname to the default
> > 'debian'.
> >  
> > How do I get it to ask me for the hostname? Are the order of the commands in
> > the preseed file significant?
> 
> Yes. the "seen false" must come after any pre-seeting of the value. Maybe
> you'll have to move the
> 
> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
> 
> also after preseeding netcfg/hostname? I make sure that the "seen false"
> entries always come after everything else.
Do you mean at the end of the file, or is it enough to have it at the end of 
the section?

I now have this in my preseed file, at the place where it’s in the example 
file, since I’ve based my config on that:

# 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 seen false
#d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
#d-i netcfg/get_hostname string unassigned-hostname
#d-i netcfg/get_domain string unassigned-domain
d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true

# 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
#d-i netcfg/hostname seen false

# 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 debian
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true

But I still only get it set to ‘debian’ without question.
> 
> [..]
> > Another thing:
> >  
> > When I use the above linked preseed file on a (VMWare-) VM it correctly 
> > picks
> > up the partitioning set in the preseed file,
> > 'd-i partman-auto/method string crypto' in my case.
> > However, when using it on physical hardware (Dell laptops) it seems to 
> > ignore
> > that and give me the dialog asking how to do it.
> >  
> > Can someone please help me figure this out?
> 
> The detection mmechanism to detect the installation drive is not perfect. It 
> is
> possible that it fails to detect the correct drive and doesn't know how to
> handle it. I use scripts to make an educated guess and set partman-auto/disk
> via partman/early_command.
> 
> You should check /var/log/installer/syslog and console 4 (when the above
> happens) to see what happened.
> 
> Regards, Daniel
> -- 
> Regards,
> Daniel Leidert  | https://www.wgdd.de/ 
> 
> GPG-Key RSA4096 / BEED4DED5544A4C03E283DC74BCD0567C296D05D
> GPG-Key ED25519 / BD3C132D8B3805D1808123AB7ACE00941E338C78
> 
> https://www.fiverr.com/dleidert 
> https://www.patreon.com/join/dleidert 

Re: How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Daniel Leidert]

Am Donnerstag, dem 20.01.2022 um 13:16 +0100 schrieb Jonas Bygdén:
> I'm trying to get an automatic install of 11.2 working using a preseed file:
> (https://gist.github.com/jby/7c3010e7157286166acee617ef47da30)
> hosted on a server running nginx.
> According to the nginx logs the file is read.
> What I'd like to accomplish is to have the install be as fully automated as
> possible, but I *want* the question about what hostname to give the client.
> I was told that setting these settings would make it ask me for the hostname:
> d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false
> d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
> and/or maybe this:
> d-i netcfg/hostname seen false

Works for me. I have a profile for simple-cdd which does exactly that.

> However, no matter how I do it it always sets the hostname to the default
> 'debian'.
>  
> How do I get it to ask me for the hostname? Are the order of the commands in
> the preseed file significant?

Yes. the "seen false" must come after any pre-seeting of the value. Maybe
you'll have to move the

d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false

also after preseeding netcfg/hostname? I make sure that the "seen false"
entries always come after everything else.

[..]
> Another thing:
>  
> When I use the above linked preseed file on a (VMWare-) VM it correctly picks
> up the partitioning set in the preseed file,
> 'd-i partman-auto/method string crypto' in my case.
> However, when using it on physical hardware (Dell laptops) it seems to ignore
> that and give me the dialog asking how to do it.
>  
> Can someone please help me figure this out?

The detection mmechanism to detect the installation drive is not perfect. It is
possible that it fails to detect the correct drive and doesn't know how to
handle it. I use scripts to make an educated guess and set partman-auto/disk
via partman/early_command.

You should check /var/log/installer/syslog and console 4 (when the above
happens) to see what happened.

Regards, Daniel
-- 
Regards,
Daniel Leidert  | https://www.wgdd.de/
GPG-Key RSA4096 / BEED4DED5544A4C03E283DC74BCD0567C296D05D
GPG-Key ED25519 / BD3C132D8B3805D1808123AB7ACE00941E338C78

https://www.fiverr.com/dleidert
https://www.patreon.com/join/dleidert


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How to get preseed to ASK me for hostname + strange partitioning behaviour

[Jonas Bygdén]

I'm trying to get an automatic install of 11.2 working using a preseed file:

(https://gist.github.com/jby/7c3010e7157286166acee617ef47da30)

hosted on a server running nginx.

According to the nginx logs the file is read.

What I'd like to accomplish is to have the install be as fully automated as
possible, but I *want* the question about what hostname to give the client.

I was told that setting these settings would make it ask me for the
hostname:

d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen false

d-i netcfg/get_domain seen false

and/or maybe this:

d-i netcfg/hostname seen false

However, no matter how I do it it always sets the hostname to the default
'debian'.



How do I get it to ask me for the hostname? Are the order of the commands
in the preseed file significant?

Where do I put the commands to get the hostname question in that case?


Update:

Found this

post, where the guy is annoyed about getting the question that I'm *trying*
to get.

Tried his settings in hope that it would give me the same behaviour as he's
seeing:
d-i netcfg/get_hostname unassigned-hostname
d-i netcfg/get_domain unassigned-domain
d-i netcfg/get_hostname seen true
d-i netcfg/get_domain seen true

But that didn't help me either...

/Update


Another thing:



When I use the above linked preseed file on a (VMWare-) VM it correctly
picks up the partitioning set in the preseed file,

'd-i partman-auto/method string crypto' in my case.

However, when using it on physical hardware (Dell laptops) it seems to
ignore that and give me the dialog asking how to do it.



Can someone please help me figure this out?

-- 
 *Jonas Bygdén*