Re: Partial success - an informative crash - was [Re: First attempt to use preseeding]
On Mon 05 Nov 2012 at 07:49:29 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote: > Brian wrote: > >On Sun 04 Nov 2012 at 06:55:41 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > >>*My procedure* > >>1. Partition/format a 16 GB USB stick as single primary partition > >>formatted as ext2 using Gparted. > > > >At this stage of the installer's operation it is very happy to deal with > >FAT16. I'd suggest you fall in with its wishes rather than having to > >persuade it to use ext2. > > And this is documented where? The installer has a Manual. > Just to be safe ;> I grabbed another USB stick and formatted it to > FAT16 with Gparted. Doing the right thing is being "safe"? > >>2. Copy a sample preseed.cfg to it (some answers had been changed to > >>match my needs). > >>3. Boot from DVD 1 of 8 of Debian 6.0.5 > >>4. From the menu choose "Automated install" > >>5. Press to edit > >>6. Backspace to remove "Quiet" leaving "--" as last thing on the > >>line. > >>7. Append "preseed/file=/sdb1/preseed.cfg" to the line > > > >This tells the installer the preseed file is at //preseed.cfg. > >If the directory does not exist the installer will not find the file. If > >the file system on the USB stick is not mounted on the > >installer will still not find the file. > > > >I'd not choose sdb1 as the directory name, but if you choose to keep it: > > I hope it's obvious that I thought I was designating a "physical > device" *NOT* a "logical device". Whatever you meant to be obvious, wasn't. Which is why I added detail, to indicate you were heading the wrong way. But you knew that anyway because d-i got uppity. > Sorry, but in a lot of ways I still show my CPM-80 heritage ;) > > > > > mkdir sdb1 > > > > mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /sdb1 > > > >Both done after getting a terminal with ALT-F2. > > That procedure does not AND (i suspect) *CANNOT* work. > REMEMBER, I have a "virgin" machine and DVD 1 of 8. > I insert DVD and instruct BIOS to boot from it. > When menu appears. ALT-F2 does ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ ;< Correct. I'm glad I didn't advise it. > HOWEVER, after performing Step 7 above pressing and allowing > install to proceed to the error screen one may then > a. access terminal with ALT-F2 > b. enter commands > mkdir sdb1 > mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /sdb1 > c. return to the error screen with ALT-F2 > d. press twice > e. Choose "Load debconf preconfiguation file" from menu > f. Enjoy your Debian machine This is what I advised you do. It appears to have worked. Incidentally, you do not have to create a directory. The installer has /media and /mnt available for you to use. preseed/file=/mnt/preseed.cfg" mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /mnt -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121105181953.GA12976@desktop
Re: Partial success - an informative crash - was [Re: First attempt to use preseeding]
Brian wrote: On Sun 04 Nov 2012 at 06:55:41 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote: *My procedure* 1. Partition/format a 16 GB USB stick as single primary partition formatted as ext2 using Gparted. At this stage of the installer's operation it is very happy to deal with FAT16. I'd suggest you fall in with its wishes rather than having to persuade it to use ext2. And this is documented where? Just to be safe ;> I grabbed another USB stick and formatted it to FAT16 with Gparted. 2. Copy a sample preseed.cfg to it (some answers had been changed to match my needs). 3. Boot from DVD 1 of 8 of Debian 6.0.5 4. From the menu choose "Automated install" 5. Press to edit 6. Backspace to remove "Quiet" leaving "--" as last thing on the line. 7. Append "preseed/file=/sdb1/preseed.cfg" to the line This tells the installer the preseed file is at //preseed.cfg. If the directory does not exist the installer will not find the file. If the file system on the USB stick is not mounted on the installer will still not find the file. I'd not choose sdb1 as the directory name, but if you choose to keep it: I hope it's obvious that I thought I was designating a "physical device" *NOT* a "logical device". Sorry, but in a lot of ways I still show my CPM-80 heritage ;) mkdir sdb1 mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /sdb1 Both done after getting a terminal with ALT-F2. That procedure does not AND (i suspect) *CANNOT* work. REMEMBER, I have a "virgin" machine and DVD 1 of 8. I insert DVD and instruct BIOS to boot from it. When menu appears. ALT-F2 does ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ ;< HOWEVER, after performing Step 7 above pressing and allowing install to proceed to the error screen one may then a. access terminal with ALT-F2 b. enter commands mkdir sdb1 mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /sdb1 c. return to the error screen with ALT-F2 d. press twice e. Choose "Load debconf preconfiguation file" from menu f. Enjoy your Debian machine Now to go tweak the example preseed.cfg file to create the system I want :} -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/5097c3e9.8080...@cloud85.net
Re: Partial success - an informative crash - was [Re: First attempt to use preseeding]
On Sun 04 Nov 2012 at 06:55:41 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote: > *My procedure* > 1. Partition/format a 16 GB USB stick as single primary partition > formatted as ext2 using Gparted. At this stage of the installer's operation it is very happy to deal with FAT16. I'd suggest you fall in with its wishes rather than having to persuade it to use ext2. > 2. Copy a sample preseed.cfg to it (some answers had been changed to > match my needs). > 3. Boot from DVD 1 of 8 of Debian 6.0.5 > 4. From the menu choose "Automated install" > 5. Press to edit > 6. Backspace to remove "Quiet" leaving "--" as last thing on the > line. > 7. Append "preseed/file=/sdb1/preseed.cfg" to the line This tells the installer the preseed file is at //preseed.cfg. If the directory does not exist the installer will not find the file. If the file system on the USB stick is not mounted on the installer will still not find the file. I'd not choose sdb1 as the directory name, but if you choose to keep it: mkdir sdb1 mount -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /sdb1 Both done after getting a terminal with ALT-F2. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121104150924.GA6179@desktop
Partial success - an informative crash - was [Re: First attempt to use preseeding]
Richard Owlett wrote: Why - learn to use preseeding. Why now - I think I've found an install related bug. Using preseed.cfg would eliminate human error as cause. For simplicity and repeatability I'm installing from DVD with no network connection of any sort. The DVD is disk 1 of 8 of a commercial copy of Debian 6.0.5 which has been used to do several successful instals. I've read the appropriate sections of the "d-i Manual", an assortment of web pages, and searched for related posts on this list. I found bits and pieces with too much detail on how to tweak the example preseed.cfg and very little on how to launch everything. What obvious thing am I missing. Is there a "Preseeding for Newbies" page somewhere? I have now succeeded to the point of a red screen with a message box stating "The file needed for preconfiguration could not be retrieved from file:///devd/sdb1/preseed.cfg." This is a *MAJOR* improvement. Previously the installer would go on its merry fully manual way. I'm not sure what changed - perhaps the act of slowing down to manually record each step slowed me down enough to prevent typographical error(s)? *My procedure* 1. Partition/format a 16 GB USB stick as single primary partition formatted as ext2 using Gparted. 2. Copy a sample preseed.cfg to it (some answers had been changed to match my needs). 3. Boot from DVD 1 of 8 of Debian 6.0.5 4. From the menu choose "Automated install" 5. Press to edit 6. Backspace to remove "Quiet" leaving "--" as last thing on the line. 7. Append "preseed/file=/sdb1/preseed.cfg" to the line 8. Press . If it's not in that list, IT WAS NOT DONE. What's wrong? Help please. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/509665cd.6000...@cloud85.net
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 3:09 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> Tom H wrote:
>> On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 8:23 AM, Richard Owlett
>> wrote:
>>> Jon Dowland wrote:
On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all.
OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix,
>>>
>>> The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* complete
>>> explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE objects:
>>> 1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian
>>> 2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8
>>> 3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required on
>>> which can be placed a pressed.cfg.
>>
>> You can add "DEBCONF_DEBUG=5" to the kernel's boot options to see
>> (hopefully!) on vt4 why your preseed file isn't being read/loaded.
>
> That's the kind of information I wasn't finding.
It's on [1]. It's also not a preseed-specific variable.
>>> What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of portions
>>> of the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian releases.
>>
>> http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.amd64/apbs02.html
>
> I've read that section for older releases, but I wouldn't have looked at
> that one in detail as I'm still in 32 bit mode. But in a quick read I saw a
> couple of things I had figured out and found an explicit statement that
> without setting a specific parameter it would not operate in what I assumed
> would be its default mode {I need auto=true ;}.
[2] has exactly the same para:
But in both cases, "auto=true" is definitely needed. :)
1. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed
2. http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apbs02.html
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Re: First attempt to use preseeding
Tom H wrote:
On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 8:23 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
Jon Dowland wrote:
On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all.
OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix,
The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* complete
explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE objects:
1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian
2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8
3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required on which
can be placed a pressed.cfg.
You can add "DEBCONF_DEBUG=5" to the kernel's boot options to see
(hopefully!) on vt4 why your preseed file isn't being read/loaded.
That's the kind of information I wasn't finding.
What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of portions of
the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian releases.
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.amd64/apbs02.html
I've read that section for older releases, but I wouldn't
have looked at that one in detail as I'm still in 32 bit
mode. But in a quick read I saw a couple of things I had
figured out and found an explicit statement that without
setting a specific parameter it would not operate in what I
assumed would be its default mode {I need auto=true ;}.
Whilst I agree that the actual preseed "verbs"/"options" aren't fully
documented, I don't see what's incomplete or conflicting on the above
page.
At the moment all I want is to read a preseed.cfg file. ANY
preseed.cfg file ;!
but could
it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much
quicker/easier
to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can
interrupt/throw
away and start again very quickly.
Based on over 50 years of trouble shooting experience I cannot see the
benefit of adding a VM to the mix when the problem is lack of documentation.
50 years?!
Snicker. I took my first programming course 8 years before
Mr. Torvalds was born. 5U4, 12AX7, 026, CORC and CUPL were
part of our vocabulary. I'm so old, I predate BASIC.
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Re: First attempt to use preseeding
On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 8:23 AM, Richard Owlett wrote: > Jon Dowland wrote: >> On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: >>> It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. >> >> OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix, > > The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* complete > explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE objects: > 1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian > 2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8 > 3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required on which > can be placed a pressed.cfg. You can add "DEBCONF_DEBUG=5" to the kernel's boot options to see (hopefully!) on vt4 why your preseed file isn't being read/loaded. > What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of portions of > the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian releases. http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.amd64/apbs02.html Whilst I agree that the actual preseed "verbs"/"options" aren't fully documented, I don't see what's incomplete or conflicting on the above page. >> but could >> it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much >> quicker/easier >> to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can >> interrupt/throw >> away and start again very quickly. > > Based on over 50 years of trouble shooting experience I cannot see the > benefit of adding a VM to the mix when the problem is lack of documentation. 50 years?! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/CAOdo=sxp3wgxiuzpbkw1dphlxuyueh-s+_xtrtdrkh3-u3k...@mail.gmail.com
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
Jon Dowland wrote: On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 07:23:27AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: Jon Dowland wrote: On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix, The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* complete explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE objects: 1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian 2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8 3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required on which can be placed a pressed.cfg. NOTE BENE: The word "network" does not appear in that description. OK. I am not familiar with trying it this way. I've only done it by fetching the preseed file over the web via url= passed on the kernel command line to the installer. What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of portions of the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian releases. Yes. Me too. but could it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much quicker/easier to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can interrupt/throw away and start again very quickly. Based on over 50 years of trouble shooting experience Let's discount that from before personal computers or virtual machine technology existed, shall we? Successful troubleshooting philosophy for Babbage's Analytical Engine will have much in common with those for the computer of tomorrow with a 1024 bit buss width and terabyte main memory. I cannot see the benefit of adding a VM to the mix when the problem is lack of documentation.r Agreed. I thought, from your first message, you were trying to debug a bug in the installer, Not quite. I was not trying to _debug_ the installer. I was trying to _document_ that a bug exists. The bug only appears If a perverse permutation of options are chosen during the install. Publishing a preseed.cfg that exhibited the problem seemed a good means. in which case a VM can be very useful. I've just been doing pretty much exactly this earlier in the week, which is why I replied to your message. When I wrote "Is there a "Preseeding for Newbies" page somewhere? ", I was indicating that I was new to Linux not that I did not have background to draw on. I concur that the documentation, as it stands, sucks. I don't think it "sucks". It has a more subtle problem. It is implicitly written for an audience of which the author is a member. The result may not be useful to a member of a different audience. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/508948c1.5000...@cloud85.net
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 07:23:27AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > Jon Dowland wrote: > >On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > >>It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. > > > >OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix, > > The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* > complete explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE > objects: > 1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian > 2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8 > 3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required > on which can be placed a pressed.cfg. > NOTE BENE: The word "network" does not appear in that description. OK. I am not familiar with trying it this way. I've only done it by fetching the preseed file over the web via url= passed on the kernel command line to the installer. > What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of > portions of the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian > releases. Yes. Me too. > >but could > >it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much > >quicker/easier > >to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can interrupt/throw > >away and start again very quickly. > > Based on over 50 years of trouble shooting experience Let's discount that from before personal computers or virtual machine technology existed, shall we? > I cannot see the benefit of adding a VM to the mix when the problem is lack > of documentation.r Agreed. I thought, from your first message, you were trying to debug a bug in the installer, in which case a VM can be very useful. I've just been doing pretty much exactly this earlier in the week, which is why I replied to your message. > When I wrote "Is there a "Preseeding for Newbies" page somewhere? ", I was > indicating that I was new to Linux not that I did not have background to draw > on. I concur that the documentation, as it stands, sucks. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121025125058.GE8113@debian
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
Jon Dowland wrote: On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix, The nature of the problem is that I have found *NO NONE NADA* complete explicit instructions of what to do when handed THREE objects: 1. dedicated laptop capable of running Debian 2. Debian 6.0.5 DVD 1 of 8 3. a USB stick which may be partitioned and formatted as required on which can be placed a pressed.cfg. NOTE BENE: The word "network" does not appear in that description. What I have found is incomplete and conflicting descriptions of portions of the procedure(s) required drawn from various Debian releases. but could it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much quicker/easier to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can interrupt/throw away and start again very quickly. Based on over 50 years of trouble shooting experience I cannot see the benefit of adding a VM to the mix when the problem is lack of documentation. When I wrote "Is there a "Preseeding for Newbies" page somewhere? ", I was indicating that I was new to Linux not that I did not have background to draw on. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/50892f3f.9090...@cloud85.net
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 04:13:17PM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. OK. I don't know the nature of the problem you are trying to fix, but could it be reproduced/triaged in a virtual machine? It might be much quicker/easier to explore kicking off the installer in a VM, which you can interrupt/throw away and start again very quickly. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121024134948.GC406@debian
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
Jon Dowland wrote: In my experience, preseeding is pretty awkward. My advice: start from scratch, try to guess the right thing to put in in order to answer the first couple of questions, try it. Did those questions get answered? Then add a few more for the next few questions. Repeat. I guess I didn't explain my problem to well. I doing some thing very basic wrong. There seemed to be a good description of use preseeding in Brian's post on 9/3/2012 in thread titled "Preseeding from USB". It appears to me that my preseed.cfg file is not being read at all. My only changes to the example preseed file were to physically move some line that were already commented out and using an alternative value in some lines (I.E. commented out one line and un-commented its alternate). -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/5084656d.3090...@cloud85.net
Re: First attempt to use preseeding
In my experience, preseeding is pretty awkward. My advice: start from scratch, try to guess the right thing to put in in order to answer the first couple of questions, try it. Did those questions get answered? Then add a few more for the next few questions. Repeat. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121021203949.GA32132@debian
