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A couple of small udebs

Hi guys,
My name is Michael Peek, and I've never contributed a darned thing... But I'd like to change that. I've written a couple of small udebs that I find useful. I'm wondering if they would be useful to anyone else.
If you're like me, and I know I am, then you work someplace where you have no access to the DHCP server, so allowing the installer to aquire it's networking information from the DHCP server breaks things. You also have a small multitude of machines with varying hard drive configurations. And, last but not least, you're lazy and prone to human error. You don't want to have to type in networking and partitioning information manually for each machine you install, nor do you want to have to burn a separate installer CD for each machine. What you really want, is to be able to put all the information for all your machines on one installer CD and have the installer figure it out for itself.
And, if you're even more like me, then... well... You're freakin' me out, man. Stop it.
I've written a package I've called auto-config that produces three udebs, although only two will probably apply to anything other than sarge: 

cfg-netcfg_0.0-5_all.udeb (1822 bytes)
From debian/cfg-netcfg.README:


This module is designed to allow the installer to preseed network
configuration values for a multitude of machines.

To use:

1) Preseed cfg-netcfg/preseed-dir.

Set cfg-netcfg/preseed-dir to a directory on the install media where
cfg-netcfg is to check for network configuration preseed files. For instance, if you are using an install CD, and you have created a directory on your CD 
called /preseed/netcfg/, then set your preseed value thusly:

d-i cfg-netcfg/preseed-dir string /cdrom/preseed/netcfg

2) Create the netcfg preseed directory and populate with preseed files.
For each machine for which you want to preseed network configuration settings, create a file in your cfg-netcfg directory using the ethernet hardware address 
as the filename, but with ':'s changed to '-'s.

For instance: If given an unknown machine with a blank hard drive...

  2a) Boot the machine w/ the Debian installer.
  2b) When prompted for network configuration (after the installer has
      detected the ethernet card and loaded modules), switch to the 2nd
virtual terminal and type "ifconfig -a". You will see something like 
      this (numbers have been changed to protect the guilty):
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 0A:12:F3:3A:13:E9 inet addr:xx.xx.xx.xx Bcast:xx.xx.xx.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 
                inet6 addr: fe70::212:3fef:fe3b:129e/64 Scope:Link
                UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
                RX packets:433469293 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:552342645 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 
                collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4186685499 (3.8 GiB) TX bytes:2485150677 (2.3 GiB) 
                Base address:0xdcc0 Memory:dfee0000-dff00000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 
                inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
                UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
                RX packets:106281703 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:106281703 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 
                collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:4107947197 (3.8 GiB) TX bytes:4107947197 (3.8 GiB)
sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4 NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1 
                RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
                TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
                collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
                RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

  2c) Locate the hardware address for your ethernet card.  In the above
      example above the hardware address for the ethernet card is
      0A:12:F3:3A:13:E9.
  2d) Permute the hardware address by substituting '-'s for ':'s:
      0A-12-F3-3A-13-E9.
  2e) Create a file by this permuted name under the cfg-netcfg directory
containing your network preseed values. You can leave out the preseed value for netcfg/choose_interface, as cfg-netcfg will fill this value in 
      for you automatically.  An exmaple file might look like this:

      d-i netcfg/disable_dhcp boolean true
      d-i netcfg/get_ipaddress string xx.xx.xx.xx
      d-i netcfg/get_netmask string xx.xx.xx.0
      d-i netcfg/get_gateway string xx.xx.xx.1
      d-i netcfg/get_nameservers string xx.xx.xx.xx xx.xx.xx.xx
      d-i netcfg/confirm_static boolean true
      d-i netcfg/get_hostname string myhost
      d-i netcfg/get_domain string my.domain.net
      d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string
2f) Or, instead of creating a file, create a directory, and populate it with as many files as you want. If the directory name matches, then all the 
      files within will be read.

3) Activate the cfg-netcfg module.
On your installation media, edit (or create) the .disk/udeb_include file to 
include a line that reads "cfg-netcfg".

If using the Debain/Sarge installer, you may also want to include the
cfg-netcfg-check module as well, to work around a bug in the Debian/Sarge
installer where static network configurations were given the wrong settings. 

4) Sit back and enjoy.
This package prints nothing to the screen, but does log it's output to syslog: 


Aug  7 16:23:44 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: Menu item 'cfg-netcfg' selected
Aug  7 16:23:44 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: configure cfg-netcfg, status: 2
Aug 7 16:23:44 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: configure ethernet-card-detection, status: 0 Aug 7 16:23:44 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: virtual package ethernet-card-detection 
Aug  7 16:23:44 cfg-netcfg: Searching for network card(s)...
Aug  7 16:23:44 cfg-netcfg: Auto-NetCfg Dir: /cdrom/preseed/netcfg
Aug  7 16:23:44 cfg-netcfg: Found device: eth0 (HWaddr: 00:12:3F:3F:48:3E)
Aug 7 16:23:44 cfg-netcfg: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/netcfg/00-12-3F-3F-48-3E 
Aug  7 16:23:45 cfg-netcfg: Found file
Aug 7 16:23:45 cfg-netcfg: successfully loaded preseed file from /cdrom/preseed/netcfg/00-12-3F-3F-48-3E 




cfg-partman_0.0-5_all.udeb (2200 bytes)
From cfg-partman.README:


This module is designed to allow the installer to preseed hard drive
configuration values for a multitude of machines.

To use:

1) Preseed cfg-partman/preseed-dir.

Set cfg-partman/preseed-dir to a directory on the install media where
cfg-partman is to check for partitioning configuration preseed files.  For
instance, if you are using an install CD, and you have created a directory on 
your CD called /preseed/partman/, then set your preseed value thusly:

d-i cfg-partman/preseed-dir string /cdrom/preseed/partman

2) Create the partman preseed directory and populate with preseed files.
For each machine for which you want to preseed network configuration settings, create a file in your cfg-partman directory for that machine. You may use a 
permutation of the ethernet hardware address (change ':'s to '-'s, see
cfg-netcfg.README for details), IP address, hostname.domainname, or just
hostname, or the size of the drives.

For instance, if you have a machine with the following attributes:
Eth0 HWAddr: 0A:12:F3:3A:13:E9 IP address: 12.34.56.78 
  Hostname: myhost
  Hostname+Domain: myhost.my.domain
  Hard drive(s): disk0 = 80GB, disk1 = 160GB

Then you may create a file using any of the following file names:
0A-12-F3-3A-13-E9 12.34.56.78 
  myhost
  myhost.my.domain
  disk0-80000.disk1-160000

Each of these names will be considered valid for the example machine given
above.  Names are considered according to the following order:

  1) Hardware address
  2) IP address
  3) Host name
  4) Host+Domain name
5) Number of disk (starting with 0) and size of (in MB) of disks (optionally a '.' and another disk/size combo). 

Once a matching file is found no further matching is attempted.

Inside this file, preseed your drive configuration.  As an example:

  d-i partman-auto/disk                   string /dev/discs/disc0/disc
d-i partman-auto/expert_recipe string root-swap :: 40000 10000 40000 ext3 $primary{ } $bootable{ } method{ format } format{ } use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } mountpoint{ / } . 500 10000 1000000000 ext3 method{ format } format{ } use_filesystem{ } filesystem{ ext3 } mountpoint{ /export/home/a } . 64 512 300% linux-swap method{ swap } format{ } . 
  d-i partman/confirm_write_new_label     boolean true
d-i partman/choose_partition select Finish partitioning and write changes to disk 
  d-i partman/confirm                     boolean true

NOTE: You may also create default files:

  disk0-generic
  disk0-generic.disk1-generic
  disk0-generic.disk1-generic.disk2-generic
Etc., etc. If no other preseed files match the install machine, one of these 
will be used instead.
If no matching files are found then no preseeding is done, meaning that you 
will be presented with a chance to manually partition your disks.

3) Activate the cfg-partman module.
On your installation media, edit (or create) the .disk/udeb_include file to 
include a line that reads "cfg-partman".

4) Sit back and enjoy.
This package prints nothing to the screen, but does log it's output to syslog: 


Aug  7 16:23:57 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: Menu item 'cfg-partman' selected
Aug  7 16:23:57 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: configure cfg-partman, status: 2
Aug 7 16:23:57 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: configure harddrive-detection, status: 0 
Aug  7 16:23:57 main-menu[695]: DEBUG: virtual package harddrive-detection
Aug  7 16:23:57 cfg-partman: Searching for network card(s)...
Aug  7 16:23:57 cfg-partman: Auto-Partman Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman
Aug 7 16:23:57 cfg-partman: Found device: eth0 (HWaddr: 00:12:3F:3F:48:3E) Aug 7 16:23:57 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/00-12-3F-3F-48-3E 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: No such file or directory found
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/<xx.xx.xx.xx> 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: No such file or directory found
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/<hostname>.<domainname> 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: No such file or directory found
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/<hostname> 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: No such file or directory found
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for hard drives...
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: fdisk
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | |
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 19452. Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | and could in certain setups cause problems with: Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO) Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | 2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | |    (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | |
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | Command (m for help):
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | Disk /dev/discs/disc0/disc: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | |
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | /dev/discs/disc0/part1 * 1 4863 39062016 83 Linux Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | /dev/discs/disc0/part2 4864 19452 117186142+ 5 Extended Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | /dev/discs/disc0/part5 4864 19122 114535386 83 Linux Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | /dev/discs/disc0/part6 19123 19452 2650693+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | |
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: | | Command (m for help):
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Found disk: disc0, capacity: 160000 MB
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/disc0-160000 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: No such file or directory found
Aug 7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Searching for File or Dir: /cdrom/preseed/partman/disc0-generic 
Aug  7 16:23:59 cfg-partman: Found file
Aug 7 16:24:00 cfg-partman: successfully loaded preseed file from /cdrom/preseed/partman/disc0-generic 



cfg-netcfg-check_0.0-5_all.udeb (3018 bytes)
From cfg-netcfg-check.README:
This module is designed to compensate for a bug in the Debian/Sarge installer 
that causes preseeded values for static network configurations to be
misconfigured. This module works with the cfg-netcfg module to check and, if 
necessary, fix the network settings netcfg has set up.  Specifically, when
using static network configutations, the Sarge installer will misconfigure DNS 
servers, but this module checks more than just the DNS server settings.
This last one is the one that likely will not apply to etch, since I think this bug has been fixed.
Obviously, the first two packages could be used to preseed much more than just network and partitioning. They could be used to preseed -- well -- probably almost anything and any installer package that hasn't actually been run yet. ...Maybe. I haven't tested that idea thoroughly, but they seem to work for my needs.
If anyone thinks this sort of thing might be useful, let me know. I'm not a developer, but I thought I might be able to hand this over to someone who knows more than I. 

Michael Peek
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