Building headless network install the proper way
I need help doing properly what I did before by modifying an initrd.
A while back, I used the "twin" package and modified the sarge network
install ramdisk to support a fully interactive headless network install.
By controlling the reset switch with a serial port controlled relay
module, and a dhcp/tftp server, this allowed me to bring up machines
from scratch and do a full install if needed.
I built this the hard way by adding files and libraries to the initrd
till it all worked, running twin continuously till it stayed up (network
had come up) and pre-supplying some of the installation answers and
running at high-priority so not all questions were asked.
This was enough for the installer to bring the network up and then pop
up the installer under twin, on my X server (specified in kernel boot
string).
I now have the kit installed to build by own debian-installer setup and
I guess to this I am going to have to add udebs that contain twin, the
extra init scripts and so forth.
er... help!
I'm looking to know which config files I need to mod, what to do to get
twin compiled so it doesn't need a full glibc, help help
etc
I'm not dumb... I think.... so specific questions:
1) I want to add a package to the initrd as built using the
debian-installer builder. How do I go about having the package build
statically? Is this what I should be doing?
2) Is there a better way to have the network brought straight up by DHCP
or with kernel boot config strings?
I'll be testing the ramdisk using colinux initially and when I think its
right I'll try on some real hardware.
Sam
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