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new after-boot config (long)



Here is a run-through of the new system of asking questions on the first
boot of a freshly installed debian system. I've used the debconf text
frontend so I can easily paste in a log; in real life it will use
debconf-tiny and so is limited to the dialog UI. Comments welcome.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

kite:/# dpkg-reconfigure -ftext base-config
Debian Configuration
--------------------

Before proceeding, you need to set a password for 'root', the system
administrative account. (The root account is the account that you're currently
using). The root password shouldn't be easy to guess, and it shouldn't be a
word found in the dictionary, or a word that could be easily associated with
you, like your middle name. A good password will contain a mixture of letters,
numbers and punctuation and will be changed at regular intervals. The root
password is changed by running the 'passwd' program as root.

Why such caution? The root account doesn't have the restrictions that normal
user accounts have. root can read, modify or erase any file on the system,
change the ownerships and permissions of any file, and run programs that
require special privileges (such as programs that format the hard disk!). A
malicious or unqualified user with root access can have disastrous results. 

For the same reason, it's a bad idea to use the root account for normal
day-to-day activities, such as the reading of electronic mail, because even a
small mistake can result in disaster. As soon as you're logged in as root, you
should create a normal user account. You should use the normal user account
whenever you're not maintaining the system. (How to do this will be described
in a minute.) 

Enter a password for root:

Please enter the same root password again to verify you have typed it
correctly. 

Re-enter password to verify:

It is a bad idea to use the root account except in cases that you need special
privileges (such as when you need to mount a file system). Now you may
create a normal user account. 

Note that you may create it later (as well as any additional account) by
typing 'adduser <username>' as root, where <username> is an user name, like
'imurdock' or 'rms'. 

Shall I create a normal user account now? [y] y

Select a username for the new account. Your first name is a reasonable choice.

Traditionally, Linux usernames are entirely lower case for ease of typing.
All-caps usernames and space characters will cause problems and should be
avoided. 

Enter a username for your account: joey

Shadow passwords make your system more secure because nobody is able to view
even encrypted passwords. Passwords are stored in a separate file that can
only be read by special programs. We recommend the use of shadow passwords. If
you're going to use NIS you could run into trouble. 

Shall I install shadow passwords? [y] y

Md5 passwords are more secure and allow for passwords longer than 8 characters
to be used. However, they can cause compatability problems if you are using
NIS or sharing password files with older systems. 

Shall I enable md5 passwords? [n] y

Now you may choose from several sets of packages to be installed. If you prefer
to select one by one which packages to install on the system you may skip this
step. 

Install packages from preselected sets? [y] y

Adding user joey...
Adding new group joey (1000).
Adding new user joey (1000) with group joey.
Creating home directory /home/joey.
Copying files from /etc/skel
Enter new UNIX password: 
Retype new UNIX password: 
Changing the user information for joey
Enter the new value, or press return for the default
        Full Name []: joey hess
        Room Number []: 
        Work Phone []: 
        Home Phone []: 
        Other []: 
Is the information correct? [y/n] y

Apt Configuration
-----------------

Apt can access the Debian archive in a variety of ways. Choose the access
method apt should use. For example if you have a Debian cd, select "cdrom",
while if you plan to install via a Debian mirror, choose "ftp" or "http". 


        c. cdrom
        h. http
        f. ftp
        a. nfs
        b. filesystem
        m. manual entry
        n. none of the above
							
Choose what method apt will use to access the Debian archive [c] h

Debian comes in two flavors. Stable is well-tested and rarely changes.
Unstable is untested and frequently changing. Which of the two do you wish
to install?

        s. stable
        u. unstable
        n. none of the above
			
Select Debian distribution to use [s] u
			
Debian makes available some non-free software. though this software is not
part of Debian proper, it can be installed with apt. This software has
limitations on its distribution, modification, and/or use. Do you wish to
use this software? 

Use non-free software? [n] 

Select the country the mirror should be in. The goal is to find a mirror that
is close to you on the network -- be aware that near countries, or even your
own, may not be the best choice. 

If you want to enter mirror information manually, select the last item on the
list. 

        a. Australia
        l. Austria
        b. Brazil
        o. Britain (UK)
        c. Canada
        q. China
        r. Costa Rica
        v. Czech Republic
        d. Denmark
 	e. Estonia
        f. Finland
        w. France
        g. Germany
        h. Hungary
        i. Ireland
        x. Israel
        y. Italy
        j. Japan
        k. Korea (South)
        m. Mexico
        p. Poland
        z. Portugal
        s. Slovakia
        1. Slovenia
	2. Spain
        3. Sweden
        4. Switzerland
        t. Thailand
        5. Turkey
        u. United States
        6. enter information manually
        n. none of the above
							 
Select a country [u] u

Select the Debian mirror apt should use. You should select a mirror that is
close to you on the net. 

        f. ftp.debian.org
        a. ftp.eecs.umich.edu
        d. debian.midco.net
        h. http.us.debian.org
        b. debian.terrabox.com
        c. ftp.netgod.net
        l. llug.sep.bnl.gov
        e. debian.law.miami.edu
        g. ftp.opensource.captech.com
	t. tod.net
        s. sunsite.unc.edu
        i. debian.gimp.dyndns.org
        j. ftp.digex.net
        k. debian.efis.ucr.ac.cr
        m. ftp.us.debian.org
        o. ftp.cs.unm.edu
        p. debian.crosslink.net
        q. ftp-mirror.internap.com
        r. ftp.tux.org
        n. none of the above
	
	Choose the Debian mirror to use [h] h

Testing apt sources ...
Get:1 http://http.us.debian.org unstable/main Packages [493kB]
Get:2 http://http.us.debian.org unstable/main Release [93B]
Get:3 http://http.us.debian.org unstable/main Sources [190kB]
Ign http://http.us.debian.org unstable/main Release
Fetched 683kB in 5s (133kB/s)
Reading Package Lists...
Building Dependency Tree...

Apt can optionally install from multiple Debian archives. You have just
successfully added a source to apt, and if you like, you can add another one. 

Add another apt source? [n] 

<tasksel pops up, I just hit 'q'>

Have fun!
You may now login as 'root' at the login: prompt. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that some of the questions, like stable/unstable, and "Use non-free
software?" are ommitted if the config is run at a higher priority. In fact,
if it is run with the highest possible priority, you see only 2 questions
plus the adduser, apt-setup, and the tasksel program. I'm working on
trimming that down to even fewer questions..

To integrate this into boot-floppies, we'll just need to add base-config
(just uploaded) to the base system, set DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive when
installing packages into the base chroot, and make init or something call
"dpkg-reconfigure base-config" on initial boot.

-- 
see shy jo


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