Re: using initrd preseed.cfg during netboot

[Steve Feehan <sfeehan@sbb.uvm.edu>]

Forgot (at least) one critical bit of information: I'm working
with the Sarge installer and the netboot image retrieved from:

  ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/sarge/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/

Thanks!

Steve

On Mon, Mar 27, 2006 at 03:27:30PM -0500, Steve Feehan wrote:
> I have been working on preseeding during network booting. I got a
> network preseed file to work, but I'm having trouble putting the
> preseed.cfg file in the initrd.
> 
> First, I know this is probably not the correct way to modify the initrd, 
> but here is what I did:
> 
> Uncompress the initrd:
> 
>   gunzip initrd.gz
> 
> Mount on a loopback device:
> 
>   mount -o loop=/dev/loop0 initrd /mnt
> 
> Copy the preseed file into the initrd file system:
> 
>   cp preseed.cfg /mnt/preseed.cfg
> 
> Unmount:
> 
>   umount /mnt
> 
> Compress the initrd:
> 
>   gzip initrd
> 
> When I boot with this initrd I can drop to a shell and see that
> /preseed.cfg is there. But the installer won't use the values in
> the preseed file. I've tried with and without passing the kernel 
> parameter:
> 
>    preseed/file=/preseed.cfg
> 
> But in either case, the preseed values are not used.
> 
> Am I missing something obvious? Does the netboot initrd not support
> preseed files inside the initrd? Do I need to build my own customized
> netboot images? If there is documentation on this, please point me in
> the right direction. And if I didn't explain the problem clearly enough,
> please let me know and I'll try and clarify.
> 
> Thanks for your time!
> 
> -- 
> Steve Feehan

-- 
Steve Feehan